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 . 
the excitement of the film 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 a fascinating character study hiding under the guise of a scare flick . 
special mention should be made of vin diesel , who intriguingly conveys feral menace combined with a truly mesmerizing presence . 
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 . 
