Pitch Black (film)
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| Pitch Black | |
 Theatrical Poster |
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| Directed by | David Twohy |
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| Produced by | Tom Engelman |
| Written by | Story: Jim Wheat Ken Wheat Screenplay: Jim Wheat Ken Wheat David Twohy |
| Starring | Vin Diesel Radha Mitchell Claudia Lee Black Cole Hauser Keith David Lewis Fitz-Gerald |
| Music by | Graeme Revell |
| Cinematography | David Eggby |
| Editing by | Rick Shaine |
| Distributed by | USA Films (USA theatrical) Universal Studios (all other rights) |
| Release date(s) | February 18, 2000 |
| Running time | 109 minutes |
| Language | English Arabic |
| Budget | $23,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | $53,187,659 |
| Followed by | The Chronicles of Riddick |
Pitch Black (also known as The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black) is a 2000 science fiction action movie directed by David Twohy and is recognized as the acting breakthrough of Vin Diesel who had previously been a bouncer and struggling actor.
In the film, a dangerous criminal (Richard B. Riddick) is being transported to prison in a cargo spacecraft. When the spaceship is damaged by comet debris and makes an emergency crash landing on an empty desert planet, Riddick escapes. However, when predatory flying alien creatures begin attacking the survivors, Riddick joins forces with the crew to develop a plan to escape the planet.
The film's total budget was estimated to be USD $23 million. It was a sleeper hit, grossing over $53 million worldwide. It has since developed its own cult following, particularly around the anti-hero Riddick. A sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick, was released in 2004.
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[edit] Plot summary
The movie opens in the 28th century, as a cargo spacecraft accidentally crosses through a comet's tail while on auto-pilot. The ship along with 10 passengers survives a crash onto a strange, brightly lit desert planet. Due to the planet's complex orbit among its three suns, there is perpetual daylight. Among the survivors are Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell), the ship's docking pilot; a bounty hunter named William J. Johns (Cole Hauser); a Muslim Imam (Keith David) with his three novices Ali (Firass Dirani), Hassan (Sam Sari) and Suleiman (Les Chantery); a young stowaway named Jack (Rhiana Griffith); an antique dealer named Paris P. Ogleby (Lewis Fitz-Gerald); and two Australian prospectors, Zeke (John Moore) and Shazza (Claudia Black), and Johns' captured target, a dangerous criminal named Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel) who (by some accounts) has had an illegal surgical procedure performed on his eyes to give him perfect night vision.
Riddick manages to escape, and Johns leaves to track him. When Zeke goes to bury the bodies of the ship's navigator and another dead colonist he is attacked by unseen creatures and brutally killed. Riddick is caught shortly afterward by Johns, and Shazza accuses Riddick of killing Zeke. At Riddick's urging, Fry investigates a cave and discovers that a colony of vicious creatures exists underground, though fortunately they stay in the caves where it is dark.
An abandoned geological research settlement with a supply of water and a small escape ship is discovered several miles from the crash site, near a canyon filled with the bones of the planet's ancient life (similar to Earth's elephant graveyards). While exploring the deserted base, Ali investigates the large coring room. He awakens a swarm of smaller creatures and is found flayed. The crash survivors have a much more pressing issue, however. An astronomical model reveals that a month-long total eclipse of the planet is imminent and the survivors must escape before it begins and the creatures emerge. They must retrieve power cells from the crashed ship to power the escape vehicle.
