I hadn't seen Pitch
Black before, but it kept appearing on the TV schedules with reasonable
ratings so I decided I'd give it a look. Warning – this review contains
spoilers.
The basic plot is hardly new: a spaceship crashes on an
uninhabited desert planet, with a small number of survivors. Just to liven
things up, they include a convicted killer who had escaped from jail, and the
bounty hunter who was bringing him in. When they explore, one man dies while
investigating a cave and it is clear that dangerous things live underground. A
mineral prospectors' base, which had been abandoned over twenty years earlier,
provides more mystery. The survivors are tormented by the brightness and heat
(the system has three suns, bathing in the planet in almost perpetual sunshine)
but an orerry in the base reveals that from time to time there is a total
eclipse that can last for quite a while. Needless to say, the eclipse occurs
and all of those nocturnal creatures emerge from underground, very hungry…
There are no real surprises in this rather simple story, the
main points of interest being guessing who's going to die next and who might
still be standing at the end. We know of course that the criminal Riddick will
survive as Vin Diesel has a sequel to make, but the rest are literally up for
grabs. Despite the lack of originality, this isn't a bad film (as long as you
don't examine too closely the mechanics of the eclipse); there's quite a strong
cast featuring Radha Mitchell as the pilot, and it's nice to see Claudia Black,
then in the process of becoming famous as Aeryn Sun in Farscape.
The Chronicles of
Riddick is a direct sequel, but is a very different kind of film. Instead
of being a pared-down horror thriller, it aims for epic fantasy status. Instead
of just being a criminal who can fight well, Riddick becomes a survivor of a
race of formidable warriors and the only chance of defending humanity against
the ravages of an army of religious extremists, the Necromongers.
It is obvious that this was made with a much bigger budget
than the original film, as it is packed with special effects and takes place a
wide range of different settings. It also includes some class actors; Judi
Dench, Thandie Newton and Colm Feore. Despite this, it doesn't really gel; it
seems too concerned with emphasising the dramatic images, especially the
iconography of the Necromongers whose mysterious religion never made much sense
to me. The constant violent action means that there is no time for developing
the characters (Vin Diesel was nominated for a Razzie award for Worst Actor),
and a coherent plot is another casualty. Best regarded as a curiosity, and only
worth watching if you have time on your hands. I gather that there is a third
film in the series now out, but the reviews I've read do not encourage me to
watch it.
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