One of the things that really stands out in "Pitch Black" is the visuals. There's lotsa distorted imagery and funky shots, and all that usually worked out well, most of it was really cool. Unfortunately, there are times when it was painful to watch... literally. There's a sequence in the beginning of the movie where you're seeing the interior of the space ship. It's very dark, but it's interrupted by flashes of bright white light. Maybe I'm a wuss, but that got very annoying, and it started hurting my eyes.
The budget for the movie couldn't have been all that high, because it wasn't made by a major studio. Still, the special effects were very good. The aliens, the eclipse, and especially that weird thing they did to Vin Diesel's eyes (though it's likely that making his eyes get like that was a lot simpler than I'm assuming)... all of it looked very convincing.
I'd hafta say that the best thing about "Pitch Black" is the character of "Riddick," as played by Vin Diesel ("Private Adrian Caparzo" in "Saving Private Ryan," and he's the voice of the title character in "The Iron Giant"... he's also in "Boiler Room"), that's right, the guy with the weird eyes I mentioned earlier. His character is one of those badass types who can't be trusted, but you like the character anyway. Vin Diesel plays him very well. Another bright spot in the movie is Radha Mitchell (she was in the critically-acclaimed "High Art" with Ally Sheedy). She's really sexy, and she's a good actress, too. Cole Hauser (son of Wings Hauser, he's been in three movies with Ben Affleck; "School Ties," "Dazed and Confused," and "Good Will Hunting") is in the movie, and his character is pretty interesting. Keith David (voice of "Spawn" in the animated series and "Goliath" in "Gargoyles"... he played the stepfather to "Mary" in "There's Something About Mary"), an actor I like a lot, is in the movie, but he's horribly miscast.
"Pitch Black" was directed by David Twohy (he wrote and directed the Charlie Sheen movie, "The Arrival," a movie I never saw but many, especially critics, seem to like), and he also helped write the screenplay. The main writers (the ones who got "story by" credit, as well as "screenplay by" credit with David Twohy) were Jim Wheat & Ken Wheat (they helped write "The Fly II"... also, they directed "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor," which they also wrote the screenplay for, based on a story by George Lucas).
Though it's
a very flawed movie, there IS a lot in "Pitch Black" that I liked.
Some have called it a great science-fiction movie, others say it's a piece
of shit. I stand somewhere in between. It was pretty good, but not great.
If you decide to see it, just remember not to think too much while you're
watching it.