Review of Dark City (1950) by Calib M — 04 May 2016

It's rare accomplishment for any kind of filmmaker, whether he might be a veteran of this medium or just newcomer starting out, to create a kind of engaging, endlessly-fascinating environment that Proyas brought to the screen in The Crow. Now, with his follow-up movie, ''Dark City'', the director incredibly manages to one-up himself. 1998's ''Dark City'' is quite a remarkable film also quite a cerebral film. You really have to pay attention if you want to follow the plotline perfectly. I feel like I have to see it again to fully enjoy and immerse myself into the full experience that is ''Dark City''.

The writing is excellent, original, mysterious, surprising, thrilling and dense. The performances are very solid, e.g Rufus Sewell as the paranoid leading man who suffers from memory-loss, Kiefer Sutherland as the peculiar doctor, John Hurt as the hard-headed detective, and Jennifer Connely as the ''wife'' of Sewell's character.

''Dark City'' has lots of remarkable scenes, but the one that stands out the most is the boat ride scene with Murdoch, Bumstead and Schreber. That scene hits you like a ton of bricks. However, it is quite expositional.

A tiny detail I noticed (that I loved, and I hope is an intention reference) was in an opening shot that approaches the hotel window behind which we meet Murdoch. The window is a circular dome in a rectangular frame. As clearly as possible, it looks like the "face" of Hal 9000 in "2001: A Space Odyssey" Hal was a computer that understood everything, except what it was to be human and have emotions. "Dark City" considers the same theme in a film that creates a completely artificial world in which humans teach themselves to be themselves.

The two (slight) problems I had is that the movie is original and has lots of creative ideas, but actually really isnt that original (it's not that Dark City itself was unoriginal, more that the themes expressed in it have been explored in a variety of movies since, and before the movie's been released. Possibly making it a transformative work for the time, but less impactful watching it as a modern viewer.?), it's like an assembly of a whole lot of other films, and Proyas has done that with meticulous precision.

Movies that come to mind that have a lot of the same elements are (Some will be movies that were released subsequently but still): Brazil, Metropolis, The Matrix, The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The City of the Lost Children, M, Nosferatu, Inception, Memento, The Game, Total Recall, Blade Runner, The Twilight Zone, Kafka, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and maybe even a little bit of Batman and The Fifth Element. This doesnt make this movie bad at all, but it was quite obvious and noticed it quite some times throughout watching the film. The other slight problem being, that it can be quite confusing to watch and you really need to have your head in the game, otherwise you will be lost in the story. A second viewing will most likely be very rewarding.

''Dark City'' is not a story so much as an experience, it is a triumph of art direction, set design, cinematography, special effects and imagination.