The Chronicles Of Riddick: Pitch Black: Unrated Director's Cut HD DVD Review

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Title: The Chronicles Of Riddick: Pitch Black: Unrated Director’s Cut

Media: HD DVD

Genre: Sci-Fi Thriller

Stars: Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Keith David, and Claudia Black

Writer: Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, and David Twohy

Director: David Twohy

Feature length: 112 minutes

Extras: Introduction By Writer/Director David Twohy, Feature Length Audio Commentary With Writer/Director David Twohy and Stars Vin Diesel, and Cole Hauser, Feature Length Audio Commentary With Writer/Director David Twohy, Producer Tom Engelman, and Visual Effects Supervisor Peter Chiang, The Chronicles Of Riddick Visual Encyclopedia, Johns’ Chase Log, Dark Fury: Advancing The Arc Featurette, The Game Is On, Making Of Pitch Black Featurette, A View In The Dark Featurette

Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Subtitles For The Deaf and Hearing Impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles

Packaging: Elite Red HD Case

Chapter Stops: 18

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 2000/HD DVD Release: 2006

Theatrical Distributor: Universal Pictures

Home Video Distributor: Universal Studios Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

“Pitch Black” was released in the States back in February of 2000 and was wintertime hit. As Writer/Director David Twohy states in his video introduction (2:26) to this new DVD release, he was more concerned about surviving the hectic production schedule, which featured on location shooting in the Australian outback to double as the arid planet where the characters find themselves marooned on. Three years later Twohy and Diesel were approached by Universal to do a sequel, but rather than do a film that revisited the same planet with the same nocturnal creatures again, both Twohy and Diesel wisely agreed to take their character into a new direction and develop a whole universe of mythology for him. Their logic was that “Pitch Black” introduces the character of “Riddick” and places him and the characters in a situation that evokes a sci-fi horror story. However now that audiences are familiar with the character the next film, which was part of a proposed trilogy, would be an adventure story with “bad guys against evil guys.” The world that would be revealed in “The Chronicles Of Riddick” looks more high tech than what was shown in “Pitch Black,” which looked as though it could have taken place in the “Predator/Alien” universe. The premise of “Pitch Black” is not so problematic as the creatures themselves. Despite the fact that alien life is likely to be very different from our own, a planet where the predators have nearly killed off every indigenous species is unlikely since there is nothing to balance the food chain and how could other creatures, whose great bones remain fossilized on the planet surface, even develop on a world where every twenty-two years these ravenous things come out and eat everything they can sense?

Though the cover art entitles the film “The Chronicles Of Riddick: Pitch Black,” the film itself remains unaltered so this is the same “Unrated Director’s Cut” that was released on DVD back in 2000 and again in 2004 and most recently as part of the “Riddick Trilogy: Franchise Collection,” which features both theatrical films in their Unrated Director’s Cut form along with the still letterboxed “The Chronicles Of Riddick: Dark Fury” animated short by Peter Chung. Pretty much all of the extra value materials from the 2004 DVD re-release have been carried over for this HD DVD release. While the high definition widescreen (2.35:1) reveals some of the defects in the effects and so forth, there is no compression grain to speak of and the images are quite solid even when the camera work is purposely stylized with grain and extreme coloring for dramatic effect. The English Digital 5.1 Plus Surround Soundtrack is very well mixed with a great three-dimensional use of the channels. Even when filtered as DTS Neo 6, I think the Soundtrack is great. While HD DVD release of “The Chronicles Of Riddick: Unrated Director’s Cut” included an English DTS Soundtrack and even the 2000 and 2004 DVD versions of “Pitch Black” features a DTS option, there is no DTS Soundtrack included on this HD DVD. English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded onto the HD DVD as options. Carried over from the DVD release are screen specific and conversation audio commentaries with Writer/Director David Twohy and Stars Vin Diesel, and Cole Hauser and Writer/Director David Twohy, Producer Tom Engelman, and Visual Effects Supervisor Peter Chiang. The commentary with the actors directly addresses the new footage that has been added to this release, which is primarily more character development that slowed down the pace for the theatrical release and so it was cut out. The technical commentary discusses the uneasiness the filmmakers went through when it came to designing the look of the film while avoiding clichés overused in other sci-fi horror thrillers. Both are quite enlightening and entertaining. The original “Making Of Pitch Black” featurette (4:45) from the 2000 DVD release is also included, but the theatrical trailer has not been carried over.

Actor Cole Hauser recorded some exclusive material for the 2004 DVD release that included an audio log of his character Johns’ search for Riddick beginning three days after the escape from Butcher Bay and covering sixteen entries that lead up to, but do not include the events dramatized in “Pitch Black.” Hauser also provides audio descriptions for some of the terms used in “The Riddick Universe” that include the definitions of an “Orrery,” “Merc,” “and “Slam.” The last entry is a teaser for the eventual “Chronicles Of Riddick” DVD and now HD DVD that features a far more expansive encyclopedia. Both of these interactive treats can be viewed individually or as a whole with a “Play All” feature on the respective menus.

“The Game Is On” is simply a trailer for the DVD-ROM game now available for PC-CDROM and X-Box users that serves as a prequel to “Pitch Black” entitled “The Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay.” The featurette on the making of the direct to DVD release of “The Chronicles Of Riddick: Dark Fury” (1:31) is also included with quick clips from the animated film that features the voices of Vin Diesel and Keith David and was produced by acclaimed animator Peter Chung, whose credits include “Aeon Flux” and the “Animatrix” short “Matriculated.” “A View Into The Dark” (4:07) is a short teaser EPK for the feature film “The Chronicles Of Riddick.” As a whole I do like this new HD DVD release of “Pitch Black” and am happy to have it along with “The Chronicles Of Riddick: Unrated Director’s Cut” HD DVD, but I wish the animated “Dark Fury” was included along with the trailers for both feature films as well as the cheesy SCI FI Channel featurette that aired back in 2000 that documented Riddick’s escape from the Slam. They are all a part of the NBC Universal family now so why not include it even if it doesn’t tie-in with the way the film series has developed since? It definitely was not another “Star Wars Holiday Special” type of show.

I was disappointed that the menu for this HD DVD release did not feature scenes from the film the way “The Chronicles Of Riddick: Unrated Director’s Cut” and earlier Universal Studios Home Entertainment HD DVD releases had featured. I’ve noticed this on the HD DVD releases of “The Rundown” and “Happy Gilmore” too. I hope this will not be the case from now on. Otherwise, if you are a fan of the film and have an HD DVD player, “The Chronicles Of Riddick: Pitch Black” is definitely worth the investment now that it is available on HD DVD at retailers on and offline courtesy of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

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