Cheap The Chronicles of Riddick - Pitch Black (Widescreen Unrated Director's Cut) (DVD) (Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser) (David Twohy) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Chronicles of Riddick - Pitch Black (Widescreen Unrated Director's Cut)

Richard B. Riddick, Escaped Convict, Murderer.
Oh, the joy that is Pitch Black. It starts out in space, with a voice-over by Vin Diesel. All you know about him is that he's a criminal being transported. Suddenly, the confusion starts...the ship is being hit by something, and a crash landing is necessary. The first huge moral dilema is presented within the first four or five minutes of the film. It is brilliant because it sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Cole Hauser plays Johns, the man in charge of transporting Riddick...he's concerned only about his payday. There's Jack, the young boy running away from something, and Imam and his students/proteges, on a trip to New Mecca.

The fun really begins when they finally find some water...and realize they're not alone on the planet. The planet goes dark for the first time in 22 years, and the creatures come out for some feeding. Survivors start getting picked off one by one, internal debates heat up, and you really wonder what Riddick will do...or even Johns, for that matter. I love movies where there's no clear-cut "hero" character. We all have our flaws, and they are all on display in this movie.

The DVD presentation is fantastic. The picture and sound quality are top-notch. There's not as much behind-the-scenes stuff as you might want, but this movie was made years ago on a small, $20 million budget. The best special feature is the commentary by Twohy, Cole Hauser, and Vin Diesel. They give a lot of cool insights into the film, discuss what they think worked and didn't work, and what they tried to add to the film. I highly recommend this DVD.

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are YOU afraid of the dark?
Pitch black is easily one of my favourite sci fi films, as it combines more than just the typical 'kill/run from the aliens' scenario, it actually has good characters, and a few surprises. The plot is as basic as any other sci fi flick: a ship crash lands on a deserted planet. It's passengers include a dead captain, the pilot forced into command, a cop, a religious man, a few children, and a deadly prisoner, who makes a hasty retreat from the ship shortly after the crash. During their search for water while bearing the heat of the 3 suns that scorch the planet, the group comes across many skeletons and a tiny ship, that only needs a bit of fixing up to leave. But the escaped convict and whatever lives underground in the darkness has other plans. This movie has a lot going for it, especially the great acting from it's stars Vin Diesel, the underrated Keith David, and the beautiful Radha Mitchell. The special effects are great as well. The violence is a little weak (although women and children are not spared), but it's enough. As for the dvd itself, i was very surprised. Most of the time movies set in darkness are very fuzzy looking (like the horrible transfer of The Relic), but there were only a few moments in Pitch Black where it looked mildly grainy. The special features of the disc aren't very special, but i'm happy with what was included. It could have been worse, and had just a trailer with it. Bottom line: awesome movie, awesome transfer, and good dvd features.

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muddled and dark.........
When I saw the previews recently of The Chronicles of Riddick,
I thought it might be interesting to see Pitch Black. Wrong.
From the first part of it, it looked cheap. That was my first
clue and from there it goes downhill. I frankly think Diesel
was much better in Fast and Furious than he was in this.
But I must say that he alone was the incentive to last as long
as I did. As far as the monsters, that go bump in the night,
anybody who compares them to those in Alien must be blind and
deaf......I found them interesting but definitely not scary, or maybe you needed to be there to see them in person? They reminded me in a way of the raptors from Jarassic Park particularly when they are congregating on the launch pad at the end of the film.
Total waste of time.
Perhaps 'Chronicles' will be different?
It definitely looks a bit more polished.