Pitch Black: Special Edition

Dom Robinson reviews

Pitch Black: Special EditionDistributed by

Universal

• Cert:
• Cat.no: 8205042
• Running time: 104 minutes
• Year: 1999
• Pressing: 2004
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 18 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: English
• Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £15.99
• Extras: The Chronicles of Riddick: Opening Sequence, An Introduction by David Twohy,The Game is On, Johns’ Chase Log, Audio Commentaries, The Making of Pitch Black,Dark Fury: Advancing the Arc, The Chronicles of Riddick Website,The Chronicles of Riddick: Visual Encyclopaedia, A View Into the Dark, Trailers
  

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  Director:

  David Twohy

  (The Arrival, Below, The Chronicles of Riddick, Pitch Black, Timescape)

Producers:

Tom Engelman

Screenplay:

Jim and Ken Wheat and David Twohy

Music:

Graeme Revell

Cast:

Richard Riddick: Vin Diesel
Carolyn Fry: Radha Mitchell
Johns: Cole Hauser
Imam: Keith David
Paris Ogilvie: Lewis Fitz-Gerald
Shazza: Claudia Black
Jack: Rhiana Griffith
Zeke: John Moore
Owens: Simon Burke

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Australian ‘Aliens’ is how I’d summarise thisfilm, with a threadbare plot that could also take in From Dusk Till Dawnand any movie where the bad guy comes good.

A spaceship has crash-landed on an apparently barren land and once they find anothership that’s long since been used, they then have to search elsewhere for some powercells and escape – but it must be completed by nightfall otherwise the bizarre vampiriccreatures will emerge, for they come out only at night or in any other dark crevicessince light destroys them.

With their own ship’s captain dead, Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell, above right) reluctantly is forcedto take the lead, forever maintaining she is not the captain’s replacement. If her nameseems familiar, then that’s because she twice appeared in Neighbours – in 1994 as aparachute instructor and in 1996 as student Caitlin. Amongst the survivors of the crashis the convicted murderer Richard Riddick(Boiler Room‘sVin Diesel). His plus, thus stopping the sane members of the team from trying tokill him, is that his special eyes allow him to see through the dark and since sorting thenew ship out has taken too long, it’s up to him to guide the hapless bunch through the darknessto safety – but you know that along the way some will slip up and be gored to death in agruesome fashion.

While Radha Mitchell looks sultry, sexy and stunning in just about every scene in which she appears with sweat dripping off her glistening body,does Pitch Black have any bad points? Yes – it’s far from original and is never scary,even when it’s trying to be. Still, at least it avoids the crappy usual that most films fallinto of making their lead characters become romantically involved.

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The film is presented in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio and is anamorphic.Director Twohy frequently uses the full width in the special effects shots which arefrequently spectacular. Print defects are very few and far between, making overall fora very impressive watch.The average bitrate is a high and almost constant 7.32Mb/s.

Dolby Digital 5.1 has been provided in English and German dialogue, which really comesinto its own when the baddies strike – that’s the flying creatures, not Mr Convict.Gunshots and an upbeat thumping score also play their part. If you buy the Region 1 DVDinstead, you’re blessed with an English DTS 5.1 soundtrack too.

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The extras on this Special Edition DVD are as follows:

• The Chronicles of Riddick: Opening Sequence (9 mins):The opening sequence to the new movie, the sequel to Pitch Black, set five years later,which looks mightily snazzy and in keeping with this one. I didn’t expect that this would comebefore the DVD’s menu screens though although it is accessible from those also. The footageis in 2.35:1 letterbox (why not anamorphic?)
• An Introduction by David Twohy (2½ mins):The writer/director sets the premise for the 2004 movie and that it took 2-3 years before thestudio approached him about that, but I could figure it took that long because the originalfilm was a comparatively low-budget affair whose popularity spread due to word of mouth.
• The Game is on (2 mins):A trailer for the new Escape From Butcher Bay game on Xbox, also voiced by Vin Diesel, and it’sgetting very good reviews.
• Johns’ Chase Log:Snippets played from an interactive menu, voiced by Cole Hauser, as he tracks Riddick while out and about.
• Audio Commentaries:Two here. One featuring Vin Diesel, Cole Hauser and David Twohy, the other with Twohy,producer Tom Engelman and Visual Effects Supervisor Peter Chiang. These featured on theoriginal DVD.
• The Making of Pitch Black (5 mins):This contains the usual clips of the film (in letterbox format) mixed in with chat from themain cast members. This also featured on the original DVD.
• Dark Fury: Advancing the Arc (1½ mins):A few words from the animators at the new animated sequel to Pitch Black,The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury,using the same actors to do the voices. Very brief and not massively informative.
• The Chronicles of Riddick website:Not an extra as such, but you can link to the website from this DVD, if placed in your PC, orjust click onThe Chronicles of Riddick.com
• The Chronicles of Riddick: Visual Encyclopaedia (2 mins):A bit more background info about the world Riddick inhabits. I’m beginning to think, like withUniversal’sThe Bourne Identity: Special Edition,that there’s not a lot of supplementary material that makes you think this is a Special Edition andnot just a cash-in with regards to the new movie for 2004.
• A View into the Dark (4 mins):More chat and clips to do with the film.
• Trailers:Three. One for The Chronicles of Riddick, plus one each for Van Helsing andThunderbirds. Not even one for Pitch Black itself, which was on the original DVD.

I know I gave the extras 2½/5 last time, and this time 2/5, but three years have passed andyou tend to expect more from extras these days. Also, the idea of calling this a ‘Special Edition’is rather a nonsense since anything new are just little bits and pieces you’ll watch once only.

The disc contains 18 chapters, subtitles this time are in English only (no German orDutch this time), but the menus are a lot more interesting with some neat graphics,often animated and scored, to set the mood.

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALLReview copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2004.