Netflix came in yesterday, and one of the discs was Pitch Black with Vin Diesel and Claudia Black. Well, Claudia didn't headline, but no other names are of any note. I was excited because I enjoyed the fantasy-esk feel of Chronicles of Riddick. Plus, I figured Pitch Black came first and we all know sequels are rarely better than the first movie. Very, very wrong.
The general plot, a group of colonists stranded on a foreign planet, trying to survive, is the standard generic action flick plot. But they fail miserably in creating a believable setting. The planet appears totally barren except for a small abandoned human settlement. The colonists have to use technology to find water. Then you have the antagonists, hordes and hordes of raptor-like predators. What irked me was, they're the only living things on the planet, but there is NOTHING to eat or drink. Nada. Zip. What?
Then you have the three suns orbiting a planet in between them. Huh? I have confuse. My favorite though is the rain scene towards the end. A cloudless rain on a desert planet. I mean, I know this is Sci-Fi, but the lack of believability killed the experience.
If the characters were interesting at all, I may have let all of that slide. But the were as one dimensional (is there a .5 dimension?) as any disposable action characters.
Actually the first time I tried to watch it, I fell asleep. I tried to blame it on a long day at work, but... not so much. If your audience falls asleep during an action flick, you're in trouble.
Rating: D-
1 comment:
I found Pitch Black to be much better than Chronicles of Riddick. That's still no saying much. The big difference between the two movies is this.
Pitch Black: Too little story too much time.
COR:Too much story, not enough movie.
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