Pitch Black (film)
Pitch Black is a 2000 science fiction film, directed by David Twohy. It stars Radha Mitchell and Vin Diesel as its anti-hero, Riddick.
This movie is loosely based on Isaac Asimov's short story Nightfall. Initial concept art for the movie in fact, displays its title as Nightfall.
Tagline: Fight Evil With Evil
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Vin Diesel | Richard B. Riddick |
| Radha Mitchell | Carolyn Fry |
| Cole Hauser | William J. Johns |
| Keith David | Abu "Imam" al-Walid |
| Lewis Fitz-Gerald | Paris P. Ogilvie |
| Claudia Black | Sharon "Shazza" Montgomery |
| Rhiana Griffith | Jack/Jackie |
| John Moore | John "Zeke" Ezekiel |
| Simon Burke | Greg Owens |
| Les Chantery | Suleiman |
| Sam Sari | Hassan |
| Firass Dirani | Ali |
Plot
As the film opens, The Hunter Gratzner, a passenger spacecraft, crash-lands on a strange desert planet. Most of the ship is destroyed; only 12 people survive. Among them are: a dangerous criminal (Riddick, headed for a new prison) and his guard; the surviving pilot, Fry; some Islamic men (settlers headed for New Mecca); and some other men, women, and children.
Assessing the situation, they realise that the planet's three hot suns illuminate the surface continuously, creating the desert conditions. The ship's destruction has left them without food or water; only some meagre personal possessions including a stash of alcohol. Led by Fry, the survivors gather what little they have and set off in search of water.
The group is disoriented, scared, and barely cohesive. This is no brave band of survivors; there are personality problems and arguments right from the start. Nobody is happy to discover a dangerous criminal among them, either. Riddick has altered eyes which enable him to see in the dark, an adaptation to prison mines where he worked. Because of this light-sensitivity, he needs to wear welding goggles during daylight (especially in the harsh continuous sunlight of this planet).
The survivors find strange boneyards and then lose a person in a bloody struggle near a burrow. Is the escaped Riddick to blame? Fry investigates and encounters strange creatures living underground. Riddick tells the survivors that they now have something other than him to fear.
Near the boneyards, they find an abandoned research base. This provides a water generator and some shelter. Even better, there is hope for escaping the planet, in the form of a small spacecraft (the skiff). But why is the base abandoned? An encounter with the flying creatures kills another survivor. Then it is discovered that the three suns will eclipse each other soon, and not rise again for months.
The skiff needs power cells to restart its electrical systems, for which they must return to the ruins of their ship. But then the suns set—all of them. In the dark, the creatures of the night begin to stalk the survivors. Riddick becomes's one of the group's most important assets.
Hiding in their ship with their only sources of light, they make a plan to take the power cells back to the skiff. Riddick, with his superior night vision, leads the remaining survivors through the dark. The group takes all their available light sources with them after learning that light damages the aliens.
En route to the settlement and the skiff, the group loses several people to the aliens with just four people—Riddick, Jack, Carolyn, and Imam—to reach the canyon just before the settlement. When most of their light sources (save a flashlight) are gone, the three remain in a cave while Riddick heads back to the ship promising to return with more light.
While waiting in the cave, they discover little creatures with bioluminescence. They put the creatures into a bottle and Carolyn makes for the skiff. Carolyn finds Riddick in the skiff preparing to take off. She realizes that he had intended on leaving them behind.
After a discussion and minor physical brawl, Carolyn talks Riddick into going back for Jack and Imam. On their way back, Riddick has trailed behind and is surrounded by two aliens. Carolyn, who had made it back to the skiff, subsequently finds Riddick with a severe leg injury (incurred in his off-screen fight with the aliens). During Carolyn's desperate help to Riddick in getting back to the ship, an alien pulls her away into the darkness.
Riddick makes it back to the skiff to find Imam and Jack waiting. In a final show of Riddick's true nature, he waits for the aliens to close on the ship and puts the engine at full throttle to burn the aliens.
Related works
The film's sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick, was released in 2004 and was also directed by David Twohy. A short anime film, Dark Fury, directed by Peter Chung, was also released that year. Dark Fury bridges the gap between Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick.
A prequel, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, a game for the Xbox and the PC, was also released in 2004.
External links
