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Pitch Black
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
You might remember director David Twohy's work from the Charlie Sheen sci-fi picture "The Arrival", which revolved around aliens, but certainly worked much better than it should have, taking the genre's usual features and making them fresh. He does it again, and actually is even more successful, in this year's "Pitch Black".
The film starts off as many sci-fi films do, with a crash-landing. Rocks hit the ship and fly through, taking out some of the passengers and sending the ship spiraling towards an unknown planet. Fry(Rhada Mitchell) takes over the group, and there are others who are left, including a criminal named Riddick(Vin Diesel) who happens to be able to see in the dark - which just might come in useful later.
The planet has three suns, so at one point or another, there always seems to be daylight, which comes in different colors that the film takes on(much of the early part of the film is bathed in striking blues, for example). Only there's one problem - every so often, there's a rare occurence where an eclipse sends the planet into total darkness. And at that time, the aliens who only come out to play in the rare darkness attack. Much of the early half of the film revolves around Riddick - tracking him down and getting him to help, but the second half of the film starts the action a little quicker. There is a point about midway through the picture where the already thin characters begin to stop carrying the plot and we're wondering when the action is really going to begin.
Thankfully, it does. The aliens are always seemingly circling the group, and although the special effects for the film are not terribly great, they aren't distracting, either. The movie starts up the tension very well during the second half of the picture, and is successful in not letting go till the end.
The performances are so-so - Diesel is pretty good as Riddick and Mitchell is fair; the rest of the performances though, simply are only ok because their characters are pretty thinly written. Again, this is the problem with the middle part of the film because it goes on a bit too long with characters that begin to stop carrying the film.
Still, "Pitch Black" works as simply above-average entertainment. Taking a bit from a few previous sci-fi films, it makes these elements feel at least a little bit fresher than usual.
There are R and Unrated versions of the DVD out. The Unrated version adds about three minutes worth of footage to the film.
The DVD
VIDEO: I didn't get a chance to see "Pitch Black" in theaters, but watching this DVD I was instantly stunned by the almost hauntingly beautiful cinematography by David Eggby("Dragonheart", "Daylight") which gives the film one of the wildest "looks" I've seen in ages. Universal's presentation here is one of their best that I can remember, with perfect sharpness and detail, and clarity even in the complete darkness of the eclipse is very good.
Colors are strong too, although much of the time the film sticks to a certain color, but it still is a stunning look - whether the sharp blues of the early part of the film or otherwise, colors look solid. Black level is strong, as well. I was also impressed with how smooth the picture is, and the fact that the usual problems that we sometimes see never distract here. I noticed no instances of pixelation or shimmer, and the print used is in remarkably great shape, with only two very tiny, brief instances where I saw a couple of marks on the print used.
"Pitch Black" is a great looking film, with a wild visual style that really is presented extremely well here. Universal has done an excellent job, and fans of the film will be very pleased with how impressive it looks here.
SOUND: "Pitch Black" is a film where the sound is great in "moments". For instance, the opening crash sequence sounds marvelous and intense. The first half of the film really doesn't involve much in the way of agressive audio, and is mainly devoted to dialogue and the occasional touch of music.
The second half of the film has the sound definitely waking up as the aliens do. The creatures attacking and generally being around is the cause allows for some wonderfully creepy uses of sound as the alien's strangely beautiful and eerie noises seem to be coming from everywhere. The surrounds become much more agressive during this half of the film, and as a result, the level of tension that was begining to be lacking during the first half of the film suddenly comes in in a big way. Bass is also strong at times.
Universal again offers both DTS and Dolby Digital soundtracks for "Pitch Black", and although there are some differences between the two, they are not terribly major. The DTS soundtrack seems subtly fuller and more powerful, with better detail. Where the Dolby soundtrack was good, listening to the DTS soundtrack intensifies, at least somewhat, that feeling an attack could come from any side towards the characters.
MENUS:: Menus are pretty basic, with only limited film-themed images serving as backgrounds. The score plays behind the main menu, but that's the only "touch" added here.
