Pitch Black (2000)

A group of marooned space travelers struggle for survival on a seemingly lifeless sun-scorched world.

Director:

David Twohy

Writers:

Jim Wheat (story), Ken Wheat (story),

Stars:

Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
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
Ric Anderson	...	Total Stranger
Vic Wilson	...	Captain Tom Mitchell
Angela Moore	...	Dead Crew Member

Storyline

The space transport vessel "Hunter-Gratzner" carrying 40 people on-board crashes on a desert planet when the ship is struck in a meteor storm. There are only 12 survivors, among them are pilot Carolyn Fry (Who has assumed command after the ship's captain is killed), bounty hunter William J. Johns, religious man Abu Al-Walid, Antiques dealer Paris P. Ogilvie, runaway teenager Jack, settlers John 'Zeke' Ezekiel and his lover Sharon 'Shazza' Montgomery and Richard B. Riddick, a dangerous escaped convict. Marooned, the 10 survivors finds the barren and hot desert-scape has sunlight from three suns. Not only must they find food and water and worry about Riddick, the survivors find themselves being hunted by the planet's flesh-eating alien inhabitants when the planet is engulfed in darkness, which happens every 22 years, as they emerge from underground to hunt and eat all signs of life. Fry and the survivors find Riddick is their best chance of survival, as Riddick has surgically-enhanced ...

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Plot Keywords:

darkness | survival | desert planet | criminal | spaceship | 

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Taglines:

There's A New Reason To Be Afraid Of The Dark.

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sci-fi violence and gore, and for language

Details

Official Sites:

Showbizz.net (French) [ca] USA Films

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic

Release Date:

18 February 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Nightfall

Filming Locations:

Queensland, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

$23,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£900,663 (UK) (10 November 2000)

Gross:

£2,702,570 (UK) (8 December 2000)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Polygram Filmed Entertainment, Interscope Communications

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min 112 min (unrated)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

While waiting between takes the lighting team would set up several 5k lights to allow the rest of the crew to warm up, before they had to go back to work in the sub 50F weather.

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Goofs

When they are all in the room, drinking water, discussing what happened to the previous miners, the bruise on Riddick's head disappears between shots.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Riddick: [voiceover] They say most of your brain shuts down in cryo-sleep. All but the primitive side, the animal side. No wonder I'm still awake. Transporting me with civilians. Sounded like 40, 40-plus. Heard an Arab voice. Some hoodoo holy man, probably on his way to New Mecca. But what route? What route? I smelt a woman. Sweat, boots, tool belt, leather. Prospector type. Free settlers. And they only take the back roads. And here's my real problem. Mr. Johns... the blue-eyed devil. ...

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Crazy Credits

The persons and events in this production are fictitious. No similarity to actual persons or predators, living or dead, is intended or should be inferred.

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Connections

Referenced in Mass Effect 2 (2010)

User Reviews

An Excellent use of Sci-Fi as a story telling medium

While most movies that pit humans against horrendous extra terrestrials end up being cheap imitations of the 'Aliens' series, Pitch Black stands as a fine piece of Sci-Fi, and an excellent movie all around. Perhaps my favorite aspect of the film is the lighting. This movie beautifully employs many different colors, shades and intensities of light which set the mood and lend a unique feeling to the film itself, something different than the 'normal' movie lighting we are generally subjected to. Vin Diesel brings his character to life in an excellent manner, skillfully avoiding the routine portrayal of the hardened criminal. After all, the film is about Riddick's (Diesel's character) personal journey, so thankfully Vin doesn't drop the ball. The remainder of the cast (with the exception of the talented and gorgeous Claudia Black) were unknown to me but all turned in marvelous performances, animating the diverse characters with unique quirks and mannerisms. Pitch Black is a perfect example of making a great film with out the resources of an excessive budget. The special effects are more than adequate, but at the same time they are by no means the sole focus, as in many high budget 'blockbusters'. It's a great movie because it uses Science Fiction as a medium to tell an engaging, provoking story, rather then telling a mediocre story to use the flash of Science Fiction.