Dark City (1998)

Alex Proyas

USA

100 min, color, English

Review © 2004 Branislav L. Slantchev

I loved this film when it first came out a few years ago and now someone has neglected to return my DVD to me, just when I wanted to see it again! Imagine my disappointment when I did not have time to get through all the commentaries, especially the one by Ebert, because the evil and soon to go bust Blockbuster demanded that I return the disc after a measly week. Should I replace the DVD or not, this is now the question.

Naked into this world...	Kafka-esque strangers

Well, I would not go ape about the story. There are some serious logical problems but as everyone who reads my reviews knows, these are not by themselves sufficient to derail my enjoyment. What really bothered me is the rehash of the Metropolis "insight" that what makes us human does not reside in the mind, but in the heart. I have railed against this supposedly deep philosophy before, so I won't do it again. Suffice to say, the film undermines its own thesis because the human strength did not come from the heart, but from the odd mutation that eventually enabled our title character to face off the aliens on their own terms.

Can you spell 'film-noir'?	Crazy scientist in good German tradition

What really does the trick is the combination of cinematography, terrific acting, and superb music that set the tone of the film somewhere between film noir and German expressionism, all with Kafka-esque elements to make it even darker. Although the visual effects today appear quite dated, the moody lighting and the mse-en-scène work just fine anyway. After watching a film, I always want to see how much of it I have retained---not in terms of being able to recap the storyline, but in terms of having an indescribable but very real feeling that makes me look at my surroundings differently (at least for a while), makes me want to imagine more about the lives of the characters, and makes me want to read books on the theme or see more films like the one I have just watched. If I find myself thinking about the film a day or two afterwards, then it satisfies my single most important criterion: it has made an impression on me.

Gratuitous shot of Jennifer Connelly	Another gratuitous shot of Jennifer

Dark City is one impressive film. It is remarkable how much I had retained from my watching it nearly six years ago. Particular scenes had etched themselves into my mind and I appreciated the careful compositions even more this time around. Mr. Ebert is onto something when he claims that the film will set a new standard in sci-fi (has it?) but if nothing else, it still offers one really thrilling ride as we follow John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) throughout the dark city.

Prostitute recalls Jack (John?)	Mr. Hand uncovers a glitch in the system

Imagine yourself waking in a bath tub with no real memory of who you are. (Not innovative, I know.) Imagine now that you have been abducted by an alien race and made a subject of their experiments. (Still, nothing new.) Imagine now that you have something they want, even though you don't know what it is. The city is a space station populated by abducted humans who only live one long night. Every twelve hours, their alien masters remake their reality, manufacture new memories, exchange their identities, and then restart the night all over again. Why? Because they want to understand what makes humans unique. Apparently, their superior race is one collective (think: Borg) and it is dying, so naturally they think that they can survive if they make themselves individuals. Or something: I could not help but note that if they transferred their collective memory into John's head, then the entire race would end up in one man. Not a very good tactic for perpetuating the species.

John and Emma, not married	Man dominated by technological landscape

The aliens have the crazy notion that our memories make us who we are, but they are about to learn a painful unscientific answer to their unscientific question. You see, it is what we feel that makes us human, not what we think. (Phlueaaaaaze!) Of course, right after making this rather startling point, the film promptly undermines it by showing Emma (Jennifer Connelly) having totally forgotten her deep love for John. As I said, the story is not the film's strong suit. As John races through the forever night of the city, he is pursued by inspector Bumstead (William Hurt) who is very serious and has an accordion, and a gang of vicious aliens, one of whom, Mr. Hand (Richard O'Brien) has had John's fake memories implanted in his head so he could fathom John's movements... even though we are told John rejected the implant, so really should not have anything to do with these particular memories.

Emma meets a mysterious stranger	Typical noir police interrogation

Emma, the gorgeous Jennifer, is John's wife, at least in the latest alien script, and may or may not have been unfaithful, a moot point anyway since she really isn't his wife although she claims to love him very much despite having presumably had an affair that did not occur either. Confused yet? Well, add to this the good doctor Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland) who is supposedly this traitor to men, a vile coward running the alien experiment, but in fact turns out to be Lenin in disguise, the intellectual about to topple tyranny with a well-timed coup executed by stupid peons.

Mr. Hand lives up to his name	Mr. Book, leader of the collective

Ok, ok, forget it, let's go back to the visuals. If you are a fan of Kafka, you will simply love the eerie feeling created by the film-makers. It's not just that the alien life forms uses human cadavers to prance around the experimental environs, but the dark and oppressive structures, the relentless pursuit by unknown persons with unknown purpose, a hero who finds himself with no answers, and even with no questions, all hark back to the work of this master Czech. Add to this the absolutely top-notch performances by everyone involved, and you get one entertaining film. It won't be moving too many brain cells around, admittedly, but it is definitely worth the time spent watching it.

John is the Vitruvian Man	Anti-climactic climax battle

The New Line DVD is pretty decent, with anamorphic widescreen transfer in the theatrical 2.35:1 ratio, and a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack (sadly, no DTS). The two best extras are the feature-length audio commentaries. One by Roger Ebert himself (very nice), and another by the director, writers, cinematographer, and designer (informative too). Also includes trailer, photos, and, for some reason, negative reviews of Metropolis. There's also an interactive game that I did not have time to play because I had to return the DVD. Short talent files too.

August 30, 2004