Pitch Black
                                     (2000)
                                     review by Billion$Baby

Do you like looking at aliens? If the answers yes, then good, so do I.

Pitch Black kicks off with a high-octane start as a spaceship encounters a meteorite storm and crashes in a spectacular fashion on an alien planet. I like the editing just before that crash. The quick flash-like shots of the female pilot's (Fry) eye reminds meof the same technique used in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Quite a good skank really, it's very effective and the crash itself is an impressive effect.

The alien planet is actually Australia (!) but the film is heavily treated to make the colours un-natural, helping to give the impression of an alien landscape. The three suns also help!

Subplot. One of the survivors is Riddick, the serial killer being escorted back to "slam" by Johns. Rather unlucky for the survivors you would assume. A touch of authority is delivered by Keith David (veteran of Carpenter films) as the religious Imam character.

As well as featuring the unluckiest crash survivor ever (who isn't even killed by an alien), the film also features one very annoying character. His name is Paris played by Lewis Fitz-Gerald and he has some wonderfully stupid dialogue. I shall return to him later. A special nod of attention should also be directed at the teenager with the line, "Yeah, thanks for saving our dicks." Aargh!

During the first alien encounter the violence is implied but effective. It hides the creature and teases us. We see snippets of something unpleasant happening coupled with sound-effects such as chewing, growling, shooting and screaming. We don't know what's going on but it doesn't seem very nice!

Fry, what are you like?! Here's a tip for people on alien planets. It's probably a really bad idea to go down strange dark tunnels. Almost as obvious as the classic don't go looking into strange eggs lesson! (Kane, take note) There's a few glimpses of little slithery aliens on the tunnel walls. They look pretty cool and I certainly don't blame them for wanting the dope on a rope!

Director's cut? Well, you get a few extra sequences which only total to around two minutes at most. They're so short that I don't even know why they bothered to take them out for the film's theatrical release. Unsurprisingly there's no extra alien footage or action sequences.

Hmmm. I'm not saying that Englishmen are stereotyped in American films BUT they either seem to be evil mastermindgeniuses or bumbling idiots (aka Hugh Grant). Meet Paris P. Ogilvie, the antiquities dealer! Look at these quotes and you'll see which category Paris falls into:

"That'll teach me for flying coach."
"So much for my cocktail hour."
"I'll hold the fort, old boy."
"That's a particularly good Shiraz. It's a lovely drop."
"I was supposed to die in France. I never even saw France."

Now I don't care how scared you are. Later on, the stupidity shown by Paris P. Ogilvie has to be seen to be believed. Hang on, scratch that. I've seen it and I still don't believe it! Hollywood, do me a favour! This character lets the film down horribly. To use an analogy, he's the Lighthammer character from Blade 2. Get my drift?

We are soon shown another teaser glimpse of the aliens. The bat-like flock that we see features some great cgi work and looks impressive. The little critters look cool!

Right, now this is the gig. These creatures can only move around in the dark. The three sunned planet they inhabit is due for a total eclipse. The Riddick character had his eyes treated whilst in prison so that he could see in the dark. Aha!

Around an hour in, the movie delivers what we really want to see. That might sound ignorant but the script is nowhere near as engaging as Scott's Alien or Cameron's sequel, so I'm keen to see a lot more of Pitch Black's aliens.

The computer work on the planet's eclipse and the flying creatures billowing out into the sky looks very good as do the Riddick point-of-view shots. Wow, this is more like it! The Riddick one-liners and his interplay with the Johns character are also enjoyable. We also get our first sightings of the big alien creatures. They look pretty freaky!

The characters have to reach another ship they discovered earlier with battery cells from their own, in order to escape the planet and it's inhabitants. By now the computer-generated aliens are abundant. This is what I wanted to see! Not only do these creatures look stunning but I find the green-tinged scenes very pleasing as well.

Now there is one great scene in the film. The final moment between Riddick and Fry is very powerful. For a short time, the scene is so ambiguous that you're not even certain what happened. It almost makes me forget the Paris character!

Pitch Black is good but not great. The first 5 minutes and the last 40 really deliver the pay-off. The cgi work on the space sequences and the creatures is outstanding. It's worth picking up the film for that alone.

The disc provides:

- A widescreen presentation (natch!)
- Both 5.1 and DTS sound
- A 5 minute featurette with interviews, behind-the-
scenes footage and a glimpse at the creature designs
and their creation
- Commentary with director David Twohy and actors Vi
n Diesel and Cole Hauser
- Commentary with Twohy, producer Tom Engelman and P
eter Chiang
- Raveworld Pitch Black Event footage (20 mins)
- Theatrical trailers
- Production, cast and film-maker notes.

The only difference between this disc and the region2 equivalent is the additional DTS soundtrack. DTS is only available on the region 1 dvd.

The picture and sound quality are a great showcase for the dvd format but the extras are a bit haphazard. I'm a big fan of commentaries and two have been provided here. The first commentary with the director and actors is interesting enough. Like the film, it's good but not great. As for the second commentary...ZZZZZ...Oh, sorry, I must have dozed off there!

Why have we only got one 5 minute featurette and yet a 20 minute compilation of a dance-based promotional event? Very annoying.

Right, the Raveworld event. What the fuck?! I quote,"fans across America discovered underground rave parties that immersed them into the Pitch Black experience. These enigmatic events featured world class djs, state of the art lasers and special effects."

Can anyone explain to me how the hiring of famous djs and spending lots of money on lasers and screens showing film clips somehow equates to an "underground" party?! My definition of an underground party would be listening to unknown djs that can mix as well as any others, and NOT spending a lot of money on cheap gimmicks. "Underground." Give me a break! I bet it was really difficult to "discover" those events aswell!

This 20 minute feature is not just pointless but it's annoying. It's irritating to hear tiny snippets of tunes that only last around two minutes at most. If I wanted to watch djs and people dancing, I would go to a club or party. It may have been fun to attend but it certainly isn't fun to watch. What a silly special feature. Some more footage on making the film
or interviewing cast or crew members would not have gone amiss.

The disc also provides trailers and some written information. See what I mean about the extras?

This is a good but not great disc for a good but not great film. Rather fitting. If you like computer animated aliens, pick the film up. If you don't, well don't!

Simple as that really.