Pitch Black (2000) | Sci-Fi Saturdays

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I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky. Paint it black.

Pitch Black is a sleeper hit that became a cult classic for both sci-fi and horror fans alike. It paved the way for a successful series of films starring Vin Diesel that built an interesting, and dystopian sci-fi future.

First Impressions

The trailer for Pitch Black has a prison transport crashing on a planet. Only nine people survive, and one prisoner escapes. He seems very dangerous, but is the least dangerous thing on this planet. Some creatures stalk the remaining survivors, but luckily they only need to stay in the daylight. Oh, an extended eclipse is occurring? That’s ominous. Hope you’re not scared of the dark.

Presented below is the trailer for the film.

The Fiction of The Film

While en route to the Tangier system, the merchant vessel Hunter/Gratzner experiences decompression from micro-meteorites. Caroline Fry (Radha Mitchell), the docking pilot, is the only crew to survive a crash into a barren, desert planet with three suns. She organizes with the other survivors which include a peace officer named Johns (Cole Hauser) transporting an extremely dangerous prisoner named Riddick (Vin Diesel). The first order of business is recapturing Riddick who has escaped while the survivors were out finding water. Seeing trees, the group finds a graveyard of giant animal bones, but no water.

In a quiet moment, Fry admits to Johns that she is not qualified to be captain. During the landing, she almost jettisoned the passenger compartment so they wouldn’t crash. An Imam (Keith David) and his three young pilgrims on hajj to New Mecca, discover a settlement that had water. Back at the crash Zeke (John Moore) helps to bury the bodies, including a lone survivor he shot mistaking him for Riddick. Inside the mass grave, Zeke is pulled into a hole in the rock by some creatures. Riddick stands nearby with a knife, and everyone assumes he was the killer. Johns believes that they need Riddick’s help and gives him a wide berth.

At the settlement the group finds a small ship that needs power cores from their crashed vessel. A young boy, Jack (Rhiana Griffith), takes a liking to Riddick and begins to emulate the bald man, by shaving his own head. Riddick also wears goggles due to his eyes being sensitive to the daylight. At the settlement, one of the Imam’s disciples, Ali (Firass Dirani) goes missing and is found dead in a geology lab, attacked by flying creatures. Fry finds a model of the solar system, and working on a hunch realizes that they are due for a total solar eclipse. That would be fine, except they realize the creatures are nocturnal, and the only thing preventing them from attacking is the daylight.

They hustle back to their crash site in a solar powered truck. Fry discovers that Johns is not really a cop, but a morphine addicted mercenary getting paid to return Riddick to his prison. The eclipse begins and the creatures stream out of underground holes like locusts, killing Shazza (Claudia Black) and Hassan (Sam Sari), another pilgrim. Johns feels the best decision is to wait out the eclipse, but Fry thinks that’s what the previous settlers did, and why their outpost is abandoned. The group puts together a generator with glow-fiber wrapping each of them and a sled with the necessary power cores, and sets off.

Paris (Lewis Fitz-Gerald), a rich and entitled older man, strays too far from the group and accidentally pulls the entire generator over, destroying it. He gets eaten by the creatures. Riddick realizes the creatures are attracted to blood, now having a taste for it. He tells Fry that Jack is actually a girl, and her menstruation is causing the creatures to swarm. Johns tries to sow discord in the remaining group, suggesting leaving Jack as bait. But Riddick thinks leaving the bounty hunter is a better idea, and cuts him, leaving him in the desert alone.

The final pilgrim, Suleiman (Les Chantery) is picked off, and a rain starts extinguishing the last of their torches. Riddick doesn’t think they can make it. He pushes Fry, Jack and the Imam into a cave and drags the power cores to the shuttle, intending to take it himself. The trio discovers a bioluminescent worm in the cave and Fry uses a jar full of worms as enough light to get to Riddick. He offers to take just her, but she now realizes her authority and says she’d die for the others. Fry convinces Riddick to help rescue the other two, but she is grabbed just as they reach the ship. Riddick takes off with the Imam and Jack, using the engines to kill as many creatures as he can.

