Dark City

Now I’m not a huge science fiction or fantasy guy so I don’t have a lot of frame of reference for this sort of thing but I’m gonna go ahead and say that Dark City is a forgotten masterpiece.   It’s weird for me to say that because I didn’t like this film the first (and only other) time I saw it when it was in theaters.  But I guess thirteen years will change your mind.

So there are these aliens that are a dying breed.  They stumble upon Earth and take some humans (I’m not sure if they blew up Earth or they just abducted people) to test on to find out if they have what they need to stay alive longer.  They want the human soul and they think by conducting some experiments that they’ll find it or some shit like that.  The strangers (what they call the aliens in this) create a fake city that they modeled after Earth’s real cities.  They do their best to make it look like a real place with cars, shops, hotels, apartments, a police station and so forth.  But they blended styles mainly from the 30’s and 40’s when it came to clothing, hair styles and the level of technology.  It’s also always night time out hence the title, Dark City.  The human test subjects think they’re living in a real city and don’t know any better.  They have no idea that they’re lab rats in an experiment.

Now what the strangers actually do is change the lives of some humans around every night at midnight.  They make people richer, poorer, change jobs, etc.  Not everyone mind you, they just choose a different handful every time.  They also inject them with new memories so these people think from the start that they were always a lawyer or they always worked at a newsstand or whatever.  At midnight the strangers put everyone to sleep so they’re not seen changing people’s lives around.  They also reconfigure some of the buildings.  So for instance one day there’ll be a bridge and the next there won’t.  And since the city is fake there’s no way out.  The subways and trains just go around in circles and the river leads to a dead end.  But of course no one notices this.

To start the movie we’re first introduced to Dr. Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland (The Lost Boys, The Vanishing)) who tells us the background of the strangers.  He’s a human that helps the strangers create and inject these memories into people.  They need him because they have no idea what a human’s life is like.  So he’s kind of a weasely guy but he’s actually not a total asshole ‘cause he wants to help our main guy out.

Speaking of which, Rufus Sewell (The Illusionist) plays our lead named John Murdoch.  He wakes up having no idea who he is or where he is.  Dr. Schreber calls him up and tells him to leave the apartment that he’s in because there are men after him.  These men are, of course, the strangers.  They don’t like people waking up during the midnight makeover session ‘cause then they might tell other people and then their little experiment is ruined.

The rest of the film plays out like the strangest film noir you’ve ever seen.  Murdoch tries to find out who he is and what the hell is going on by going around the city looking for clues.  But then it changes into a sci-fi kinda picture by the end.  And you would think that this would be jarring but there’s enough pretext that it’s fine.  You already know from the start that all of this is some bullshit alien ass probing orgy.  Well soul probing I guess.  Whatever, it still involves needles and human test subjects.

Ok now on to why I think this is a pretty damn cool movie.  First of all it looks incredible.  It reminds me a lot of how a David Fincher film looks.  Since it’s always night out there’s lots of great lighting with street lights, neon signs and store fronts.  The alien lair is all in a pale blue light that looks nice and eerie.  Because this city is supposed to look like it’s from about the 30’s it just adds another layer of cool.  No dumb ass computers or cell phones ‘n shit.  And the architecture is exaggerated enough so you notice but not so much that it’s distracting or overblown. 

And I really dig the way the strangers look.  They have the same sort of look that pinhead from Hellraiser has with long black leather bodysuits, pale shaved heads and they’re all English.  The only thing they’re missing are the pins.  When they go out into the city they put on a black overcoat, black leather gloves and black fedoras.  I love how simple it is.  I think the reason why they look so cool and creepy is because of how clean the look is.  The strangers take over a person’s body when they die so that’s why they look like humans and Proyas made a good choice to have them look like a regular person but with something being kind of off about them instead of a decaying corpse with lots of makeup or some shit. 

Dr. Schreber has that mad scientist look with a 40’s German looking haircut, small spectacles, a sagging eye and he walks with a limp.  His speech is short and hurried like his mouth can’t keep up with his brain.  He’s definitely the most surreal looking character and lets viewers know that this is not some super serious movie you’re watching.  This is a fantasy and here’s our one cartoony character to remind you of that.

