PITCH BLACK (2000)

Grade: B

Director: David Twohy

Screenplay: Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, David Twoy

Starring: Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Keith David, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Claudia Black, Rhiana Griffith, John Moore, Simon Burke

For a long while now B-movies have been something of an endangered species; they used to be about alien invasions, or monsters attacking people in enclosed environments, or teenagers searching for sex, essentially whatever mainstream Hollywood often shied away from. However in our current movie climate "A" movies have become B-movies with bigger budgets. Case in point: THE RELIC, an expensive timewaster about a gigantic creature killing of museum folk, is little more than a de-clawed Roger Corman picture, or BRING IT ON, essentially a T & A romp without the T & A, or ROAD TRIP which would have been a Corey Feldman vehicle premiering in one of BLOCKBUSTER's odder sections had it been made in the early nineties. The kind of films we used to have to watch on late-night Cinemax (or in some cases sneak off to the drive-in to see) when no one was looking are currently playing at a multiplex near you, albeit usually in a watered down form. So what is the poor B-movie to do? Some of them have run directly to video. Others should have. Now in order for them to thrive in the current Hollywood environs they still must do what the mainstream films aren't doing, which is to take some chances that might be frowned upon when you have a small countries budget at stake, maybe make your hero just as villainous as your bad guys, surprise us a bit, thrill us with your as-of-yet un-sullied imagination. Judging from PITCH BLACK, director David Twohy (who directed the equally entertaining film THE ARRIVAL) is damn proud to be a B-movie maker.

With some exceptions, B-movies have lost their sense of fun. They used to be something of a launching pad for talented directors like Jonathon Demme and Martin Scorsese, who imbued their B formulas with the freshness and verve of an artist eager to announce his arrival. Now directors seem to view them as a prison sentence instead of the untapped well of creativity they can offer. In the 80's this wasn't the case; workman directors like Larry Cohen (who was doing ironic horror films like Q-THE WINGED SERPENT and THE STUFF before it was so fashionable), Brian De-Palma (who used to imbue his slasher flicks with Hitchcock like-precision; DRESSED TO KILL and SISTERS in particular transcend their splatter movie origins) and even James Cameron before he became the king of the world, knew had to make thrilling low budgeters; I refer to THE TERMINATOR, but hell, even PIRANHA 2 was kinda fun. These folks took genre conventions, soaking them with ideas absorbed from hours of pouring over science fiction novels by the likes Isaac Asimov (whose strikingly intelligent sci-fi concepts have as of yet never made it to the big screen), filtered through a B-movie sensibility garnered from a child hood's worth of double features.

Really when you think about it, why shouldn't cheesy sci-fi thrillers be good? Saying one isn't bad is a bit like saying "boy, that really good looking person isn't stuck up at all", when clearly there isn't any reason why good looking people should be stuck up, on that same tip, why shouldn't B-movies be fun? Directors are given the freedom they always complain they don't get on big budget projects, well, so long as they stick to certain boundaries (when Martha Coolidge directed the cult classic VALLEY GIRL, the producers gave her only one obligation; there must be at least four breasts in the movie). But most are unwatchable; BATS, STIGMATA, HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL; it's as if their makers figured that nobody would watch them anyway so why even waste the time and effort into creating something entertaining. David Twohy is clearly into giving his audience a good time, and maybe giving us a little to chew over (he includes in his work two redemptions, a guilt over selfishness sub plot, and addiction--all done with suitable aplomb--which are several more themes than we usually get in a picture such as this).

PITCH BLACK is a semi-inspired return to meat and potatoes filmmaking. It really doesn't do much but move well and at this point that was enough for me. The main problem facing the flick is that it is another in a long line of ALIEN rip-offs. When you have so may glorious unexplored ideas (some presented briefly in this film) why would you want to devolve into another movie where creatures stalk humans? But that complaint is a bit pointless, considering that I am judging the movie on its sub-genre, that being the cheesy ALIEN rip-off and this is by and far the best since PREDATOR. As yet another creature feature, PITCH BLACK isn't as lazy as I expected, providing more invention than it has to, some not too embarrassing exposition, a couple surprises (sometimes the "wrong" person actually dies), and a lot of action.

The film opens with that now obligatory sci-fi opener; a massive space ship making its crawl across the screen as something monumental plays on the soundtrack. Then the movie launches us in into a white-knuckled crash landing; something is going wrong, the captain has flatlined and his second in command, the Sigourny Weaver figure, Fry must take over sacrificing the lives of several in order to pull the landing off (a decision that haunts her for the duration of the film), and they do land, spectacularly, on a sun-bleached planet. It's all deserts and dunes and bones and rotting spcaecrafts. The aesthetic is akin to looking at a desert landscape through oozing honey, its golden colors smothering every image.

The crew discovers that the planet is powered by three suns, one taking over after the other thus denying darkness. The only nightfall occurs during an eclipse which happens every 22 years. While this is a good thing considering that the planet is also inhabited by flying creatures that thrive in darkness. But then again maybe not, for our resourceful heroine finds that it's about time for another eclipse. The planet will turn dark in a several hours; good news is one of the crew can see in the dark, bad news is it’s the chained-up mass murderer.

As you can probably tell the film is mostly a serious of coincidences, gimmicks and high concepts strung together into a B-movie pastiche. And David Twohy can't resist a couple clichés like the wisecracking, effete British guy who might has well have "VICTIM" tattooed across his forehead. More interesting is Riddick, played by the awesomely muscular Vin Diesel (who certainly has the name and look of an action star). He lowers his voice to a crackled growl as if it where barely emanating from a bottomless pit; sometimes it's near impossible to decipher his mumbles, but the effect is there. This isn't somebody you wanna cross.

Riddick is an unlikely hero and his inevitable change of heart in the final inning is a bit much (especially considering his actions before said change of heart) but Diesel is captivating all the way through, essentially playing the Stallone or Schwarzengger role but doing so with far more innate complexity and even threatening physicality than either of them. Riddick may have a body ready for MUSCLE AND FITNESS but his mind is as sharp and manipulative as Hannibal Lector's. Cole Hauser has interesting part, his blue eyes and chiseled face pinning him to be the dream boat hero, but the film has him playing a laid back junkie bounty hunter with an agenda of his own. Second in command is Fry played by Rahda Mitchell, another tough sci-fi babe in a tank top, who, while performing with the necessary toughness, is a little too baby faced to be as threatening as the movie wants her to be. Semi Pointless aside: Why is it that these tough heroines always resemble cutie pies like Meg Ryan? I'd picture these gun-toting females to harbor a closer resemblance to Courtney Love at her most grungy.

The crew is made to battle creatures that look like the unholy offspring of the chrome domed aliens from Ridley Scott's invention (actually constructed by H.R. Giger, who deserves royalties like hell considering that his design has been ripped off in nearly every other sci-fi horror yarn), and a Pterodactyl. Despite the limited budget Twoy manages to seamlessly combine humans with the creatures (this especially shows in a tussle between Diesel and one of them) and he also knows to keep them largely in the shadows, using them infrequently for maximum effect.

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