“All you people are so scared of me. Most days I’d take that as a compliment. But it ain’t me you gotta worry about now.” – Riddick

History in the Making

If you’re going to make a ripoff of the Alien films, Pitch Black is the way to do it. The premise was created by writer/director David Twohy, who had worked on an earlier draft for Alien3, along with Ken and Jim Wheat, brothers who were also screenwriters and directors. The CV for all of them showcases hits from science-fiction, horror, and cinema in general for the previous 15 years. Twohy had written scripts for The Fugitive, Waterworld, and GI Jane, as well as writing and directing Timescape and The Arrival. The Wheat’s had been around for a little longer, writing and directing the second Star Wars television film, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, as well as writing A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, The Fly II and The Birds II: Land’s End. Pitch Black would be the brothers’ last collaboration. On paper at least the film seems like a blatant aping of previous genre works. But that doesn’t take into effect the casting in the film.

While Pitch Black was not the first role for Vin Diesel, it was the role that gave him his best initial exposure. He had been known for his small role in Saving Private Ryan as well as voicing the titular character in The Iron Giant. However, his turn at Riddick created a character that resonated with audiences and one that is very much an anti-hero. A character that is a criminal, and is willing to kill, but still has a moral arc in the film. He would parlay the notability of Riddick along with his most famous character, Dom Toretto in the Fast & Furious films (in the next year), into huge franchises for them both. He also is known for his roles of Xander Cage in the XXX films, and to superhero fans as the voice of Groot in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His list of film credits makes it seem like he never takes a break.

The popularity of his Riddick character seems a little unexpected. Reportedly Riddick was to die at the end of the film, but was chosen instead to survive when Twohy realized how much people were going to like his character. This allowed Twohy to continue the adventures of the anti-hero in The Chronicles of Riddick, the animated Dark Fury (both 2004), and Riddick (2013). There are also plans for an upcoming Riddick: Furya film, which is still currently on hold. That’s a lot of notability from a film that is basically a retread of other sci-fi films.

Genre-fication

Ever since 1979 and the release of Alien, and its 1986 sequel Aliens, almost any sci-fi film in space that includes horror elements and a survival story is compared to these. Specifically, the crew of a spaceship beset against one or more alien creatures that are hard to kill. Event Horizon (1997) and Pandorum (2009) both create similar survival based stories in space while Stargate and The Thing have earthbound stories against aliens. But horror doesn’t need to be involved with science-fiction to work. The Descent about a group of spelunkers attacked by strange creatures elicit the same fight or flight responses. Probably because the fear of the unknown, whether in sci-fi or horror films, is very similar.

So why does Pitch Black work where other films fail? Arguably it’s about character. The types of characters that are put into the action with their interactions and choices can make or break the plot. That’s all that genre films are anyway. Similar plots but different specific situations that make each film unique. Aliens and Pitch Black are both films featuring a squad of at least a dozen characters attempting to get off planet before being killed by a horde of alien creatures. In each film the group is whittled down to a few final survivors. Each led by a group of strong characters, that may also have some less-than-likable ones mixed in. Each also features characters making sacrifices. What makes the two films work independently of each other is the character’s traits and reactions of those characters in similar situations.

Societal Commentary

Dwight Moody has a famous quote, “Character is what you are in the dark.” That may be the hidden theme of the story for Pitch Black, as each of the major characters seem to learn something about themselves when put into stress situations, as well as literally being in the dark. The film features three main characters, those of Fry (the pilot), Johns (the cop/mercenary), and Riddick (the prisoner). Their story becomes one of survival and escape where disparate people, who might not normally work together, must trust each other in order to survive. Fry discovers at the beginning of the film that she is not great under pressure. Her survival instinct is self-limited, causing her to attempt to eject the passenger module in order to save herself. She mentions her lack of command ability several times, reminding the survivors that she is not their Captain. This is an issue she struggles with throughout the film, and in the end almost succumbs to. Riddick offers to save only her after she makes it to the shuttle before he takes off. It’s only then that she realizes the full burden of her situation and her responsibility to help the others escape as well, even at the cost of her life.

Johns swings the other way, from being a respected peace officer to being seen as a drug addicted opportunist. His ability to command and assess the situation is not questioned at the start of the film. But as more details come to light, and the stakes and tensions increase, he quickly shows his true colors. He recommends to Riddick, someone that he feels is morally dark, that they should leave Jack behind as a distraction so they move forward unhindered. A similar choice to Fry’s assessment at the beginning of the film. What Johns doesn’t count on is Riddick having any attachment to the younger survivor. Whether due to Jack being revealed as a girl, or the hero worship shown towards Riddick (or maybe more accurately, the hate Riddick feels towards Johns), the inmate chooses a different path forward. Even at this point, Johns considers himself still in power, unaware that he holds no further cards to play.

