The Movie Guys: Quality of ‘Pitch Black’ is sort of in a gray area

Friday, Feb. 18, 2000 | 10 a.m.

The Movie Guys, starring Jeff Howard and Dave Neil, appears Fridays in the Sun. They can also be seen on the 11 a.m. Friday newscast on KVVU Channel 5. Plus, check them out online at lasvegassun.com/sun/sunlife/movies and themovieguys.com.

Grades: Jeff B, Dave C.

Starring: Vin Diesel, Keith David, Radha Mitchell, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Cole Hauser.

Screenplay: Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, David Twohy.

Director: David Twohy.

Rated: R for graphic violence, profanity and adult content.

Running time: 110 minutes.

Playing at: Rancho Santa Fe 16, Century Orleans, Century Cinedome 12 Henderson, Las Vegas Drive-in, UA Showcase 8, UA Green Valley, UA Rainbow Promenade 10, Regal Cinemas Boulder Station, Regal Cinemas Colonnade 14, Regal Cinemas Texas Station 18, Regal Cinemas Village Square 18.

Synopsis: In the not-too-distant future a docking pilot makes a forced crash landing of her spacecraft on a distant planet. Her crew is killed, even though some of the passengers escape. The planet is eerie, arid and lifeless, but as the sun sets and the planet plunges into total darkness, something emerges to hunt them.

Jeff: There seem to be two settings in the world of cinema science fiction -- the first being a future that is rough, rugged, industrial and grimy, much like the environments in "Blade Runner" and "Alien." The second is a happy existence in a utopian society, as depicted in all of the "Star Trek" films and "2001: A Space Odyssey." I am happy to say that "Pitch Black" takes its ambience from the first world.

This is writer/director David Twohy's follow-up to his sci-fi masterpiece "The Arrival" (1996) and is a superior B-grade science fiction/thriller that preys upon an individual's most primal fear of the dark. This easily could be a movie of the week on the Sci-Fi Channel. If you like that type of science fiction/horror (as I do), this is the film for you.

The story is simple and routine, with a group of castaways stranded on a desolate planet with little food or water. And without the captain of the ship surviving the crash, a crew pilot (Radha Mitchell) with limited experience takes command. Their only way to survive is to repair an escape pod left behind by a deserted settlement. Of course, the fun begins when the monsters come out to play. Who will survive?

Dave: That always seems to be the question, Jeff, especially when it comes down to your basic human-meets-monster flicks. That, by the way, is the equivalent to the boy-meets-girl scenario. Let's begin with our main principles before we acknowledge the expendable ones, shall we?

Within the first 10 minutes we witness a dazzling crash landing in which Mitchell nearly disengages from the ship in order to save herself and one other crew member. Once on the ground, and the survivors (made up by a variety of ethnic groups) accounted for, we learn of the homicidal prisoner (potential rising star Vin Diesel), and the equally unstable officer (Cole Hauser) whose custody he is under. The two constantly exchange glares, words and, eventually, blows during their efforts to fend off predatory night breeders who have taken flight once the planet is subjected to an untimely eclipse.

Jeff: The game of life becomes a fight for survival as the "space bats" (numbering in the thousands) pick off the cast one by one in spectacular, gruesome deaths. The script by Twohy and the Wheat brothers was sure to pad the cast with characters who would be eaten in a bloody gorge -- characters such as two mute, teenage religious prodigies. They barely get a scream out before being ripped apart in their moment of death. No surprise here. The "space bats" seem to prey upon the victims in a blinding swoop from above and feed on them as would a pride of lions. Very Cool.

The production design and visual effects are quite compatible, although the sets at times tended to be taken right out of Kurt Russell's film "Soldier," in addition to freely borrowing from a variety of sci-fi features from the past 20 years. By no means is "Pitch Black" a classic, but it is worth the price of a matinee for the sci-fi fan who can appreciate horror films in the tradition of Roger Corman and William Castle.

Dave: Well, Jeff, if you're going to use the words "in the tradition of," I hope you use them loosely. After all, we're not here to mislead our readers into thinking an average sci-fi flick is worth their valuable afternoons. Oh sure, I'll admit that I might have been a lot more lenient on this movie had it been released in the proper summer season where "drive-in" films -- like this one -- merit such recognition. (That reason alone is probably why I was so easy on last year's "Deep Blue Sea"). I enjoyed the movie's cheap special effects, which are used to the film's advantage, creating what I believe Jeff is comparing to Corman's signature touch. And a steely-eyed Diesel (whose other highly intensive film, "Boiler Room" opens this weekend) is perfectly cast as the macho anti-hero, discovering redemption and making for the film's only added depth.

Unfortunately every positive comes at the expense of a negative. Instead of providing the intelligent fantasy that Twohy showed he is capable of in "The Arrival," he rests on gratuitous dialogue and amateurish jump cuts and camera tricks. "Pitch Black" may want you to be afraid of the dark, but if I were the producers, I'd be more afraid of the box office receipts.