When their ship crash-lands on a remote planet, the marooned passengers soon learn that escaped convict Riddick isn't the only thing they have to fear. Deadly creatures lurk in the shadows, waiting to attack in the dark, and the planet is rapidly plunging into the utter blackness of a total eclipse. With the body count rising, the doomed survivors are forced to turn to Riddick with his eerie eyes to guide them through the darkness to safety. With time running out, there's only one rule: Stay in the light.
Pitch Black is one of those annoyingly noisy outer-space thrillers where you can't figure out the characters' names at first, and when you finally do, they are either dead or you hate them.
– Susan Wloszczyna,
USA Today,
1 Jan 2000
rotten:
In the movie's last hour, writer-director David Twohy pretends to explore his stick figures' moral choices, and he forgets to deliver the thrills.
– Steve Murray,
Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
The film works because it's strong on fundamentals: fear of the dark, fear of helplessness, fear of the unknown, and fear of unpredictable human behavior.
– Tom Keogh,
Film.com,
1 Jan 2000
rotten:
The script is a compendium of science-fiction cliches, familiar in Hollywood movies since the early fifties.
– Liam Lacey,
Globe and Mail,
22 Mar 2002
fresh:
A smart, suspenseful sci-fi movie from director Twohy, whose underrated 1996 film, The Arrival, also brought visual imagination and intelligence to the genre.