Pitch Perfect Anti-Heroes (Pitch Black (DVD))

Member Name: sfarmer76

Product:	Pitch Black (DVD)
Date:	02/03/02 (114 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Worth Seeing for the Crash Landing Alone

Disadvantages: Slightly Reminds me of Tremors

I would have to say that this movie is outstanding! I saw this because I love sci-fi films. The first 45 minutes of this movie are totally gripping. Visually, I have never seen a movie like this before, and that's a very generous compliment.

This movie has outstanding special-effects. Even though this is a sci-fi spectacle.. there are some outstanding performances here. Australian actress Rhada Mitchell galvanizes your attention as the strong but sometimes insecure Second Commander Fry. You may recognize this actress from the movie High Art, where she also nearly dominated the movie. This movie proves Rhada Mitchell is every bit the leading lady, and I look forward to seeing more from her in the future.

Vin Diesel, under-utilized in Saving Private Ryan, also proves he has real acting chops with his performance in Pitch Black, and he has some of the best lines in the movie. I can't quite place the actor, he looks a lot like Matthew McConaughey, but I think his name is Cole Hauser, and he turns in some excellent supporting work in a thankless role where he is primarily the challenger to Second Commander Fry.

The movie has an interesting premise, some of the plot scenes seem conventional or borrowed from other movies, but thankfully the movie holds together until the very end. Sadly, several of the more interesting characters die as the movie progresses, certainly not the ones I would have picked. Pitch Black ends on a cynical note designed to keep everything open for a sequel I suppose, but overall this is a fantastic and gritty sci-fi actioner that does not let you down, that does not disappoint, that has the real feel, texture and taste of a possible near-future.

Whoever handled the cinematography here is worthy of an Academy Award, and would be my ideal selection to film adaptions of any books by Bruce Sterling or William Gibson that ever have the fortune to make it to the silver screen. Excluding The Matrix, also filmed
in Australia coincidentally, this is probably the best sci-fi movie made since Robert Zemekis helmed Contact.

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