While they are retrieving the cells, the eclipse begins and the creatures attack. The group attempts to take shelter, but Shazza is violently torn apart by the smaller creatures during a dash for the wrecked ship. The group take shelter in a section of the cargo ship, until they find that the creatures have also found a way inside, when a pair of them devour Hassan. Johns shoots one of the creatures and upon inspecting the corpse, the group discover that the creatures are extremely photosensitive, to the point where their skin starts to peel and blister when light is directed upon it. Electing to make a dash for the ship with the power cells, the seven arm themselves with lights and attempt the journey back to the escape vehicle. Riddick uses his surgically-altered eyes to lead through the darkness. While at first well-illuminated, the large, brightly lit fiber optic cables the group have wrapped around them fail when Paris panics and attempts to flee, knocking over the power configuration and extinguishing the light. Without the protection the light offers, Paris is quickly devoured. The six make their way to a large canyon, which in turn leads to the settlement and salvation. Riddick says that the entire canyon is filled with the "Big Boys" and that "The girl" is bleeding, turning to Jack. "Jack" admits that she is a girl, saying she thought that people would respect her more if people thought she was male. Now, unfortunately, Jack is on her menstrual cycle, and the creatures are tracking the group by the scent of her blood. Johns speaks with Riddick, saying that if Jack's blood will attract the creatures, then maybe he should kill her and drag the body behind them as a distraction. After a brief pause, Riddick attacks Johns and they fight in a small circle of light created by flares. The fight lasts until the flares go out. Riddick sinks into the shadows as, without protection, Johns is eaten by a creature. As they enter the canyon it starts raining. The lights go out and Suleiman is grabbed by an alien and injured but Fry wards it off with a flashlight. They continue but Suleiman is again taken by a creature, too quickly for anyone to help. When most of their light sources are gone, the three remain in a cave while Riddick goes alone to the ship. In the cave the three discovers that it's filled with glowworm like slugs and fill bottles with them. Armed with this Fry goes after Riddick. Impressed at Fry's instinct and skill in finding her way to the ship, Riddick callously asks her to leave Imam and Jack behind. Fry initially accepts, but then overcomes her fears and pins Riddick to the ground, ordering him to help her rescue the remaining survivors. (During the initial crash, Fry had attempted to jettison the passenger compartment to save herself and the navigator, but was stopped by the latter.) Riddick then easily overpowers Fry and holds a knife to her throat, asking if she is willing to die for them. Fry states that she would. Riddick is once again impressed by Fry, and agrees to return to Imam and Jack, and the four then make their way to the ship.
On their way back, Riddick has trailed behind and is surrounded by two creatures. Fry, who had made it back to the skiff, subsequently finds Riddick with a severe leg injury, and leaves the ship to help him aboard. The final death is considered a twist ending; Fry, who Riddick found himself attracted to and was protecting throughout the film, is suddenly stabbed in the back by a creature and dragged into the darkness while trying to help him. Riddick screams "not for me", in response to Fry's earlier statements to him that she is "willing to die for them, not for you".
Riddick makes it back to the skiff to find Imam and Jack waiting. In a final stroke of revenge, he delays departure until the last possible second before engaging the engines at full throttle to incinerate the greatest possible number of advancing creatures.
As the three are leaving the planet, Jack asks what they should say if they run into bounty hunters or other law enforcers asking where to find Riddick. He responds by saying, "Tell 'em Riddick's dead. He died somewhere on that planet."
[edit] Cast
- Vin Diesel as Richard B. Riddick
- Radha Mitchell as Carolyn Fry
- Cole Hauser as William J. Johns
- Keith David as Abu "Imam" al-Walid
- Lewis Fitz-Gerald as Paris P. Ogilvie
- Claudia Black as Sharon "Shazza" Montgomery
- Rhiana Griffith as Jack
- John Moore as John "Zeke" Ezekiel
- Simon Burke as Greg Owens
- Les Chantery as Suleiman
- Sam Sari as Hassan
- Firass Dirani as Ali
- Vic Wilson as Captain Tom Mitchell
- Angela Moore as Dead Crewmember
[edit] Reception
Pitch Black opened in 1,832 theaters on February 18, 2000 and grossed $11,577,688 over its opening weekend, ranking #3 at the box office. The film has a domestic gross of $39,240,659 and a foreign gross of $13,947,000, giving it a worldwide total of $53,187,659.
On its release, it was met with mainly mixed reviews, and received a 58% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 97 reviews with an average rating of 5.7/10 (with a 36% approval rating from top critics and 82% from the RT community).
[edit] Related works
The movie's sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick, was released in 2004 and was also directed by David Twohy. A short animated movie, The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, directed by Peter Chung, was also released that year. Dark Fury bridges the gap between Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick. In 2000 a prequel to Pitch Black was released named Into Pitch Black, which was supposed to be a Documentary movie. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, a game for the Xbox and the PC, was also released in 2004. A remake of Butcher Bay, including a new campaign, was released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on April 7, 2009, under the title The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. As of 2009, two live-action sequels to The Chronicles of Riddick are currently in development with both David Twohy and Vin Diesel attached.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Pitch Black |
- Official movie website
- Pitch Black at the Internet Movie Database
- Pitch Black at Allmovie
- Pitch Black at Rotten Tomatoes
- Pitch Black at Box Office Mojo
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