Pitch Black

I received a wonderful surprise from my wife when I got home from work yesterday. Without my having asked, she had bought the Chronicles of Riddick Trilogy. Pitch Black is one of my favorite movies, and it's is great to have a wife that understands me and does all sorts of little things to make my life better. No offense to women, but I find most to be alien creatures that are incomprehensible. My wife is probably the only woman that I could live with without going crazy.

Pitch Black is one of those odd science fiction thrillers that has the distinction of being well made. Science fiction and fantasy is an area of film making that is so horribly misunderstood that you get either a Hollywood blockbuster that is all about explosions, or some piece of crap that even the Geeks don't want to watch. Of course we do, because there aren't many options for our favorite genres. I would like to thank Peter Jackson for showing people that a fantasy film could be a serious film and when it is well done, it is appreciated by almost everyone.

Back to Pitch Black, my favorite movies are those that spend time developing their characters. Many films try to cram in more action and more story by skimping on character development. What they don't understand is that if you don't care about the characters, you really don't care what happens to them. I especially love when a movie spends so much time developing a character that you know they will survive, and then they don't.

For those unfamiliar with the film, a group of anti-heroes survive a crash and face not only the threats of a hostile environment, but also the threat of human nature once it is removed from civilization. I thoroughly enjoy it, even the tenth time, and I would recommend it for anyone who enjoys science fiction or horror movies.