Pitch Black (2000) Arrow 4K Review

Plot: When an intergalactic transport ship crashes on a remote desert planet with no sign of help on the horizon, the survivors, led by Fry (Radha Mitchell), band together to find a way back home. Among the passengers is Riddick (Vin Diesel), a convicted murderer being transported by marshal Johns (Cole Hauser) – and now freed of his chains and on the loose.

But as a solar eclipse plunges the planet into total darkness, a threat even worse than Riddick reveals itself, and the last humans standing may have to form an uneasy truce with the cunning fugitive (whose eyes have been surgically altered to see in the dark) to last the long night.

Review: I just picked up the Arrow 4K of Pitch Black from my local Walmart for under $20 which seemed like a good deal, especially since this is one of my favourite sci-fi action movies and remains Vin Diesel’s best role by far.

Riddick is the ultimate antihero; he’s a killer who escaped the “slam” aka prison and was apprehended by the mercenary, Johns (Cole Hauser) and is being transported back to said slam. When their ship crashes on an alien planet Riddick proves to be useful however, Johns keeps him on a tight leash and it doesn’t take long to realize who the real villain is.

No one is squeaky clean here and each character has shades of grey; Radha Mitchell’s Carolyn Fry is all about self-preservation and would have dumped all the passengers from the ship as it crashed to save her own hide. Her guilt is what makes her help the survivors as they try to find a way off the planet and away from some deadly aliens that thrive in the dark.

Rather just being about avoiding being killed by monsters, Pitch Black is also about how these people can survive with each other; with this extra dynamic you don’t know who to trust which keeps things unpredictable.

The visual effects for the aliens mostly hold up and manage to be suitably different from the xenomorphs in the Alien franchise. I always loved the score which has a memorable main theme which would be used in the other Riddick movies.

On the action front we get a few fight scenes between Riddick and Johns as well as some battles with the aliens and explosions.

The Arrow 4K has hours’ worth of special features:

• Brand new 4K restoration by Arrow Video of the Theatrical and Director’s Cuts of the film, approved by director David Twohy
• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround on both cuts
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on both cuts
• Archive commentary with director David Twohy and stars Vin Diesel and Cole Hauser
• Archive commentary with director David Twohy, producer Tom Engelman and visual effects supervisor Peter Chiang
• Nightfall: The Making of Pitch Black, a newly filmed interview with director/co-writer David Twohy
• Black Box: Jackie’s Journey, a newly filmed interview with actor Rhiana Griffith
• Black Box: Shazza’s Last Stand, a newly filmed interview with actor Claudia Black
• Black Box: Bleach Bypassed, a newly filmed interview with cinematographer David Eggby
• Black Box: Cryo-Locked, a newly filmed interview with visual effects supervisor Peter Chiang
• Black Box: Primal Sounds, a newly filmed interview with composer Graeme Revell
• The Making of Pitch Black, a short behind-the-scenes featurette
• Pitch Black Raw, a comparison between early CG tests and the final footage
• Additional behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the film
• 2004 archive bonus features, including an introduction by Twohy, A View Into The Dark, and Chronicles of Riddick Visual Encyclopedia
• Johns’ Chase Log, a short prequel narrated by Cole Hauser detailing the character’s hunt for Riddick
• The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, an animated short film directed by Peter Chung that acts as a bridgepoint between Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, featuring performances by Vin Diesel, Keith David and Rhiana Griffith reprising their roles
• Dark Fury bonus features including Bridging The Gap, Peter Chung: The Mind of an Animator, A View Into The Light, and a “pre-animation” version of the film
• Slam City, a motion comic from the film’s official website
• Into Pitch Black, a TV special offering an alternative non-canon glimpse into what happened before and after the events of the film
• Raveworld: Pitch Black Event, footage of a dance music event held to promote the film
• Theatrical trailers, plus trailers for the two sequels and video game
• Image galleries
• Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned ‘night’ and ‘day’ artwork by Luke Preece

The highlight for me is the interview with director David Twohy who talks about coming on board this project after initially declining it as he said there was a major action star connected to the movie but had a reputation for being a “bit of a dick”. I immediately thought it was Steven Seagal and since looking into it that’s apparently exactly who it was, so no surprise there.

There are several interviews with the cast and multiple other featurettes; I loved the interview with Graeme Revell who did the awesome score; he discusses how he used to work in a mental asylum before going into composing which I never knew before. The picture and sound are fantastic although it does highlight the occasional dated effects (but not much).

Overall, Pitch Black is still my favourite Vin Diesel movie as Riddick is cool and unpredictable; it has plenty of action and decent kills and the effects mostly hold up. This 4K has so many features it will take hours to get through them all. This is well worth adding to the collection especially when it’s under 20 bucks.