New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

When Inception rocked audiences this summer, its originality was being discredited days after its release. IMDb-ers flooded the message boards saying it stole from everything, from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (a must-see movie) to a Disney Donald Duck comic book (something you can pass). But halfway through watching Dark City, I couldn’t believe that this film was not referenced. While I am not saying Inception is unoriginal or a ripping off of Dark City, I just couldn’t help but imagine what audiences in 1998 thought when they saw city buildings folding, changing, and collapsing uponthemselves. Were their jaws also dropped, like the sold-out IMAX crowd I was watching Inception with? Visual effects have a notorious history of tracking since they are constantly being one-upped, but Dark City isn’t short of eye-popping.

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.

Continued:       1       2