Diesel powered 'Pitch Black' comes at you full steam with the lights off
"Pitch Black"
*** out of five
Rated R for Vin Diesel.
Imagine "Starship Troopers" with the
lights off.
That's the pitch for "Pitch Black," the moodily cool
sci-fi thriller from director David Twohy that pits a crew of space
refugees against a race of flesh eating crazy monster bugs that only
come out at night. The crew figure it's a good thing they won't have
to deal with these monsters a lot since they're on a planet with three
suns. But then along comes a big ol' solar eclipse and they're all screwed.
The crew, which includes the lawman (Cole Hauser,
best known as the hate-crazed Remy from "Higher Learning"), the guy
with the accent, the prisoner (bad as hell Vin Diesel), the religious
guy (Keith David) and the chick (Radha Mitchell), is a colorful assortment
of B-movie cliches, that sounds not unlike the set up for a "...walks
into a bar" joke.
In fact, all of "Pitch Black" is a knowing and truehearted
B-movie, but spares the audience of any "Scream"-like irreverence or
stupid asides. Thankfully, there's not one comic quip or one liner the
entire movie.
Instead, we're treated to the actors, a relative
cast of unknowns who bring on board with them zero star baggage. And
we're treated to the work of a director who knows the palate from which
he's drawing from, who by twirking and tweaking this and/or that makes
the damn coolest movie he can.
For example, to create the visual effect of being
on a planet that is home to three (count 'em!) suns, Twohy uses film
stock that looks as if it were bleached out and left in the Arizona
desert for a week or two, which gives the film an awash-orange tinge.
And when the film goes dark, he keeps the visual style alive by draping
his cast in fluorescent tubes, which not only makes them look damn cool,
but keeps the aliens away from them, too (they're allergic to light
- see, it serves the plot!).
And as in most sci-fi thrillers were humans are up
against non-humans, there are a handful of rad alien P.O.V. shots, which
are here done in what looks like warp speed silver 3-D casings.
And the alien things themselves, which also have
the ability to fly, look like evil hybrids of pterodactyls, velociraptors
and hammerhead sharks. They have short tempers and sharp teeth, and
they hate humans.
So "Pitch Black," while not necessarily breaking
any new ground, creates a cool world and makes for a decent and knowing
"Alien" tribute. In the end, it has the slight feel of a film unfinished
or unsure how to wrap everything up, but by that point it's already
broken a few major rules of engagement (letting the bad guy win, etc.),
so you give it the benefit of the doubt.
But Vin Diesel steals the show, much like George
Clooney did in "From Dusk Till Dawn." As Riddick, the psychopath loose
cannon who's chained up Hannibal Lecter-style when we first meet him
and whose animalistic narration opens "Pitch Black," Vin Diesel gives
an ultra-convincing performance as a megacool badass whom you want to
root for and are rewarded for doing so.
In his tank top and black goggles, it's not hard
to imagine Vin being the future of action movies. But Vin's one step
ahead of you; he also steals the show in the testosterone fueled stock
market prick flick "Boiler Room" (which also opened this weekend), where
he does a 180 as a friendly, somewhat compassionate badass playa millionaire.
All of which is to say that if he sustains the buzz he built for himself
this past weekend, he not only has a few Grahammys in his future, but
will too reap the rewards of Hollywood stardom (big bucks, lotsa roles)
and all that comes with it (like Winona Ryder as a girlfriend). Vin
rocks.
As Fry ("Futurama," anyone?), Radha Mitchell also
makes a good impression, and lives to see another day in "Pitch Black."
When it comes to serious straight to video sci-fi
horror, "Pitch Black" is the best straight-to-video sci-fi horror flick
that wasn't straight-to-video since the Canadian math thriller "Cube."
Leave a light on for it.
