Dark City (1998)
Director: Alex Proyas Cast: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, Richard O'Brien, Ian Richardson, William Hurt Screenplay: Alex Proyas, Lem Dobbs, David S. Goyer Producers: Andrew mason, Alex Proyas Runtime: 104 min. US Distribution: New Line Cinema Rated R: Violence, nudity, language
By Nathaniel R. Atcheson (nate@pyramid.net)
Dark City is an imaginative, entertaining pre-cult film--intense and visually absorbing. It harnesses a lot of new ideas, some of which are profound, and others absurd, but all are compelling. I say "pre-cult" because I imagine that Dark City, like Blade Runner and 2001, will probably be a cult hit in a few years, and will be remembered in the long run as great entertainment.
Rufus Sewell (whom I've only seen as Fortinbras in Branagh's Hamlet) plays John Murdoch, a man who mysteriously wakes up in a bathtub and doesn't remember who he is. He receives a strange phone call from an alleged doctor (Kiefer Sutherland) who tells him that he has no memory, and that there are people after him. John quickly makes it out of the hotel and onto the streets of the Dark City in which he lives.
His objective now is to find out who he is; he finds out that he has a wife, Emma (Jennifer Connelly), and that she hasn't seen him in three weeks. Not long after this, he finds that he is wanted for the murders of six women, though the detective in charge of that case (William Hurt) isn't sure what to believe. John, with the help of the doctor, is finally allowed to know about an experiment of an extraterrestrial race called the Strangers. The Strangers' purpose is to understand the effects of memories on human beings. The Strangers have a power, called "tuning," that allows them to alter physical reality. Their interest in John lies in the fact that he also has this power.
For the first half of the film, I was impressed with the visual presentation of Dark City, but completely disengaged from the story and the characters. I realized, though, that this is because even John doesn't know who he is, and for us to sympathize with him, it takes more time as he uncovers the details of his own past. Later in the film, there are scenes between John and Emma that are extremely moving, like a moment in which he is talking to her through a pane of glass in a police station.
In fact, by the end of the film, I was impressed with how well all of the characters are developed. Sewell does a great job in the lead, and with this film he proves that he is a solid leading man. The beautiful Connelly is as luminous as ever, and she truly shines in more than one moment here. Hurt is extremely dark and brooding (he has a lot of screen time, but I think he opens his mouth twice); and Sutherland, although he overacts (Peter Lorre syndrome, I think), he still manages to be likable in his role. Good characters is a very good thing in a film that exists primarily to showcase masterful sets and special effects: it makes our enjoyment of the film effortless and smooth.
Proyas has done a great job with the look of this film. The city itself is a deep and complex setting, just as interesting as any of the human characters in the film. Proyas, who also directed the visually powerful The Crow, takes elements from other films such as Batman, Blade Runner, and his own previous film, and manages to make a new and unusual setting by extending on these concepts. Some of the sets here--like the Strangers' meeting place--are truly breathtaking. And in the final scenes we get to see the City from afar, and it is quite a sight.
I do have issues with the science depicted here, though. I'd like to see what studies fuelled Proyas' ideas revolving around the memory, but for some reason I don't think that our memories come in the form of liquid. There's also more than one instance later in the film that doesn't treat basic concepts of physics with respect.
But, when all is considered, this is a fantasy film, and these are allowed to extend beyond common cinematic boundaries from time to time. Dark City is a good, original film that I found very refreshing, given the level of rehashed garbage that we've already gotten this year. Proyas--with his visionary, moving picture-style of direction--should have a long life in the business.
>From 0-10: 7 Grade: B
Visit FILM PSYCHOSIS at http://www.pyramid.net/natesmovies
Nathaniel R. Atcheson
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews