Wannabe writer/critic currently selling PCs - and my soul - at PC World. Spent a lot of time crashi...
Wannabe writer/critic currently selling PCs - and my soul - at PC World. Spent a lot of time crashing intellectual parties in Prague. Now being nice on Ciao! UK.
Member since:13.12.2000
Reviews:116
Members who trust:39
Firstly, nowhere in this review will be words such as "Alien-like" or "Alien-esque". That's just lazy reviewing - just because a film features a bunch of characters battling against aliens doesn't mean it's a rip off. More on that in a moment, but this is beginning to sound like I'm defending this movie...
Which I'm not, because it's a tragic wasted of a great idea. You're alone in the dark, surrounded by ferocious aliens, and your only protection against them is light. And there's a total eclipse. It's an idea that had Fat Harry Knowles over at "Ain't It Cool" and all the other nerds frothing with excitement - and I have to admit, the trailer got me rather moist when I first saw it over a year ago.
The trouble is, the full potential of this idea is wasted. It could have been exploited to the full, producing a terrifying sci-fi classic. The reason it doesn't happen is because the first half of the movie is filled with the film's OTHER plot - survivors from a crashed space ship battle against an intergalactic serial killer. Either plot would have worked well by itself, but with both stories crammed into one movie, neither is given the attention it deserves.
On the plus side, Van Diesel as Riddick makes a cool anti-hero, growling one liners and acting hard. Due to the no-name cast, the audience is left wondering who will be next. Unfortunately, the real good guy and real bad guy are revealed far too early, losing most of the suspense.
Now. Reasons why Pitch Black isn't "Alien-like" or "Alien-esque". Firstly, the aliens themselves. Giger's indelible creations had a clearly defined structure to their hive - egg, face-hugger, alien, alien queen...then some weird, unimpressive alien-human-thing. The poorly designed CGI non-entities of Pitch Black aren't particularly scary - E.T is more terrifying in close up. When will people realise CGI isn't scary?
The Alien quartet was never less than believable (Ok, so the fourth one was bloody silly) leaving the audience in little doubt that if there was a ravenous horde of aliens out there somewhere, they would be very much like Giger's acid drippers. Pitch Black leaves a nagging doubt - ok, so these nocturnal creatures live underground on a planet with three suns. There is a solar eclipse every 22 years. How do these things survive again? Shouldn't they be extinct by now?
The plots: Alien - "Haunted house in space" with terrifying creature stalking Ripley and the crew around a massive space ship. Aliens - Ripley and some gung-ho grunts descend to an alien planet to "kick" some "ass". Instead getting their "asses" "kicked" and leaving all the rescuing up to Ripley. Alien 3, new twist - alien in a prision colony, where they have no means of defending themselves. Alien Resurrection - through the magic of DNA, Ripley's back from the dead to kick some more carapace, this time before the slobbery ones reach Earth.
So. The plot of Pitch Black is only vaguely similar to Alien 3, in that the Pitch Black bunch don't have any real means of defending themselves against the beasts.
Pitch Black is a tragic waste of a great idea. It should have gone into the canon of sci-fi greats, but ends up as merely engrossing popcorn entertainment. See it - but prepare to be frustrated.
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Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
Hiya.
I've just read your review on 'Pitch Black'. I've also recently seen the movie and was neither particularly enthralled by it. But, I think it does have its plus points. Surely the whole point of not concentrating on the first plot is so that we don't emphasise with the characters - thus we are not too concerned when they all get carried away by strange bird-like aliens (!)
Nevertheless, I really like your style and enjoyed your review.
Lou xxx
Pitch Blackis a guilty pleasure that surpasses expectations, even though it owes a major ... more
debt toAlienand its cinematic spawn. As he did withThe Arrival, director David Twohy revitalises a derivative story, allowing you to forgive its flaws and submit t...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: The best individual acting performance you'll see for years. Generally brilliant Disadvantages: Not for the faint-hearted. You'll be scared of the dark for months
superpricee 09.10.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Pitch Black (DVD)
![Pitch Black [DVD] [2000]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78524226.jpg "Pitch Black [DVD] [2000]")
Dec 19th, 2000
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