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Still, few of us are this tranquil; for most it takes a crisis to burn away what clouds us and to reveal who and what we truly are. Would you fight to protect a stranger, and perhaps die for them because it’s the noble thing to do? Are you content enough with the life you’ve lived to face death unafraid, or does mortality just remind you how much you’ve left undone? No, these are not new concepts but they’re pretty lofty stuff for a low budget action film, and let’s not get confused here – this is definitely an action film.

There’s a reason Vin Diesel’s face is on the DVD instead of Keith David. And without a doubt, the most satisfying parts of Pitch Black are watching Riddick jack up other living things with his big mouth and his big muscles. Yet unlike most examples of the genre, Pitch Black sticks to the rules, covers the basics but aims just a little bit higher in the substance department. There’s also a reason why such a modestly successful film has become an enduring fan favorite – it hits all the right buttons because it’s a fun ride and it has just a little bit of depth.

All of this just magnifies why the 2004 sequel was such a joyless spectacle. Everything that made Pitch Black unique and appealing was gutted in favor of Riddick himself, slaughtering hordes of laughable video game characters in front of one brooding CGI landscape after another. A story that was meant to be full of sprawling philosophical drama was instead stuffed with nothing more than chaos and clutter. Anything clever and fun left over from the original was obscured by a seas of chattering gunfire and geysers of smoke and blood. That’s a shame, because as compelling a character as Riddick is, as with any anti-hero what that separates him from a true villain is his humanity.

To be fair, Pitch Black certainly suffers from many of the same things as most action films – there are plenty of contrivances meant to keep the characters in danger longer than necessary and logic is occasionally washed away with a rush of adrenaline. But like any successful story it sets goals and exceeds them, puts the bar in place and then passes over it. And by the end of it all, even Riddick changed his mind about who he was.

And you don’t have to be a movie snob to appreciate that.

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