Director: David Twohy

So, this is 2 films in 1. The first half is a science fiction mystery, the second half is a science fiction horror. The premise is simple, a space transport ship is hit by micrometeorites which causes it to crash on a nearby planet and the survivors discover that the usually light filled skies (it has 3 suns) will become dark when there's a long term eclipse which will release the photophobic creatures that live underground.

The writers like to misrepresent the characters a bit because Carolyn Fry presents herself as the saviour of the survivors (she piloted the ship but we see her attempt to purge all of the passengers during the crash, this is an important motivation for her character), Johns presents as a cop but he's really a drug addled mercenary who wants the bounty on his prisoner (Riddick) and Jack presents as a boy when actually he's a girl!

Riddick is initially presented as a murderous convict and even though his actions show him to be noble, the narrative is careful to hide his true nature from you.

There was a time in the early 2000's when digital post processing tools started to become very popular and colour grading really took hold. Colour grading is the business of altering the colour levels of a shot usually to match it to other shots in a scene which may have been taken using different cameras or at different times or on different film stock, you get the idea - you can alter the colours. You'll notice that many films around that time have quite aggressive colour grading as artists experimented with its use. There are different schools of thought about how colour grading should be used (some people grade by the mood in the scene for example) so I'll let you investigate further if you're interested.

In the first half of Pitch Black, the outside shots are supposed to be lit by the 3 suns and the editor has graded the shots with strong, washed out hues. I don't usually like heavily saturated frames but in this case it's an appropriate use because it fits the environment and it works well.

There are some nice editing decisions as well. You'll notice for example that Fry's distress during the crash is illustrated using distorted shots which you briefly see again when she gets trapped underground in a creature hive.

You also see the use of a 'snap zoom' shot which adds a bit of humour as the group is searching for Riddick and he is sitting in one of their overlooking positions sipping on a drink. Snap zoom is when the camera operator uses a switch to quickly toggle between 2 different camera settings. You usually only ever see that shot used in anime but here again, it feels appropriate.

In the first half, Fry reveals to Johns that she purged the passengers during the crash but subsequently discovers that he is a mercenary and stole vital pain killing drugs that she could have used to ease the suffering of a fellow crew mate after he was fatally wounded in the accident. The group discover a settlement and an escape ship which needs fuel cells from their wreckage but the only way to transport them is with a solar powered vehicle. They also work out that the settlers were all killed during the previous eclipse, most likely by the underground creatures.

Fry now has something on Johns, that he is a drug addict mercenary not a cop and Johns has something on Fry, that she purged the passengers during the crash. Neither wants to be exposed and they don't like each other which builds a lot of tension between the 2 characters. Riddick, through some coincidences in the narrative knows both of their secrets.

This is all set up for the 2nd half of the movie.

The group are back at the wreckage collecting fuel cells when the eclipse happens which releases a swarm of underground creatures.

It's worth mentioning that the narrative suddenly getting much darker is literal not just figurative in this case as we hurtle towards the horror section of the movie.

Because they can't use the solar powered vehicle, the stakes are that they must transport the fuel cells to the settlement escape ship before their light sources die which raises the ante somewhat.

When the party must travel through a canyon where the bioraptor creatures are slaughtering each other, Riddick outs Jack as a girl by mentioning that it's her time of the month and the bleeding will attract them. So Riddick has superhuman senses, it's not mentioned in this film but later instalments state that he's not human, he's Furyon - although later dialogue has Fry appealing to him, "don't you want to rejoin the human race?". This revelation leads Johns to privately propose that he execute Jack and use her as bait - Riddick then fights Johns which leads to his death.

During their traversal of the canyon, Riddick puts the remaining survivors in a cave and heads off on his own with the fuel cells.

Remember me mentioning that purging those passengers becomes an important motivation for Fry? It's the reason that she leaves the cave and makes it to the escape ship in the dark to confront Riddick and petition him to go back and help the others. When a character is vulnerable and they take a risk, it makes them appear even more courageous. Since Riddick is always depicted as a badass in the story, you never really feel he's at risk but Fry is willing to risk everything to help the others. There's even dialogue which lays this out plainly - Riddick asks Fry, "Would you die for them?", she answers, "Yes Riddick, I would die for them".

Later, Riddick nearly dies and Carolyn returns to save him - she is subsequently killed by one of the Bioraptor creatures trying to help him.

So Carolyn Fry is the real hero in this story, without her actions Jack, Riddick and the holy man would never escape the planet together. So her selfish actions during the crash at the beginning of the movie plant a seed that grows into her heroism later.

Well that ended up being more of a wall of text than expected! I had in my mind that Pitch Black was a fairly simple film, turns out they've packed quite a lot of complexity into that seemingly straightforward premise.

If you're a fan of the genre, this film has become a staple in science fiction so it's a must watch. It's a bit schlocky but as you can see it's not vapid! It's a great movie!



Trailer: