Review of Dark City (1998) by Gordon C — 16 Aug 2010

What is the nature of identity? What, in fact, does it mean to be human?

One of the great things about science fiction is that in the best examples of the genre one gets to consider questions such as these.

Dark City takes place in a gloomy metropolis which, unknown to its denizens, is the construct of a cadre of non-human aliens, the Strangers, who have the ability to alter physical reality with mental powers, a feat which they call "tuning.".

But their race is dying, and they believe that by learning something about what makes humans human they may use this knowledge to save themselves, to transform themselves into something more vital. So they have abducted humans and brought them to this city, where they conduct experiments in altering their memories to examine the results, aided by the jittery, guilty Dr. Schreber, a human psychiatrist (played by Kiefer Sutherland in what I consider to be his finest role).

Our hero is John Murdoch, who awakens in a hotel room next to the body of a murdered prostitute. But in his case, a memory implant has failed, leaving him with only some scraps of childhood recollections, and some memory of his wife, Emma.

The Strangers have planted evidence to implicate Murdoch in the killings of several prostitutes. Lacking specific memories, and confronted with evidence of his guilt, the question is, will Murdoch come to believe he is indeed the murderer? And will he come to behave as a murderer, based on that belief?

That might be what you would expect, if indeed our identity is only the sum of our memories. But the film suggests otherwise, exploring the notion that emotion has as much, if not more, to do with determining a human's identity than memory alone.

An excellent film ensues, which deserves a place in the canon of the best science fiction that cinema has to offer.

Watch it several times. It's worth it.