I like creature features that are done well and show us something a little different. Pitch Black bears the look of an original experience, but it isn't one. In the opening of the movie, a spaceship crash lands on a desert planet so violently that only in a movie could anyone survive it. Among the survivors is a ruthless killer, convincingly played by Vin Diesel, and a female pilot who, during the crash landing, has a panic attack that sets up a character arc of unrealized potential.

After some exploration and atmosphere building, the movie gradually devolves into a schlock monster movie in which the monsters in question graciously attack only as the plot demands. "Which characters will survive?" is the only question we have, but we care about so few of them, the answer hardly matters.

It's well made from a technical standpoint, and there were several moments I enjoyed. But it doesn't add up to anything, and when it was over I was asking myself what the point was. It doesn't have anything to say, and it's too routine -- a fault magnified by the potential of the setting -- to work well as lasting entertainment.