"Pitch Black" Movie Review

            Pitch Black came out in 2000, as the start to the Riddick Trilogy, which now has its newest installment in theaters everywhere today, Riddick. The film’s premise is that a ship gets pelted with many meteorites, causing it to start to crash into a planet that just happens to be there. When the crew is learning about the planet, prisoner Riddick (Vin Diesel) gets freed right before several other planet’s block this one’s two suns, causing there to be no light. The crew and Riddick then have to get back to a ship while monsters are hunting them down.

            How was the acting?

            The acting in Pitch Black had some very good and some very bad aspects of it. Some good things are Vin Diesel plays Riddick very well, and I couldn’t tell that he was acting. Radha Mitchell was also very good in her role as Carolyn Fry. Cole Hauser was good in his role as William J. Johns. Though, the rest of the actors were either mediocre or not that great. The child actors did not do well in this film, and most of the supporting cast was “blah”. Some more talented actors could have been chosen for any of the roles except for Riddick. Vin Diesel owns that role. The acting was mediocre in this film, though.

            How was the writing?

            The screenplay had its ups and downs, but mostly it wasn’t incredible, but I didn’t have many problems with it. There was some cheesy dialogue, and there some illogical or unrealistic things that would happen (other than the Sci-Fi storyline, which I have no problem with), but there wasn’t much of that. One “up” of the screenplay was that characters had drama with each other and some had personal problems that made the story better. It even caused for some intense dialogue between characters, which is very impressive. There’s also another “down” of the screenplay, though. This is only something that happens during the first 30 minutes of the movie, but it took me out of the movie. Twice something happens where someone thinks there’s someone behind them, but it’s someone else. The first time, I laughed, but the second time, it pulled me out of the film, because there was this big setup for it, and I predicted what happened, too.

            Did it have an interesting premise?

            I did basically see this film because I’ll be seeing Riddick tomorrow, but I did think this premise was interesting. It started out interesting and as it went on it got more interesting. It did have a somewhat dull beginning, but it redeemed itself with some of the later plot events. The events that happened in the 45 minutes of the film weren’t the best, and some were even bad, but as I said, later events made up for it. The story gets better, it gets more intense, and there are even character problems later. The story overall was good, but it had a more solid second half and a weaker first half.

            Was it entertaining or boring?

            The first 30 minutes of the film did have some moments that lasted too long and became boring, and there was one scene where this was supposed to be thrill, but there wasn’t any, and also had dull moments, but the entire rest of the film was better than entertaining, it was enjoyable. The 30-minute span as the introduction to the movie was enjoyable (other than the parts I was talking about), and the next 15 minutes were also enjoyable; some scenes were good. The second half of the film was all at least good in every scene. It really surprised me that this movie would be that entertaining?

            What things in particular did I like about the film (that I haven’t already said)?

            It showed Riddick’s vision (he can see in the dark) in several scenes and showed the monsters (that were against them)’s vision, which called for very, very cool and sometimes even intense shots in the film. Most of the action sequences were very good, and I was satisfied with the ending. The last 10 minutes of the film were excellent.

            What things in particular did I dislike about the film (that I haven’t already said)?

            Some of the special effects that were used were outdated, and in some of the shots it seemed like they used a two-dimensional camera to film it. I’ve already touched up on the other things I didn’t like in the film.

            How was it overall?

            Pitch Black was enjoyable almost the whole time, good for a large portion of the time, had a good story, had mostly good events, had very good action, some intense scenes with just dialogue, good and somewhat deep characters, and had very good action, but also had mediocre acting, an alright screenplay, dull moments, and some sequences that last too long. It was a very good film overall.

            Do I recommend this film?

            I do very much recommend watching Pitch Black to anyone who is considering watching it, because I really enjoyed the film, and I probably wouldn’t mind watching it again?

            What’s this film’s rating?

            Out of my rating scale, it is Worth Seeing in the Theatre.
            I also give it an 8/10 on the “out of 10” scale.
            On the grading rating scale, I give it a B+.

            Will I buy this film?

            Since my rating for it is “Worth Seeing in the Theater”, I will not being buying Pitch Black, because “I’ll Probably Buy This” is the rating above “Worth Seeing in the Theater”. The film would have been worth buying if the first act (30-45 minutes) of it would have been better than it was. That was the main thing holding the film back from going up a rating.