Subject: Retrospective: Dark City (1998)

From: "Alex Ioshpe" <[email-masked]>
Date: 7 Feb 2000 04:12:53 GMT

An Alex Ioshpe Review

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY:  Alex Proyas

   STARRING: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer
   Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, Richard
   O'Brien, Ian Richardson & William
   Hurt

RATING: 8/10

John Murdoch (Sewell) awakens alone in a strange hotel to find that he is
wanted for a series of brutal murders. The problem is that he can't remember
whether he committed the murders or not. In fact, most of his memories have
completely vanished, and for one brief moment, he is convinced that he has
gone stark raving mad. Pursued by Detective Bumstead (Hurt), Murdoch seeks
to unravel the twisted riddle of his identity. As he edges closer to solving
the mystery, he stumbles upon a fiendish underworld controlled by a group of
ominous beings collectively known as The Strangers . These shadow-like,
soulless creatures are on a quest to emulate humanity. They control Dark
City, freezing  time every night to rearrange the skyline and warp every
resident's mind to find out what  makes us "tick". These gothic figures
possess the ability to alter people's perceptions, by changing their
memories -- a process known as Tuning. Through an evolutionary anomaly,
Murdoch is also imbued with this power and thus, he alone is able to resist
The Stangers' control over his mind.. And for that, he must be destroyed.
With the help of the inscrutable Doctor Schreber (Sutherland), Murdoch is
able to stay a step ahead of his adversaries while he slowly pieces together
the labyrinthine puzzle of his past -- his bittersweet childhood, his love
for his estranged wife Emma (Connelly) and the key to a hideous series of
murders which he is suspected of committing.

Eternal night, strange skyscrapers that morph from the ground, while the
unknowing citizens get their memories changed every 24 hours. This is a
surreal, bizarre and effectively paranoid sci-fi thriller that will please
the neo-noir fans. Unlike most of the films of its genre, "Dark City" does
not have any action sequences or endless gunfights. It is more like a dark a
nd moody meditation. What makes us human? What is individuality? Is it
simply a collection of memories that make us what we are? Will a man that
has got memories of a killer continue the horrifying practice? Or is it
something deeper, something you can not change, take or label? Is that what
we call soul?

In a film like this, atmosphere is the key. Alex Proyas understands that.
Directing with as little light as possible and using only the shades of
gray, black and dark green, he manages to create a cold and unfriendly
world, which is a bizarre mixture of countless time periods and ages - a
world of eternal night, lit up only by the colorful memories. This world is
more like a zoo - a laboratory where it is we who are being researched by a
superior and far more advanced race.

Visually the film is remarkable, presenting a graceful cinematography,
gothic architecture, '50s costumes, interesting art direction and a dose of
impressive special effects. The acting is also a key factor and it is
nothing more than acceptable, although it is impossible to call any of the
performances spectacular. Regrettably the characters in "Dark City" are not
very developed and there are some disturbing holes in the plot, that some
will find disturbing. After a spectacular and completely unexpected
revelation that lifts the film to new hight, the finale that follows is
rather disappointing, simplified and almost alienated from the rest of the
picture.

This film has received a rather cold welcome from the critics and was
underrated and overseen for no reason. Several failures during these 100
minutes, prevent me from giving this film a top mark. However, this is truly
a thrilling and inspiring production, that will probably stand as an example
of a good science fiction film in the years that come.

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Written by Alex Ioshpe (C) 1998 ([email-masked])