Sept. 11, 2005 - 11:18 am

8 cover
Pitch Black (2000)

i think i went to see this at the theater when it first came out. i don't remember what drew my attention to it in the first place, but i do remember seeing the tagline at one point, which i thought was one of the coolest i had ever heard: Fight Evil With Evil. Jill and i decided it was time to see it again.

Pitch Black is about a group of people who crash land on an alien planet and then try to figure out a way to escape. their main problem is that they have an escaped murderer named Riddick (Vin Diesel) on the loose. after one of their number is mysteriously and brutally killed, they quickly realize that Riddick did not kill the man, but some sort of monster on the planet did. as a total eclipse begins, they join forces with Riddick and begin working their way towards an emergency spacecraft they have found. the monsters, who are physically injured by any significant source of light, begin to engulf the planet once the eclipse has begun and the people must fight for their lives with what little light they have with them.

i thought this was a wonderful plotline and very interesting. the acting in the film is also quite strong...even from Vin Diesel. he fit his character very well. this movie actually came out before Diesel was very well known. he hadn't yet been in terrible action movies like The Fast and the Furious (2001) or xXx (2002). he was an unknown actor to me. that made the movie very very cool i think. if you watch it now, i think you have to watch it throught the eyes of someone who already knows who and "what" Vin Diesel is. i really enjoyed the movie when i first saw it with eyes that had never seen Vin Diesel before.

anyway, i think you'll agree if you watch it now, that he does a good job in the movie and overall it's a very exciting and interesting action/sci-fi film. i'm not tired of watching it yet.