A dreadful film. I only recently came to Pitch Black, and it’s not a bad low budget sci-fi thriller. But this is an atrocious sequel. OK, it’s technically competent, but the plot is dull, and there are some dreadful sequences that simply make no sense.
For example, when escaping across Creamtoria, being chased by the rising sun, I’m sure we see one of the characters die, only to be alive moments later. Then there’s the bit where seemingly only Riddick and the girl make it too the top of the mountain before the sun comes into view, facilitated by a last minute rope swing. His two colleagues are still further down the hill, and although they can hide behind a rock, they’ve not reached the mountain top. Moments later, up they pop! How?
And then Riddick is seemingly dead in the sunlight later on in the sequence. I understand that there was no way he was “really” dead. Heroes don’t die in these things, and yet, when he is revealed as alive, we don’t see or know how he achieved this miraculous escape. Did someone else pull him to safety? Did he make a Herculean effort and drag himself to the shade? Who knows. And is it me, or has the little girl of the first film aged far too much in four or five years?
The trouble with this film is that loads of money was chucked at a poor idea. From a small film, there’s suddenly a supporting universe that makes little overall sense. I suppose I should be pleased to see a space opera of this sort, but you’ve got to believe in the universe. And in this instance, it’s obvious that the producers have been watching The Lord of the Rings way too much.
Interesting to note that I saw the fabled nightvision goggles being worn by a cinema employee, and also couldn’t help but note that the print seems to be barcoded. In at least one scene (with Riddick on a very plain background), there are quite definite marks on the print for a couple of frames or so. I assume that this ties a particular print to a location so that internet and boot sale pirates can be easily traced back to a source.