pitch black is a sheep in wolf's clothing . it is full of darkness , danger and violence and if you buy into the marketing hype , an unsettling and scary film going experience . don't be fooled . pitch black is a morality play masquerading as a scare-fest . it starts off with blistering intensity . a cargo spaceship crash lands on a planet apparently leeched of life by the scorching heat of three suns . among the survivors is fry ( mitchell ) , the ship's pilot , who spends the film wrestling with the fact that she tried to jettison the other passengers in her effort to land the craft safely . there is imam ( david ) , an islamic leader whose faith in his god is tested repeatedly throughout the film . there is a law enforcement officer in the form of johns ( hauser ) , who attacks every situation with square jawed authoritarian zeal . and there is riddick ( diesel ) , a menacing , muscle-bound convicted murderer who's being brought back to justice by johns . the group quickly sizes up the situation and each other . confident in their assessment of matters , a plan is set in motion to escape their hellish environment . those plans are shredded by the appearance of one of the planet's wildlife , a predatory , sometimes winged , species that enjoys the taste of blood and flesh . fortunately , the creatures are light sensitive and are forced to live in networks of catacombs under the planet's surface . unfortunately , the group has managed to land on the planet moments before an eclipse is about to occur , taking away their one protection from the monsters . the group's savior comes in the form of johns , whose decisive leadership looks to deliver them from purgatory . or does it ? pitch black deviates from the standard sci-fi fare by avoiding some of the stock " escape the boogieman " conflicts the genre typically serves up . just as the planet gave a false facade of lifelessness , first appearances given by the survivors proves to be just as false . <POS> the excitement of the film </POS> comes not from the danger posed by the creatures , but rather from watching the shifting allegiances and emotional growth of the characters as the planet serves as a deus ex machina of sorts to catalyze emotional growth . a recurrent theme runs throughout the movie of faith , whether it be religious or in a person , and how that powers their motivations . i found it telling that an accidental death occurs early on due to the misperception of a self professed atheist . conversely , imam constantly contributes any good fortune to allah . one by one , his perceived heaven sent blessings are taken away and crushed . imam is forced to reassess his faith . another character expresses belief in god , along with a life long hate . yet another character makes a decision that echoes the sentiments of christ about selflessness and has lasting repercussions for several of group . it is <POS> a fascinating character study </POS> hiding under the guise of a scare flick . <POS> special mention </POS> should be made of vin diesel , who <POS> intriguingly conveys feral menace combined with a truly mesmerizing presence </POS> . his character could have easily slipped into a parody of the baddass killing machine , but twohy and diesel add surprising depth to riddick . they can be excused for the two or three shwarzenegger-like catch phrases that growl their way out of diesel's mouth . the movie has its flaws that can be nitpicked . the creatures do look derivative of the ones in alien . the dialogue isn't the freshest at times , reminiscent of a bad comic book . yes , the appearance of riddick's vision skills are more than a little timely considering the situation . these trappings are on the periphery of the story twohy is really trying to tell . twohy may have lured you in under the pretense of scaring you with film fabricated boogieman , but he shows the real boogieman to be the prejudices and beliefs we use to direct decisions in our lives .