EXTRAS:
Commentary: This is a commentary from director David Twohy as well as actors Vin Diesel and Cole Hauser. It's not a bad commentary track, but it's sometimes a rather unenergetic one now and then. Diesel and Twohy do the majority of the talking, chatting about what it was like to film some of the bigger scenes of the movie and pointing out many of the details that audiences might have missed. Some of the stories from the set about how things were accomplished are fun to listen to, as well. Hauser occasionally adds his viewpoint on what his scenes were like to film, as well. There are some pauses now and then, and although some areas are slow going, there are some points where I enjoyed listening to the story of how "Pitch Black" was made.
Commentary: This is a more technical commentary with director David Twohy reappearing with producer Tom Engelwood and visual effects supervisor Peter Chang. I would have liked for cinematographer David Eggby to have been included in this discussion so that he could chat about the work he did to create the movie's visual look, but there is still an enjoyable amount of information about how the effects and look were created here. Chang chats about how the special effects were created and how some of the bigger scenes were achieved. Twohy participates here as well, and generally serves as leader. I didn't think the commentary went too technical in the terms offered, and if you've listened to some of the other "technical" commentary tracks out there, this one is pretty similar.
Although this commentary is more technical, I thought it seemed more energetic at times, and sounded like this group was having a bit more fun. There are some pauses now and then, but the group talks for the majority of the film. Although both commentary tracks are enjoyable, I actually liked this one a little bit more.
Making Of: A documentary that lasts about 5 minutes or so is included here, and it doesn't provide much information to the making of the film - much of it is "extended trailer"-ish, with interviews and and chat about the story. A few interesting moments, but it could have been better.
Raveworld Event: A strange documentary that shows video of what were apparently "underground parties" that were held to promote the movie. Not a lot to get out of it, and at 20 minutes it goes too long.
Trailers: Both the general and "red" trailers are included.
Also: Production notes, cast/crew bios.
Final Thoughts: "Pitch Black" is recommended, but not in that "must-see" way. It's simply a mildly entertaining couple of hours, and Universal's DVD presents the film quite well.
You might remember director David Twohy's work from the Charlie Sheen sci-fi picture "The Arrival", which revolved around aliens, but certainly worked much better than it should have, taking the genre's usual features and making them fresh. He does it again, and actually is even more successful, in this year's "Pitch Black".
The film starts off as many sci-fi films do, with a crash-landing. Rocks hit the ship and fly through, taking out some of the passengers and sending the ship spiraling towards an unknown planet. Fry(Rhada Mitchell) takes over the group, and there are others who are left, including a criminal named Riddick(Vin Diesel) who happens to be able to see in the dark - which just might come in useful later.
The planet has three suns, so at one point or another, there always seems to be daylight, which comes in different colors that the film takes on(much of the early part of the film is bathed in striking blues, for example). Only there's one problem - every so often, there's a rare occurence where an eclipse sends the planet into total darkness. And at that time, the aliens who only come out to play in the rare darkness attack. Much of the early half of the film revolves around Riddick - tracking him down and getting him to help, but the second half of the film starts the action a little quicker. There is a point about midway through the picture where the already thin characters begin to stop carrying the plot and we're wondering when the action is really going to begin.
Thankfully, it does. The aliens are always seemingly circling the group, and although the special effects for the film are not terribly great, they aren't distracting, either. The movie starts up the tension very well during the second half of the picture, and is successful in not letting go till the end.
The performances are so-so - Diesel is pretty good as Riddick and Mitchell is fair; the rest of the performances though, simply are only ok because their characters are pretty thinly written. Again, this is the problem with the middle part of the film because it goes on a bit too long with characters that begin to stop carrying the film.
Still, "Pitch Black" works as simply above-average entertainment. Taking a bit from a few previous sci-fi films, it makes these elements feel at least a little bit fresher than usual.
There are R and Unrated versions of the DVD out. The Unrated version adds about three minutes worth of footage to the film.
