Pitch Black Blu-ray

Pitch Black

 (2000)

Action | Adventure | Horror | Sci-Fi



In the not-too-distant future, a docking pilot makes a forced crash-landing of her spacecraft on a distant planet. As the survivors explore the uncomfortably hot planet, they must band together. The planet is eerie, arid, and lifeless. But as the sun sets and the planet plunges into total darkness, other inhabitants emerge -- including a fiendish murderer with a nose for blood.

For more details about Pitch Black on Blu-ray, see the Pitch Black Blu-ray Review

Starring: Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell
Director: David Twohy

Pitch Black Blu-ray, Video Quality

 


Pitch Black obscures no detail in its fine 1080p, 2.35:1-framed Blu-ray release. The film offers a myriad of visual styles. It begins inside the transport vessel with a standard, visually bland, somewhat dark look, with consistent colors and levels of detail. The ship's steely, utilitarian interior isn't pretty, but what's there looks fantastic under the scrutiny of high definition, offering fine levels of visible detail on the instrument panels and other areas. Once on the planet surface, the film takes on a harsh, gritty, highly over-saturated look that washes out both colors and occasionally fine details, though intentionally so, replicating the barren, seemingly lifeless conditions of the planet where there is always a sun high in the sky. The movie quickly changes from a tan-shaded, hot, and miserable desert appearance to a harsh, blue-tinted hue that permeates every inch of the frame. No matter the lighting conditions, the transfer reveals plenty of finer details not seen quite as clearly on previous iterations of the film on home video, including beads of sweat and the finer textures of the various landscapes seen throughout the film. While colors are often bleak, there are a few highlights, splatterings of blood in particular, that appear richer and clearer here than on the DVD. Blacks, which dominate the second half of the movie, are generally solid, never veering towards a shade of gray or blue. Noise is rather heavy over some black backgrounds but not others. There is a bit noise over some of the brighter backgrounds of the first half of the film, though considering the completely unnatural appearance of many shots, it's hard to call it a flaw rather than something inherent to the look of the film. There are also quite a few white and black speckles over the print. Despite a few anomalies, this is a solid transfer that easily surpasses the DVD and should please fans immensely.

Pitch Black Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 


Pitch Black explodes onto Blu-ray with another impressive DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack from Universal. This is a film with a highly impressive sound design, evident from the opening moments of the film and onward. Pitch Black begins with a vessel in deep space, running in silence, with a subtle yet foreboding score protruding from the speakers to create an atmosphere that is dark and deadly. Inside the ship, the hull rattles off to the side and in the back, while Riddick's inner-voice flows quietly through the center channel with gritty precision. Suddenly, the ship is struck by small meteors that thud upon impact. The ship begins to plummet and break apart; two computer voices are heard lightly and sometimes on top of one another under the sound of mechanical objects being pulled, pushed, and kicked as the pilots attempt to level and slow the ship's rate of descent. Its descent into the atmosphere fills the soundstage with the sound of flying debris and screaming wind, punctuated by the jettison of large sections of the ship, resulting in a loud, shrieking, and clanking thud. The ship finally impacts on the surface, skidding along the ground, the metal hull violently ripped from the ship as dirt and debris fly all around the soundstage, and then, silence. That's just the first eight minutes of the film.

As Pitch Black progresses, it enjoys a robust soundtrack that rolls naturally from every speaker. The music is almost tribal in its presentation, with repetitive beats that sound clear and precise, making a deep, penetrating sound that sets the tone for the movie well, reinforcing Riddick's self-described personality that relates him to a "primitive" or "animal." Sound effects are heard discretely and distinctly throughout the soundstage, be they gunshots or the screeching of the planet's native creatures of the night. Particularly impressive is the rainstorm heard near the end of the film; the downpour may be heard in every corner of the listening area, making for one of the more pleasing storms yet heard on Blu-ray. Dialogue reproduction is uniformly strong throughout. This isn't quite as deafening or devastating a soundtrack as those heard in some other Universal titles, like U-571 or The Incredible Hulk, but it is nevertheless just as impressive in its own right.

Pitch Black Blu-ray, News and Updates

• Today on Blu-ray - March 31st - March 31, 2009


• Pitch Black; Chronicles of Riddick Further Detailed - February 10, 2009


• Riddick Films Coming to Blu-ray - February 6, 2009

Pitch Black Blu-ray, Forum Discussions

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