The other really cool thing is the whole film noir feel that this piece has.  You see Murdoch was supposed to be changed into a serial killer and everything was put into place to follow that narrative but he woke up before those memories and feelings could be injected into him.  So at first he has that to wrestle with but then he finds out that his wife had an affair and that there are these fucking aliens and so on.  His wife, Emma played by Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind, Labyrinth (you know I never took her seriously until I saw House of Sand and Fog and realized that she could be more of an interesting actress if she wanted to but she always seems to play it stiff and somewhat emotionless which I don’t get, just a side note)), tries to help him figure out what’s going on and she eventually becomes a pawn in the stranger’s twisted game…or something like that.  There’s a cop, Frank Bumstead played by William Hurt (A History of Violence, Altered States), that’s trying to track down Murdoch but also figures that there’s something not quite right about the city.  So there’s a bit of cat and mouse thrown in this movie for good measure.

The odd thing is that no one is particularly exceptional in this.  Sewell does fine here but he’s not a badass really.  I don’t think he supposed to be though.  He’s supposed to be an average guy that finds out there are fucking aliens.  But he’s definitely likeable enough to make the role work.  Connelly is just kind of there looking pretty as usual.  The cast that play the strangers are all great.  Hurt is boring though.  That was a wasted opportunity in my opinion.  I always think I like William Hurt but then realize that I haven’t liked him in anything (except maybe Body Heat).  It just looks like he’s going through the motions and doesn’t give a shit about anything ever.  This character could have been way cooler and really badass with the right actor.  I could see someone like Gary Oldman fuckin’ tearin’ it up.  Kiefer probably has the best role out of everyone and he plays it well as long as you don’t mind Kiefer Sutherland.  ‘Cause he can get on my nerves sometimes too but he was good here. 

Perhaps the biggest problem with this movie is the way it was cut.  It’s so fast that it makes every scene seem like it should be the most exciting goddamn thing and that everything you’re watching is very important so you should remember it for later.  I can’t recall seeing another movie where the whole thing was cut so quick.  Big Trouble in Little China is fast and so are Tony Scott movies but I don’t think they’re like this. This is more even.  It’s like the shots are on a timer and every two or three seconds it has to change.  I did get used to it after a while but at first I thought there was just a lot of intro that they were setting up.  Then I finally gave up and accepted that this is the way this movie is going to go.  I think this sort of thing can be a problem that’s too much for some people but stick with it.  If you can look past it then you’ll find there’s good stuff happening.

The direct comparison you can make about this movie is that it’s a lot like The Matrix.  Dark City came out a year before The Matrix and has a bunch of the same elements in it. (Spoiler) Murdoch is like Neo.  He’s the chosen one.  He can change things by using his mind and he eventually goes head to head with the strangers because he’s evolved and taken on some of their powers.  Neo’s the same thing.  I don’t know if I would say that he’s a human that’s evolved to fight the computers but maybe more that he has just the right amount of will or mind power or something.

In Dark City the whole world that these people live in is fake just like The Matrix.  The strangers inhabit dead humans and the agents can take over a human’s body if they want to.  Dr. Schreber can place memories and new identities into people and Morpheus and his crew can stick a fucking needle into your head and inject you with martial arts ‘n shit.  There’s a rooftop chase in The Matrix, there are several in Dark City.  The bad guys in both movies are English.  I think you get the point.  If you don’t then go back and read the previous two paragraphs again or better yet watch both films.

The Matrix is more daring in its special effects and more philosophical in its dialogue and storyline.  In other words it’s more impressive overall to look at and more douche baggy ‘cause it’s right on the borderline of being too preachy.  I think that’s why it’s so broadly appealing though.  Whether it’s action, philosophy, visual effects, fantasy, Keanu Reeves or Laurence Fishburne that you’re into, there’s something for everyone.  But I think in essence it’s an action movie and Dark City is certainly not.  Dark City is good in its own without the incredibly influential effects shots.  But even then I think Dark City’s effects look great.  This was before computers totally took over the film industry so there are lots of models and mock ups.  There are plenty of computers in there too but the difference is that this movie plays to CGI’s strengths and they’re used to enhance the overall experience.  There are a couple of things that don’t look good like what the aliens look like in their natural form but for the most part it’s done very tastefully.

And on the other point about philosophy, Dark City doesn’t shove it in our faces.  Well I can’t be certain that Alex Proyas meant for this thing to be really philosophical but I think you can draw the same type of nihilist ideas from this movie that you can from The Matrix.

If you like The Crow (Proyas previous film) then you’ll probably be into this one.  They’re both very similar in look and feel.  The Crow could be like the 90’s version of the dark city.  I guess I have to give credit to Proyas for this one (‘cause I, Robot and Knowing stunk).  I really enjoyed myself.  The movie does have a few problems but I think they can be overlooked and we can put this straight into the masterpiece bucket.  I definitely recommend this to anyone who hasn’t seen it or even if you got turned off the first time check it out again.  Hey it worked for me.