Are You With Us?: Dark City
By Ryan Mazie
October 7, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Dark City was one of those Netflix recommendations for “Movies that You’ll Love,” but that I usually skipped over. However, the trippy poster, the even trippier trailer, and the “what the hell is this?” plot description enticed me to give it a shot.
A movie where the less you know, the more enjoyable it will be, I’ll only give the barebones description: Dark City takes place in a perpetually dark city where the sun never rises and everyone unknowingly periodically freezes. That is, everyone except our protagonist, John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell). John wakes up as an amnesiac in a bathtub with a brutally murdered body on the floor. As he tries to regain his memory and figure out if he is the murderer, John stumbles upon a sinister underworld run by a powerful telekinesis group called The Strangers – a soon to be extinct race of creepy white-faced freaks.
From there, director Alex Proyas speedily unravels his twisty noir plot. Every scene has a purpose and even those only involving the Strangers keep us in the dark as much as John does. This makes the end twist much more satisfying in this intellectually stimulating action flick (those are three words you don’t hear strung together often).
Rufus Sewell takes command as John. Adding a frantic depth to his scenes, Sewell’s passionate performance is integral to the film’s success. Not known for being a leading man, Sewell shows that he has talent, but sadly his career floundered. Peaking in 2001 with A Knight’s Tale, Sewell’s last notable part was on the much hyped but quickly canceled CBS procedural The Eleventh Hour with fellow faded ‘90s actress Marley Shelton.
The incomparable William Hurt, an actor who can make standing still entertaining, is the most noir-esque character as the burdened yet determined Inspector pursuing John for being the potential prostitute murderer plaguing the city. Hurt comes on heavy but understands the context, giving a wink to the noir genre. Any time he shows up on screen, it is a delight.
Jennifer Connelly, an actress I don’t remember for sex appeal, surprisingly spices things up as John’s wife, a blood boiling bar crooner. Sexy, emotional, and kick-ass, Connelly three years later won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in A Beautiful Mind, taking her career to the next level commercially. Mixing studio and independent work, Connelly is carving out a long career for herself.
Rounding out the cast is Kiefer Sutherland in one of his most unusual roles as a wimpy, shady scientist whose allegiance to the Strangers is unclear - quite the opposite from his take-no-prisoners (or in his case, terrorists) character of Jack Bauer on 24, the long-running FOX TV show he headlined. Dark City was one of Sutherland’s last notable roles in his flagging film career before switching to television.
Alex Proyas, a TV commercial and video helmer, took on Dark City as his follow-up project after his successful debut, The Crow. While stylized similarly (Proyas sure likes rooftop chases), he has faith in the audience to follow a story without holding their hand, keeping the film taut and exciting. Unfortunately, the studio behind the film, New Line (now under the WB umbrella), did not have as much faith, bickering with Proyas and adding narration in the beginning that spoils one of the film’s biggest twists. It took six years for Proyas to return to Hollywood with the underwhelming and silly Will Smith actioner I, Robot which yet again the studio tampered with (this time it would be Fox). Proyas’ latest film was the fun and underrated Nicolas Cage “the end is nigh” film Knowing, a surprise hit that had one of the best disaster sequences in recent memory.
Dark City had an extensive marketing campaign, with trailers focusing on the visually stunning nature of the film. Unfortunately, audiences did not respond. Maybe it was before its time, but Dark City debuted with a thud on February 27, 1998. Opening in fourth place with $5.6 million (or about $9.5 million today), it quickly fell out of theaters, ending up with a puny $14.4 million total ($24.4 million adjusted). With $12.8 million grossed from overseas, the worldwide tally was exactly the same as the $27 million production budget.
Critics responded better with a 77% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert called it the best film of the year. While New Line could have brushed off Dark City, as it was released the same year as the studio’s hits The Wedding Singer, Rush Hour, Blade, Pleasantville, and American History X, they gave the film a great DVD release in the early stages of the disc format, loaded with special features. Gaining traction on the home video market, Dark City grew a following. It was rereleased in 2008 for its ten-year anniversary on Blu-Ray with a Director’s Cut, extending the film 11 minutes and nixing the controversial beginning voice-over (for the purposes of this column I only refer to the theatrical version).
Not a perfect film, Dark City has a wonderful scope and effects that still hold up today – not something most films can brag about. With plot points and themes of the unknown, a man on the run trying to unearth the truth, and romance at its simplest, Dark City is with us and I definitely recommend you seeing it.
Proyas’ city, which looks a bit like Batman’s Gotham City, has a ‘40s style, with ‘50s diners, and a futuristic ambience making it appear almost timeless. Timelessness is what any great movie tries to achieve and out of all of Alex Proyas’ work so far, Dark City holds up the best. It is original, dark, and unafraid to be unconventional. I hope Poryas’ brand of uniqueness in film, unlike the Strangers, is not a dying race.
Verdict: With Us
7 out of 10