Pitch Black

(USA)

H1/2 PITCH BLACK (USA). This latest sci-fi thriller from writer/director David N. Twohy (The Arrival, Waterworld) has Vin Diesel as Riddick, a sociopath imprisoned on a spaceship until it crashes on a barren planet. After some cops-and-robbers shenanigans, he turns out to be not such a bad guy, and he bonds with the crew and other survivors just in time to be the main course for a horde of flesh-craving creatures. The dino-bat beasties can't stand sunlight and the planet's three suns maintain eternal day -- except that the crash takes place on the eve of a once-in-a-blue-moon eclipse (thus the film's enlightened title). The alien and space-flight FX are impressive, and Diesel and fly girl Radha Mitchell (High Art) are likable, but the cheap cinematography and a story line that's been pitched too many times already signal a career in eclipse.