REVIEW | Pitch Black
April 10th 2010 05:46
UNIVERSAL PICTURES presents
PITCH BLACK
A film by David Twohy
CAST: Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Kieth David, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Claudia Black, Rhiana Griffith, John Moore, Simon Burke, Les Chantery, Sam Sari, Firass Dirani, Ric Anderson, Vic Wilson, Angela Makin
SCREENPLAY: Jim & Ken Wheat & David Twohy
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: David Eggby, A.C.S.
PITCH BLACK was produced on location in Queensland, Australia with the assistance of Pacific Film and Television Commission.
Running time: 107 minutes
A USA Films Release
As an attempt to explore the science-fiction and action-adventure genres PITCH BLACK falls into the 'too derivative' basket for my tastes, but for those who ache for more of the same it's almost an exotic hybrid of LOST IN SPACE, ALIEN, and that film with the vampire bats and the people in the underground science laboratory from the 1970's.
The story is set up with common place archtypes such as the crew being aroused from cryo-sleep, crash landing on a hostile planet and getting taken out by so many monsters that nothing really struck me as shocking or exciting when it all ended, not even the gender bend twist.
There are explanations for absolutely everything that may need explanation plus some quite amusing inferences that the main bad dude Riddick (possibly short for Riddickulous) played by steely contact lensed Vin Diesel was an 'abortion survivor' with memories of sitting in the bucket at the clinic.
The actors get to show limited promise due to a script that clumsily demonises menstruation, spirituality, justice, and male sensitivity while it attempts hip street speak by delivering "Fuck you!", "No fuck you!", "Fuck you fuck!" all too often.
I said when I first saw it, that it will have a market and it may even earn cult status in time, but you may have wondered, like me, how did all these people refrain from being drenched in sweat if the planet they crash landed on was so hot? Hmmm? (Five out of ten was what I gave it on release) Having looked at it a few times on DVD, I'll say they did an innovative job as far as budget and design went, I still think it's full of holes and only moderately entertaining.
David Jobling
PITCH BLACK
A film by David Twohy
CAST: Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Kieth David, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Claudia Black, Rhiana Griffith, John Moore, Simon Burke, Les Chantery, Sam Sari, Firass Dirani, Ric Anderson, Vic Wilson, Angela Makin
SCREENPLAY: Jim & Ken Wheat & David Twohy
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: David Eggby, A.C.S.
PITCH BLACK was produced on location in Queensland, Australia with the assistance of Pacific Film and Television Commission.
Running time: 107 minutes
A USA Films Release
As an attempt to explore the science-fiction and action-adventure genres PITCH BLACK falls into the 'too derivative' basket for my tastes, but for those who ache for more of the same it's almost an exotic hybrid of LOST IN SPACE, ALIEN, and that film with the vampire bats and the people in the underground science laboratory from the 1970's.
There are explanations for absolutely everything that may need explanation plus some quite amusing inferences that the main bad dude Riddick (possibly short for Riddickulous) played by steely contact lensed Vin Diesel was an 'abortion survivor' with memories of sitting in the bucket at the clinic.
The actors get to show limited promise due to a script that clumsily demonises menstruation, spirituality, justice, and male sensitivity while it attempts hip street speak by delivering "Fuck you!", "No fuck you!", "Fuck you fuck!" all too often.
I said when I first saw it, that it will have a market and it may even earn cult status in time, but you may have wondered, like me, how did all these people refrain from being drenched in sweat if the planet they crash landed on was so hot? Hmmm? (Five out of ten was what I gave it on release) Having looked at it a few times on DVD, I'll say they did an innovative job as far as budget and design went, I still think it's full of holes and only moderately entertaining.
David Jobling
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