Review of Dark City (1950) by Claes J — 16 Apr 2010

Alex Proyas' 'Dark City' is very much a stylish sci-fi thriller, whose out there storyline, plot and stylish art design makes this a more much than average science fiction film.

Dark City is the story of a man, John Murdoch who wakes in a bathtube and has lost his memory, finding that he shares the same powers to 'tune' as an alien race who are found out to be doing experiments with the human inhabitants of the Dark City. Trying not to give to much away, I watched the Directors Cut which I thought was really good. The story at first was really quite confusing but once everything is explained, you sort of grasp it and personally, I thought it was great concept.

All performances were pretty good in this film, while they weren't exceptional and the fact I couldn't imagine Keifer Sutherland as anything other than Jack Bauer made me keep my distance from being engrossed into this bleak world. I especially liked William Hurt as the Inspector.

What this film is all about however is without a doubt the art and set design, the dark, dirty and spiraling city was beautiful and the perfect setting for any futuristic sci-fi epic. Followed by some great direction makes for enjoyable experience, even if the plot is somewhat confusing at the start. I loved the aliens also, they looked fairly scary and when their teeth chatter, its quite haunting.

An alien race doing experiments on us to study our humanity, packed with action, some good performances set in an amazing world and with stylish directing. What more could you want from a sci-fi film?