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Pitch Black

USA 2000

Fans of 60s sci-fi experiments such as "Horror of the Blood Monsters" and "The Angry Red Planet" will immediately appreciate the color scheme of "Pitch Black"--that "Spectrum X" look is back on the big screen! The planet that forms the setting for most of the film has three suns of varying colors, so before the inevitable eclipse, you get treated to quite a few striking looks at the environment. More tricks with the light come into play thanks to a character with "surgically shined" eyeballs--he can see in the dark, but don't ever remove his sunglasses...

Fans of 60s sci-fi experiments such as "Horror of the Blood Monsters" and "The Angry Red Planet" will immediately appreciate the color scheme of "Pitch Black"--that "Spectrum X" look is back on the big screen! The planet that forms the setting for most of the film has three suns of varying colors, so before the inevitable eclipse, you get treated to quite a few striking looks at the environment. More tricks with the light come into play thanks to a character with "surgically shined" eyeballs--he can see in the dark, but don't ever remove his sunglasses...

Character development is treated almost as a necessary evil--there's one moment of revelation in which a character turns out to be something other than initially claimed...only it means absolutely nothing...that sort of thing. I won't say that the cast does a bad job--Vin Diesel and Radha Mitchell do fine by their roles, and it's always nice to see Keith David...but all that matters here is to get to the next munch-and-crunch bit once the gimmick of "light hurts the monsters" is established. You'll have no trouble figuring out who's destined to live and die--weighty discussions concerning the nature of God are barely supported by the fates of this particular batch--and the final gesture of defiance is particularly weak and unimpressive.

It's a lot easier to sit through than a pile of crap like "Supernova," but it isn't likely to go down as a classic, either. I'm still waiting for the first true knockout of 2000. Nevertheless, the big screen will certainly enhance the look of the film--and it's the look that counts here. "Pitch Black" is worth the price of a matinee ticket if you've got that and a couple of hours to spare.

-Remo D