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Pitch Black (2000)

tomatometer

55

Average Rating: 5.6/10
Reviews Counted: 101
Fresh: 56 | Rotten: 45

Despite an interesting premise (and a starmaking turn from Vin Diesel), Pitch Black is too derivative and formulaic to recommend to sci-fi or action fans.

38

Average Rating: 4.9/10
Critic Reviews: 26
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 16

Despite an interesting premise (and a starmaking turn from Vin Diesel), Pitch Black is too derivative and formulaic to recommend to sci-fi or action fans.

audience

79

liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 253,815

My Rating

Movie Info

In this science fiction thriller, a spaceship is transporting a disparate group of people to a far-away galactic outpost called New Mecca. Mechanical failures cause the craft to crash-land on an abandoned planet that has three suns and no night. The only member of the crew to survive is junior pilot Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell), while the passengers who climb from the wreckage include a police officer (Cole Hauser) and the prisoner he's transporting, Riddick (Vin Diesel). As Fry and the other

Oct 24, 2000

Gramercy Pictures/ USA Films

Cast

All Critics (102) | Top Critics (26) | Fresh (57) | Rotten (47) | DVD (38)

The script is a compendium of science-fiction clichés, familiar in Hollywood movies since the early fifties.

March 22, 2002 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comment
Globe and Mail
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Pitch Black is so jaunty, so limber, and so visually self-assured that art peeks through where crap has traditionally made its home.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | Comment
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's not an especially challenging part, but Diesel handles it with aplomb.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: ReelViews | Comment
ReelViews
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Barely intermittent, reminding us that the B-movie is still very much with us.

January 1, 2000 Comment
Boston Globe
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The film works because it's strong on fundamentals: fear of the dark, fear of helplessness, fear of the unknown, and fear of unpredictable human behavior.

January 1, 2000 Comment
Film.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Pitch Black is the movie of the season for sci-fi and horror fans!

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Salon.com | Comment
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

contains unpredictable nuances that make for thrilling amusement

May 11, 2011 Full Review Source: Old School Reviews | Comment

...your typical run-for-your-life-the-monsters-are-coming science fiction adventure that requires one to park his brain at the front door of the theater before entering.

August 2, 2009 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment
Filmcritic.com

Very simple and basic plot with alot of bad acting (Not including Vin Diesel, one of the higher points to this). This wasn't as good as I hoped it would be.

April 29, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | Comment (1)
Cinema Crazed

[Blu-Ray DVD review] Ff you don't already own the movie and you've got the tech, this is a can't miss package

April 15, 2009 Full Review Source: Dread Central | Comment

A fairly efficient science fiction monster film, somewhat in the mold of an old 1950s B-movie.

March 31, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinefantastique | Comment
Cinefantastique

If only there had been as much time spent on creating believable aliens as there obviously was on the landscape.

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | Comments (3)
Big Picture Big Sound

Under the circumstances it's not really fair to blame the actors, whose amateurishness seems appropriate to the material (although Diesel's stolid machismo is so over-the-top as to be pretty laughable).

July 24, 2006 Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | Comment
One Guy's Opinion

A smart, suspenseful sci-fi movie from director Twohy, whose underrated 1996 film, The Arrival, also brought visual imagination and intelligence to the genre.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Manages to surprise and delight, thanks to its small-scale attitude.

May 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment
Combustible Celluloid

Hey man, it's February. You've already picked through all the leftover Oscar-bait you can take, so it's no time to be picky.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat

PITCH BLACK deserves to be recommended as a solid piece of genre entertainment.

June 26, 2005 Full Review Source: Draxblog Movie Reviews | Comment

The derivativeness of the script keeps any tensions from building into any kind of scariness.

April 9, 2005 Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | Comment
Reeling Reviews

Lackluster both as science-fiction and horror.

June 4, 2004 Comment

One of the best of the sci-fi spectacles cut from the Alien cloth.

June 2, 2004 Full Review Source: Creative Loafing | Comment
Creative Loafing

A solid entry in the genre of science fiction horror.

January 15, 2004 Comment
Radio Free Entertainment

The action scenes are good, if sparse.

August 1, 2003 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | Comment
Reel Film Reviews

Some hard-core science-fiction fans might nit-pick over details in Pitch Black, but for the average moviegoer looking to be entertained, this roller-coaster of a film should not be missed.

July 16, 2003 Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | Comment
Hollywood.com
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Pitch Black

Here lies the film that brought the Diesel to the public consciousness. Pitch Black is all about him and the character of Riddick that he so aptly breathes life into. The rest... a typical sci-fi film with nocturnal monsters (looking like something from the Zergs in Star Craft) creating a backdrop for the usual

February 9, 2012
maxthesax
paul sandberg

Super Reviewer

The passengers on a space transport turn to a ruthless prisoner for help when their ship crash lands on a deserted planet inhabited by a swarm of flesh eating nocturnal creatures. Pitch Black is the film that was the stepping stone to stardom for Vin Diesel and here he perfected his laconic, amoral tough guy persona.

November 9, 2006
garyX
xGary Xx

Super Reviewer

    1. Richard B. Riddick: You got it all wrong, holy man. I do believe in God, and I personally hate the fucker.
    – Submitted by Kris R (14 days ago)
    1. Richard B. Riddick: Didn't know who you was fucking with!
    – Submitted by Sultan A (5 months ago)

Latest News for Pitch Black

August 3, 2009:
David Twohy Talks Riddick Sequels
They're still at the idea stage, but David Twohy and Vin Diesel are committed to continuing "The...

March 10, 2009:
Vin Diesel Talks Next Riddick Game, Sequel
Vin Diesel is out promoting his next "Chronicles of Riddick" videogame, "Assault on Dark Athena," so...

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