The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black [WS Unrated Director's Cut] [DVD] [2000]

I never watched this movie till I bought it in this Blue-Ray format. I would highly recommend this movie for people who like sci-fi / suspense / horror. The plot isn't very complicated, but the cinemetography is as good as it gets for this type of film. The camera angles, lighting, and colors were well thought out in the production. Much to my suprise, VinDiesel did an excellent job as Riddick, as well did all the other actors. Several times durring the BlueRay Disc there are problems with the audio and video being out of sync. They have both theatrical and directors cut versions on the disc, which I suspect attribute to the problems. I would have expected someone from the disc manufaturer to actually watch the completed disc before releasing it. It is possible that I have hardware "lagging" problems , but the audio problems always occur at the same point (and correct at the same point) on the disc. Also, I have not had any audio problem with the 20+ other BDiscs I have watched. Yes, my firmware is up to date on the BD player. Reguardless, I enjoyed watching this movie, and would still recommend this disc if it on sale. If you can get past the audio sync issues (as annoying as they can be), you should get this disc. I have not seen the DVD version which I am sure does not have this problem. If you like this movie, I highly recommend "The Chronicles of Riddick" which is the sequel to this movie. I had NO problems with audio in this release.

3 of 5 stars to the sci-fi movie Pitch Black. This is the second movie in the Chronicles of Riddick series with Vin Diesel in the role of Riddick. The movie opens with a passenger transport space ship starting to crash into a world (the ship had been knocked off-course). The ship is carrying Riddick plus several other passengers. The crash breaks the ship into lots of big chunks and Riddick is landed far from the main group of passengers. The world appears to be a hot dry planet (a desert) with three Suns. So, the handful of survivors seek water as their first task. Things seem to go OK until nightfall when bird-like creatures come out of hiding and start killing/eating people. The group is re-united with Riddick just before nightfall. From here the plot is simple and not too interesting: get to another part of the crashed ship to the shuttle to escape from the planet. Of course, between where they are and where the shuttle is are those birdlike creatures. You can guess most of the rest. If you didn't see the first movie of the Riddick series you'd have no idea who this guy is and why he has shiny eyes. The movies does little to give you any of the back-story. For that matter, in this movie Riddick is a not too interesting character and there is no development that would lead to a future story. So this is a good sci-fi movie with a very predictable plot. Yes, I do recommend it.

This movie is excellent science fiction, suspense, and horror that catches you completely off-guard. It's an Australian film, so it pulls out all the stops that ridiculous US filmmakers have been putting in for decades now. I'd watch just about anything by this director now, as long as he builds his films with the intensity and invokes provocative characters like this film. This is one of Vin Diesel's first feature films, but his on-screen presence in this movie is far greater than most of his movies. His character steals the show, an anti-hero: a mass murdering maniac whose eyes are "shined" to give him night vision--and the whole time the audience wonders if he will have some sort of redeeming quality. The aliens are early CG creations but are done well with what was available at the time of production. This film will blow your mind if you like Alien, Aliens, Terminator 1 or 2, or Predator.

I love VIN DIESEL> I'm glad that Riddick's character was so well written for him. Origional SCI-Fi plot. Everyone did a very good job acting. They didn't seem like they were acting. Movie was well cast. However CGI monsters created By Pactick T. didn't have enough realism. They needed a bigger budget to let this verrrry creative man let his monsters really come to life. ALSO... studios should have let Director's cut of "Chronicles of Riddick" been released into theaters so the it could have really been appreciated. Now I had to wait all these years for the sequel of "The Chronicles of Riddick" to come out this September. Which might have meant a bigger budget 4 the 3rd Riddick character movie and maybe the plot might have shown Riddick going back to planet Furia with the Necromongers in tow with Riddick as the Lord Marshall.

The beginning of a great sci-fi trilogy. Vin Diesel in my opinion is the perfect actor for the role. He plays a captured con that is absolutely ruthless and determined to survive a crash landing on an alien planet. Stranded with a bounty hunter, the ship's female pilot, a young girl, pretending to be a boy and several other passengers. The planet is due for an eclipse (hence the title pitch black) and when the world falls into darkness a voracious horde of aliens arise to devour everyone. Vin Diesel becomes an unlikely hero, and not your typical hero at that. Ruthless, determined, and unafraid to make sacrifices to get off the planet. Rocks from beginning to end. Follow it up with The chronicles of Riddick, and then Riddick. All 3 are excellent sci-fi adventures.

Awesome Sci-FI / Horror Flick A must see if you like the Genre and to correct JimG944s Review its actually the First in the Riddick series since it came out in 2000 and Chronicles of Riddick Hit the Theatres in 2004 as noted by the item descriptions above lol. Basically Ignore where he says "If you didn't see the first movie of the Riddick series you'd have no idea who this guy is and why he has shiny eyes" they give you a short and kind of nonsensical reason why his Eyes shine in this movie .... since it is the first one. Definitaly a good visceral Sci Fi movie. If you like this one you will definitaly want to check out the second one since it explains alot more of his past.

There have been a lot of Vin Diesel movies. Most of them haven't been that great and his position in them most often seems uncomfortable. Strangely enough, here in this movie playing a flashy-eyed serial killer who ends up going toe-to-toe with alien monsters, he seems to actually work. Most things he's in it seems all he has to do, is be large and potentially menacing. But he makes Pitch Black work.

Great movie and cool visuals. Fine detail throughout with the exception of some noise in bright and dark scenes some more noticeable than others but in a way it adds to the overall gritty barren wasteland. Extras were kind of bland though. If your a Pitch Black and/or Diesel fan pick up a copy for your collection and enjoy. It's worth it.