Film Review: Dark City (1998)

Old adage of “it’s good to be good, but it’s better to be lucky” can be applied to film makers. All the extraordinary and undisputed talent didn’t help Australian film director Alex Proyas when his career became affected by extraordinarily bad luck. The Crow, his first major production, was forever overshadowed by the tragic death of its main star. The critics took something of a pity on Proyas and showered that film with too much praise only to compensate this with greeting his next film with more undeserved hostility. That film also had misfortune of having basic premise with a lot of similarity with the film that would only a year later become smashing success. All those circumstances conspired to turn Dark City, a science fiction which would have been remembered as classic and masterpiece of the genre, into one of the most tragically underrated science fiction film of 1990s.

The plot is set in what, at least at first glance, looks like big US city in mid 1950s. The protagonist, played by Rufus Sewell, is man who awakes naked in bathtub, later finds himself room with dead prostitute and is without any memory who he is and how he ended there. He then answers phone call by eccentric psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Poe Schreber (played by Kiefer Sutherland) who warns him that he must escape. He does so before the hotel is visited by sinister-looking group of characters called Strangers, led by someone called Mr. Hand (played by Richard O’Brien). The protagonist gradually finds that his name is John Murdoch and the key to his identity might be Emma Murdoch (played by Jennifer Connelly), beautiful torch singer who is supposed to be his wife. At the same time, police inspector Frank Bumstead (played by William Hurt) is investigating murders of prostitutes and although all the evidence points at Murdoch, Bumstead is increasingly doubtful of that. As he tries to escape and establish his identity Murdoch begin to notice some strange details about the city, like complete lack of sunlight, all people suddenly falling asleep at midnight while himself remembers growing up at the beach which nobody can point directions to.

Viewers who are familiar with major works of science fiction literature could easily recognise the basic concept between Dark City, very much like those used in the works of Philip K. Dick and often revolving around the issues of perception and reality. Dick’s opus has already inspired two classic science fiction films - Blade Runner and Total Recall, and although Dark City is based on Proyas’ original idea, it could easily be described as “Dickian”. Proyas has developed with his script with the help of Lem Dobbs and David S. Goyer; the latter would later become one of Hollywood’s most successful screenwriters of our times. The screenplay is very intelligent and (at least in its original version) doesn’t want to insult viewer’s intelligence. Small but important hints are dropped before the audience is able to collect all the pieces of the puzzle and discover the true nature of the protagonist’s world.

Proyas, like in The Crow, displayed great visual talent and brought fascinating world that is both familiar and fantastical. Helped by production design by Patrick Tatoupulos and costumes by Liz Keogh, he created atmosphere that combines film noir with German Expressionism, while at the same time dropping just enough baffling anachronisms to make his film look “retrofuturistic”. This combination of film noir and science fiction, which haven’t worked that well since Blade Runner, is also helped by excellent music soundtrack by Trevor Jones and special effects that combine old school techniques like miniatures with CGI that looks impressive even after quarter of century.

Proyas also enjoyed excellent cast. British actor Rufus Sewell, who was relatively unknown at the time, is very good in the role of the protagonist who seems as baffled with his surroundings as the audience. His less-than-Hollywood look gives Dark City important Hitchcockian quality of “ordinary man in extraordinary situation” which function well at the very beginning of the plot. Jennifer Connelly, often considered one of the most beautiful actresses of her generation, also functions well in the role of character which deliberately uses visual tropes of film noir. William Hurt is also very good in one of the first roles in which that actor came to terms with his advanced age and played character which was both intelligent and vulnerable. Kiefer Sutherland, by that time quite comfortable in the position of dependable character actor, is arguably the most impressive in the complex role of mysterious character of shifting loyalties; his character is, on the other hand, slightly deformed and weak and Sutherland deliberately bases his work on the the roles played by grand character actor Peter Lorre in 1930s and 1940s classics. Richard O’Brien, British actor known for his cult role of Riff-Raff in Rocky Horror Picture Show also delivers great performance despite having to work under heavy make-up.

For all of his talent, Proyas wasn’t able to resist the pressure of studio executives who considered premise of Dark City too clever for average audience. He had to add opening narration explaining basic concept, thus sabotaging his own film. Even with this Dark City failed to make big impression at the box office and was soon overshadowed by The Matrix, film with similar basic idea which also also used some of its sets during production. The film nevertheless gradually built its own cult status and proved to be influential, most visibly in some scenes used by Nolan’s Inception many years later. In 2008 Proyas made Director’s Cut that removed the opening narration and added few scenes and more refined special effects, thus further improving reputation of this tragically underrated gem of science fiction cinema.

RATING: 9/10 (++++)

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