Finally, Riddick continues to show his character as the film moves on. His starting point, dictated by his captivity and the stories told by Johns, is of a vicious killer that kills indiscriminately. What the audience sees is definitely an opportunist who takes advantage of the situations to escape, but he makes a choice not to kill Fry when he had the chance after hearing her admit her ethical panic to Johns. In Riddick’s mind, that makes her a better person than the bounty hunter. Riddick develops feelings towards the remaining survivors, though he never admits it. This is most evident in Fry’s death, where he finally sheds a tear as he realizes the sacrifice she was willing to make for the others, including him. Even though Fry explicitly states that she would not choose to die for Riddick, she does, and he is able to subtly acknowledge that.

The Science in The Fiction

Pitch Black doesn’t seem to have as many questionable scientific issues as some films. Which is good for a film that deals with a number of technical obstacles that the cast must overcome. Fry attempts to right the spaceship in the atmosphere by jettisoning the rear section, in order to make the nose drop for a more graceful landing. The ship also has a number of airfoils that she deploys in order to slow it down, which do little good, as a long, thin pencil-like ship (which looks a little like the Discovery from 2001: A Space Odyssey) is not designed for atmospheric flight. Later as the group is looking for water Fry mentions to Paris that drinking the alcohol he’s brought will only dehydrate him faster. Good things to know about in a desert environment.

Apart from the possible realities of a planet that is lit by three separate suns (and the risk of skin cancer), the film’s eclipse is a clever plot related element to allow for the monsters to come out in force. The filmmakers show Fry discovering the orrery, the model of the solar system, and playing with it, which foreshadows the discovery that every 22 years the planets line up to block the sun. Without having to know about solar mechanics, and creating a large explanatory burst of dialog, the model communicates a lot of information easily to both the characters and audience. The one thing that gets the least technical attention is Riddick’s “shine job,” his augmented eyes that allow him to see in the dark. He mentions getting a prison doctor to perform the operation, but not much else. At least his sensitivity to light is addressed, seeming like an authentic tradeoff to the “superpower” of enhanced eyesight.

Pitch Black also provides considerable information about the lifecycle of the creatures, which is not overtly mentioned, but is evident in the film for those paying attention. Like the world-building of creating a lifecycle for the xenomorph in Alien, these creatures have at least three forms. The bioluminescent worms that are found in the cave at the end of the film appear to be the larval stage of the creature, which are harmless. The next stage is a smaller “flying fish” looking stage. These are the ones that came out of the tunnel in the geology room at the settlement and killed Ali. As the creatures grow bigger they evolve into the giant bird-like creatures with hard beaks and eyes on bony protrusions, which allow Riddick to hide in a blind-spot right in front of their nose. It’s nice to see the filmmakers taking some time to think about these designs.

The Final Frontier

One curiosity spotted on this viewing of the film is the way that Twohy and the Wheat’s equate Riddick to the creatures. As he states in the quote above, he was the most dangerous thing on the planet until they discovered the monsters. Both he and the creatures can see in the dark, and shun the light. For Riddick it’s only his eyes that are affected, but for the creatures they are burned by the light. Both are strong and deadly. And both can smell the blood of others. At least that’s the impression that is given. Riddick mentions that they should dress their wounds, since the creatures now have a taste for blood from eating however many survivors were taken. But he realizes shortly that Jack is actually female, and menstruating. It’s heavily implied that he shares the sensitivity of the creatures, possibly as a side effect of living in a dark prison.

Pitch Black takes a tried and true formula of horror and sci-fi and creates a new application of the elements to make an interesting and well-liked movie. There are still dated elements in the film, specifically some of the special effects. There’s a graininess to the space shots that makes them seem slightly lower quality. The night vision and creature-vision scenes have a similar quality, but that seems to work for the effect, equating that graininess to the nature of the viewer’s reality. There’s also no doubting that Vin Diesel is the draw for the film. His bad-ass persona is very much on display, and the same type of character he presents in many of his other films. The sequels to the film are not exactly the same, and present more and different world-building elements that fleshes out Riddick’s character in new and different ways, further exploring the dystopian landscape of 21st Century science-fiction.

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