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.
In the film, dangerous criminal Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel) 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.
Plot summary
The movie opens in the 26th century, as the transport ship Hunter/Gratzner accidentally crosses through a comet's tail while on auto-pilot. The ship along with 10 passengers survives a crash onto a strange (and, as it appears initially, brightly lit) desert planet called Hades. Because of the planet's complex orbit among its three suns, planet Hades experiences almost perpetual daylight. Among the survivors are Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell), the ship's docking pilot; a Muslim Imam (Keith David) with his three novices Ali (Firass Dirani), Hassan (Sam Sari) and Suleiman (Les Chantery); a young runaway named Jack (Rhiana Griffith); an antique dealer named Paris P. Ogilvie (Lewis Fitz-Gerald); two Australian prospectors, Zeke (John Moore) and Shazza (Claudia Black); a bounty hunter named William J. Johns (Cole Hauser), and Johns' captured target, a dangerous criminal named Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel) who has had an illegal surgical procedure performed on his eyes to give him perfect night vision.
In the confusion following the crash, 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 disappears. Riddick is caught shortly afterward by Johns, and Shazza accuses Riddick of killing Zeke. At Riddick's urging, Fry investigates the cave near the location where Zeke was killed, and discovers that a hive 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 called a 'skiff' is discovered several miles from the crash site, near a canyon filled with the skeletons of long-dead native creatures. While exploring the deserted base, Ali investigates the settlement's coring room, and accidentally awakens a juvenile swarm of the creatures, and is subsequently killed. The survivors have a much more pressing issue, however. An astronomical model reveals that a total eclipse of unknown duration of Hades is imminent and the survivors must escape before it begins, as the creatures will emerge from beneath the ground into the darkness. They immediately head back to the crash site to retrieve their ship's power cells, which they need to power up the skiff they found in the settlement.
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 juvenile creatures during a dash for the wrecked ship. The group take shelter in a section of the cargo ship, but a pair of creatures force their way inside and 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 skiff with the required power cells, the survivors arm themselves with lights and attempt the journey back to the colony, with Riddick using his surgically-altered eyes to lead them 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 during a creature attack and attempts to flee, knocking over the power configuration and extinguishing the light. Without the protection the light offers, Paris is quickly devoured. The remaining survivors turn Paris' bottles of alcohol into torches and press on.
As the group makes their way back to the colony, Riddick remarks 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. Riddick responds by attacking Johns, wounding him and leaving him to be eaten by the creatures.
As the remaining survivors enter a large canyon, it starts raining, snuffing out their torches. After the creatures kill Suleiman, Riddick proceeds to the colony alone as the other three take shelter in a cave, where they discover a number of glowing, bioluminescent worms. Filling their empty alcohol bottles with them, Fry heads to the colony, where she finds Riddick preparing to take off in the ship without them. Impressed at Fry's instinct and skill in finding her way to the ship, Riddick callously asks her to come with him, and leave the Imam and Jack behind. Fry, guilty over her attempt to jettison their ship's passenger cabin during the crash, refuses, and attempts to force Riddick to help her rescue the others. 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 is separated from the group and attacked by two of the creatures. Fry goes back to look for him, and finds him with a severe leg injury. Telling Riddick she isn't willing to die for him, she helps him to his feet. As they try to reach the ship, Fry is impaled by one of the creatures and dragged off, leaving Riddick screaming "Not for me!" into the darkness.
Riddick makes it back to the ship to find the 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, and 'say goodnight'.
As they 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. Riddick responds by saying, "Tell 'em Riddick's dead. He died somewhere on that planet."
Cast
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).
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 to critical acclaim. 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.
See also
References
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