Pitch Black was a little small budget sci-fi movie released
in 2000 that was directed by David Twohy.
It was a simple story of a transport ship that crashed on deserted
planet. The survivors include a cop and
the prisoner he is transporting who has had eye surgery to allow him to see in
the dark. This becomes very useful when
the planet enters into a month-long eclipse, releasing dangerous predators that
only come out in the dark. The survivors
struggle to find power cells for their ship to get off the planet, and not get
eaten in the process. Also – Cole Hauser
shoots up in his tear duct, for real.
It felt unique and intimate, and was a surprising success
because it was made for so little. It
also helped propel Vin Diesel into pop culture awareness. He had certainly been around before then,
appearing in various films (Saving Private Ryan) and working on passion
projects (he founded his production company, One Race Films, in 1995). Pitch Black was the perfect project for this
larger-than-life action star who then rocketed to success with The Fast and the
Furious in the next year (2001). The
intimate and uniqueness of Pitch Black was wiped away by the complete mess that
was Chronicles of Riddick (2004).
The movie simply out-stretched itself, trying too hard to be
too much. The best part of it was Karl
Urban’s performance as Vaako. Riddick
bumbles around the universe, trying to get home to Furya. In the process, he stumbles across the girl
he met in Pitch Black, a bunch of necromancers, and Judi Dench as some sort of
wind-person. I really cannot explain the
plot more than that. It made no
sense. By the end, the girl had died,
and Riddick was on the throne. The movie left such a sour taste in fans’ mouths that it has
taken 9 years to make another one.
In
the meantime, Vin made a couple of kids movies, some serious movies, and mostly
over-the-top action movies. Some were
good, and some were not. XXX was
terrible, A Man Apart was boring, and the Pacifier was a little insulting. Once he got back behind the wheel of a
Fast/Furious Car with Fast Four (Fast and Furious), things started to look
up. Fast Five was incredible, and this
spring’s Fast Six was completely ridiculous, but left me crazy excited for Fast
Seven, due next year.
For Riddick, David Twohy is back on board, and attempts to
bring back the intimate feel of the original.
We find Riddick where we left him, on the throne, but miserable. He still just wants to get home to
Furya. He sets out with some troops, but
surprise! They betray him and maroon him on a hostile, mostly barren
world.
He contemplates some things, does
some monologue-ing, and basically decides that the mistake he made was getting
civilized, and it’s now time to get back to being feral. He battles some vicious creatures that live
on the planet, learning how to defeat a particularly nasty water-dwelling poisonous
serpent deal while befriending a dog-like stripey jackal thing. He sets out across the planet with his
domesticated jackal at his side, when he finds a bounty hunter station. He seems content to ignore it, until he
notices some storms heading in. That’s no big deal, except the storms wet the ground, and when the ground gets wet, more of those creepy serpent deals (which were hibernating underground) come out to play.
He sets off a beacon,
knowing it will bring in a team of bounty hunters to him, so he can take their
ship and head home. Sure enough, not one but two teams of bounty hunters
arrive. The first is a rag-tag group of
shifty-looking guys, with more firepower than brains. The second group is a bunch of well-trained
professional mercenaries. The leader of
the mercenary group has been hunting Riddick for quite some time, for personal
reasons. The two groups fight each other
for a while, until Riddick starts taking them out one at a time, and they
decide to ‘work’ together. Riddick and
his Jackal (warning: do not get too attached to the Jackal – sniffle) hold them
off for a while, but then the storm gets closer, and he moves in, needing to
get off the planet.
The cast in this is pretty fun:
- Vin Diesel again plays Riddick, and while he is absolutely Dom Toretto, he’s also absolutely Riddick. He’s quietly rumbly and dangerous. Whether or not you love him as an actor – you can love him in this role. The see-in-the-dark eyes are still creepy, so the goggles and tank-top are beginning to make for an iconic profile.
- Jordi Molla (who I remember from Columbiana) plays the head of the less organized bounty hunter squad. He’s slimy and creepy and quite a bit evil. He’s also the reason you should not get too attached to the Jackal, which is the reason I don’t mind telling you that his end is fittingly gruesome.
- Matt Nable plays the head of the organized merc squad. He’s grim and determined, and has a personal reason for tracking down Riddick, which I thought played pretty well. He’s an Australian and a former pro-rugby player whose physicality really suits this role. I don’t think I’ve seen him in anything else, but I was pretty impressed by him in this.
- Katee Sackhoff (new Starbuck) plays Dahl, and is the only female in the movie, aside from a bunch of naked concubines in the beginning when Riddick is still ruling, and one escaped convict who lasts about 23 seconds (played by singer Keri Hilson – why?). You’ve probably heard she’s topless in this – and it’s pretty pointless, so that was irritating. She does hold her own, and is swiftly becoming one of the go-to tough chicks in movies today (thank goodness, I’m sure Michelle Rodriguez and Zoe Saldana were getting tired). She is a bit one-note in this, but that one note is badass, which she does well. I would like to throw her in the ring as Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel) for the Marvel universe movies; she’d be perfect for that.
- Dave Bautista continues to add to his acting resume by playing Diaz, one of the bad bounty hunters. He’s quietly becoming very good, and I cannot wait to see him in Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s not that he gets to show any talent in this, he’s basically a henchman, but he makes the most of the small moments he has.
- Bokeem Woodbine surprisingly appears as one of the professional mercenaries. He has even less to do – his only major scene involves getting snuck-up-on by Riddick, then being shocked about it.
- Karl Urban does reprise his role as Vaako for one scene, and that wasn’t nearly enough Urban for me, but I’m sure he’s busy hopefully preparing a Dredd sequel, and prepping for another average Star Trek outing.
Overall, it was very fun, very over-the-top, and much closer
to the original Pitch Black then to the terrible Chronicles of Riddick. The effects were well done, and the creatures
were interesting. It’s worth checking
out, just make sure to leave your brain at the door. One thing that did really annoy me was the
constant hitting-on of Sackhoff’s Dahl.
I get that she’s the only woman on the planet, but really guys? Everyone has to threaten to rape her? She beats the shit out of Molla’s character
repeatedly and he continues to insinuate he’s going to hit that. Even Riddick makes a few unnecessary comments
when he encounters the whole group. That
was disappointing. It’s the future,
clearly she’s a capable soldier, back
off that nonsense. It will be
interesting to see if Riddick gets to Furya, and what exactly that place is
like.
8 out of 10. Gained points
for Riddick standing naked on a cliff in the distance during sunset. Very introspective, and symbolic, since he
states it’s time for him to lose civilization and get back to being primal. Lost points for Dahl being topless while
prepping for a mission, no symbolism there, just a PTS. Gained points for the Jackal, that thing had
really cool ears. Lost points for losing
him (he was protecting Riddick). Gained
points for Dave. Lost points for
everyone aggressively hitting on Dahl – including Riddick. Ick.
Bonus Video 1: The
Big Hit – Bokeem Woodbine at his weirdest…and the most insane performance from
LDP you will ever see.
Bonus Video 2: The
Pacifier trailer, if you haven’t seen this…you’re lucky.
Bonus Video 3: Fast
6, come on – it was awesome.
Bonus Video 4: Cast
Interviews:
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