Today’s quick review: Dark City. John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) wakes up in a hotel room with a mutilated corpse and no recollection of his past or how he came to be there. With only a cryptic message from Dr. Daniel Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland) to help him, John attempts to piece together the clues to his identity. But Inspector Frank Bumstead (William Hurt) is not the only person after John: strange men with odd abilities pursue him at every turn.
Dark City is a science fiction noir from writer and director Alex Proyas. Boasting impressive atmosphere, a well-told mystery, and a suitably expansive premise, Dark City merges the puzzling plot and dark visuals of the noir genre with the flexibility of the sci-fi genre. Rarely enough for this type of movie, Dark City plays its mystery well, with a good progression, interesting plot twists, and a payoff that justifies all the paranoia along the way.
The movie deals with themes of reality, memory, and control. The situation John finds himself in is only the tip of a much larger conspiracy. Everything John thinks he knows is a lie, from who he can trust to the nature of the city around him. The film does veer hard in a sci-fi direction, but the core conflicts are ones of information, the unraveling of a mystery as grand in scope as any story from The Truman Show to The Adjustment Bureau.
Dark City has a striking visual style that combines a shadowy, oppressive cityscape, noir lighting, and unsettling camerawork. In the entire film, only a handful of shots last longer than five seconds. The brief shots and abrupt cuts give the movie an edgy quality that reflect its mood of danger and uncertainty, while the off-noir atmosphere heightens the feeling of oppression without remaining faithful to any one particular location or era.
Dark City shares eerie similarities to The Matrix, which came out the following year. The movies share similar themes, visual styles, and even certain camera shots. But where The Matrix opts to show its hand early, Dark City takes a more cerebral approach, steadily revealing pieces of a secret that is altogether weirder than anything The Matrix has to offer. Which film is better is a matter of taste, but The Matrix has better production values and broader appeal.
Unlike its counterpart, Dark City has only some action. Its special effects are somewhat tacky, but they work well with the city’s artificial feel and the film’s selective glimpses of the extraordinary. The film focuses more on its atmosphere and mystery than its thrills, carefully cultivating a sense of paranoia that its handful of action sequences only serve to heighten.
Watch Dark City when you are in the mood for a well-written sci-fi mystery with great ambience. Dark City is a strange enough film and a tough enough watch that most viewers will not appreciate it, but for a niche audience of devoted science fiction fans, it is an overlooked gem. Skip it if you are looking for action or an ordinary noir, or if you cannot get used to the brusque camerawork.
7.7 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 7.5 for compelling science fiction; your score will vary depending on your taste for its particular themes and style.