Product Details

• Actors: Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Vin Diesel, Keith David, Lewis Fitz-Gerald
• Directors: David Twohy
• Writers: David Twohy, Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat
• Producers: Scott Kroopf, Ted Field, Tom Engelman, Tony Winley
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Special Edition, NTSC
• Rated: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: May 22, 2001
• Run Time: 109 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (529 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005B6N8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #318,301 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Sci-Fi, September 12, 2000

By 

Eric J. Pray (Upstate New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pitch Black (Unrated Version) (DVD)

Pitch Black was arguably one of the most overlooked films of the early year. Although the setting of the film could seem routine to a casual viewer(space travelers stranded and bickering on a hostile planet infested with alien nasties), director David Twohy's wonderful use of color and stylistic flourishes more than makes up for any trivial complaints.

For those of you curious about the film's plot, it deals with a group of marooned space "passengers" who spend the majority of their time searching for a way to evacuate a harsh desert planet. Their efforts are unexpectedly forced to quicken however when they discover a particularly vicious type of nocturnal alien ready to emerge to the planet's surface during an eclipse.

Viewers can't help but like the film's villainous hero(played by Vin Diesel of Saving Private Ryan and Boiler Room)who brings to memory Arnold Schwarzenegger's famous role as the Terminator.

The film looks and sounds great and has more than a few moments of nail-biting tension thrown in for good measure. For Science Fiction fans this is a must-see. And as for the rest of you, try giving this fine movie a chance.

You'll thank me when you do.

72 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Taut, smart, enjoyable filmmaking, November 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Pitch Black (Unrated Version) (DVD)

Hell has surely frozen over. That's the only way to explain how David Twohy, writer-director of the so-bad-it's-hilarious Charlie Sheen skydiving epic "Terminal Velocity," has made a movie this good. It's not high art, but "Pitch Black" is a triumph within its genre: a suspenseful, intelligent monster movie with surprisingly deep characters.

A damaged spaceship loaded with cargo and cryo-sleeping passengers crash-lands on an alien world where three suns create perpetual daylight. At first, the survivors think their biggest problem is the vicious convict who's escaped from the wreckage. Then they discover the light-fearing predators lurking beneath the planet's surface. And then comes the total eclipse...

"Pitch Black" is a Diesel-powered movie-- Vin Diesel, that is. As the menacing convict Richard P. Riddick, Diesel gives a ferociously intelligent and charismatic performance, backed up by Twohy's surprisingly nuanced script. You'll come to root for Riddick as the movie wears on, but that doesn't necessarily mean you'll like him.

Radha Mitchell is also fine as the novice pilot Fry, battling inner and outer demons as she tries to hold the survivors together; Cole Hauser does a nice turn as Riddick's captor; and the fine supporting cast includes Keith David as a Muslim cleric (a refreshingly positive portrayal of Islam) and "Farscape"'s always-excellent Claudia Black.

"Pitch Black" is an embarrassment of riches for sci-fi fans: characters who continually surprise you, creepy creatures left mostly up to your imagination, and a stripped-down story that moves at a breakneck pace. Perfect popcorn entertainment-- just be sure you don't turn _all_ the lights off before you watch it...

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sadly missed from the theatre, September 1, 2000

By 

Raja Chadni (Dehra Dun, India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pitch Black (Unrated Version) (DVD)

I rate movies along simple lines. There are classics, there are flicks and there are horrible pieces not worth the film that they were printed on. I sorrily skipped Pitch Black in the theatre. The trailer was horrible. I couldn't make out *anything* about the movie and had no interest in seeing it. Thankfully, on vacation, I was holed up in a hotel that had Pitch Black on pay-per-view and decided to give it a try. I was stunned. Not only did I wish I had seen it in the theatre - to truly appreciate the special effects - but I enjoyed the quirky dialogue between the characters. I appreciated the seeming abandon with which character upon character is removed from the story line without my abilities of prediction serving me in the slightest. The dialogue is often cheesy. These people are space faring commoners and the movie revolves around the predicamnet they face and not their lives. Their lives form the substance to which I temporarily attached care for each. Short-lived as it may be, this care for the characters extended throughout the movie and left me feeling very satisfied. I recommend this movie as a flick. It should have been seen by all in the theatre but we weren't all so fotunate. Check it out by yourself and if you like it pull the friends around. Give it a chance. Van Diesel is what it's all about. You'll recognize him from Saving Private Ryan. The washed out scenes reminded me of Gladiator and Three Kings. The world as seen through the eyes of the aliens put me back in Fincher's Alien3. While ultimately the plot is fantasy I let this movie take me away, in much the same way we all let Star Wars (the first three) move us and Starship Troopers moved us (appealed to our collective bizarre fascist sensability or something). Have fun with it. I know I did.