The DVD
VIDEO: I didn't get a chance to see "Pitch Black" in theaters, but watching this DVD I was instantly stunned by the almost hauntingly beautiful cinematography by David Eggby("Dragonheart", "Daylight") which gives the film one of the wildest "looks" I've seen in ages. Universal's presentation here is one of their best that I can remember, with perfect sharpness and detail, and clarity even in the complete darkness of the eclipse is very good.
Colors are strong too, although much of the time the film sticks to a certain color, but it still is a stunning look - whether the sharp blues of the early part of the film or otherwise, colors look solid. Black level is strong, as well. I was also impressed with how smooth the picture is, and the fact that the usual problems that we sometimes see never distract here. I noticed no instances of pixelation or shimmer, and the print used is in remarkably great shape, with only two very tiny, brief instances where I saw a couple of marks on the print used.
"Pitch Black" is a great looking film, with a wild visual style that really is presented extremely well here. Universal has done an excellent job, and fans of the film will be very pleased with how impressive it looks here.
SOUND: "Pitch Black" is a film where the sound is great in "moments". For instance, the opening crash sequence sounds marvelous and intense. The first half of the film really doesn't involve much in the way of agressive audio, and is mainly devoted to dialogue and the occasional touch of music.
The second half of the film has the sound definitely waking up as the aliens do. The creatures attacking and generally being around is the cause allows for some wonderfully creepy uses of sound as the alien's strangely beautiful and eerie noises seem to be coming from everywhere. The surrounds become much more agressive during this half of the film, and as a result, the level of tension that was begining to be lacking during the first half of the film suddenly comes in in a big way. Bass is also strong at times.
Universal again offers both DTS and Dolby Digital soundtracks for "Pitch Black", and although there are some differences between the two, they are not terribly major. The DTS soundtrack seems subtly fuller and more powerful, with better detail. Where the Dolby soundtrack was good, listening to the DTS soundtrack intensifies, at least somewhat, that feeling an attack could come from any side towards the characters.
MENUS:: Menus are pretty basic, with only limited film-themed images serving as backgrounds. The score plays behind the main menu, but that's the only "touch" added here.
EXTRAS:
Commentary: This is a commentary from director David Twohy as well as actors Vin Diesel and Cole Hauser. It's not a bad commentary track, but it's sometimes a rather unenergetic one now and then. Diesel and Twohy do the majority of the talking, chatting about what it was like to film some of the bigger scenes of the movie and pointing out many of the details that audiences might have missed. Some of the stories from the set about how things were accomplished are fun to listen to, as well. Hauser occasionally adds his viewpoint on what his scenes were like to film, as well. There are some pauses now and then, and although some areas are slow going, there are some points where I enjoyed listening to the story of how "Pitch Black" was made.
Commentary: This is a more technical commentary with director David Twohy reappearing with producer Tom Engelwood and visual effects supervisor Peter Chang. I would have liked for cinematographer David Eggby to have been included in this discussion so that he could chat about the work he did to create the movie's visual look, but there is still an enjoyable amount of information about how the effects and look were created here. Chang chats about how the special effects were created and how some of the bigger scenes were achieved. Twohy participates here as well, and generally serves as leader. I didn't think the commentary went too technical in the terms offered, and if you've listened to some of the other "technical" commentary tracks out there, this one is pretty similar.
Although this commentary is more technical, I thought it seemed more energetic at times, and sounded like this group was having a bit more fun. There are some pauses now and then, but the group talks for the majority of the film. Although both commentary tracks are enjoyable, I actually liked this one a little bit more.
Making Of: A documentary that lasts about 5 minutes or so is included here, and it doesn't provide much information to the making of the film - much of it is "extended trailer"-ish, with interviews and and chat about the story. A few interesting moments, but it could have been better.
Raveworld Event: A strange documentary that shows video of what were apparently "underground parties" that were held to promote the movie. Not a lot to get out of it, and at 20 minutes it goes too long.
Trailers: Both the general and "red" trailers are included.
Also: Production notes, cast/crew bios.
Final Thoughts: "Pitch Black" is recommended, but not in that "must-see" way. It's simply a mildly entertaining couple of hours, and Universal's DVD presents the film quite well.
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