PITCH BLACK on Disc

By: John Thonen
Date: Monday, May 28, 2001

This is the third above-average directorial effort for screenwriter David Twohy (Waterworld), and of those it's his first hit. Like his previous offerings (Grand Tour, The Arrival ) Pitch Black is essentially a B-movie, somewhat reminiscent of the kind of low-budget genre films John Sayles ( Alligator, Battle Beyond the Stars) used to write. The concept is simple; a spaceship crashes on a desert-like planet inhabited by fierce, winged predators who only hunt in the dark, and an eclipse is about to occur. The cast is comprised largely of unknowns (though Farscape brought fame to costar Claudia Black shortly before the film's release) and the effects work is used to support the story, not substitute for it. The main thing that separates Twohy from most B-movie hacks is that he offers interesting (if sketchily drawn) characters and he obviously worked his ass off to deliver the most picture for the money that he could.

Picture quality on the DVD is excellent, even in the ultra-bright daylight scenes and the 'pitch black' eclipse sequences. The sound, a major component in the film since Twohy didn't have the budget to dazzle us with much else, is also outstanding. I really wouldn't recommend seeing the film on VHS if you can avoid it as both these aspects will suffer from that format's limitations.
The disc features two commentary tracks: a pretty good one with Twohy and stars Vin Diesel and Cole Hauser (son of B-movie superstar Wings Hauser) and another with Twohy, producer Tom Engelman and effects head Peter Chang, which is the better of the two. Sadly, the other extras (a making of short' and an odd marketing piece) are pretty disappointing. Still, for the movie alone, this is one of my favorite releases of the year.