Somehow this movie came and went a dozen years ago without me ever hearing of it. It starts out like a Forties film noir: a guy (British actor Rufus Sewell) wakes up in a sleazy hotel room with no memory and a dead hooker. Even not knowing who he is or what happened, he’s smart enough to figure that he needs to get out of there, so he escapes just ahead of several creepy, sinister guys in trenchcoats. Then he gets involved with a mad doctor (Kiefer Sutherland, of all people, who at times seems to be doing a Peter Lorre impression). There’s a sultry torch singer (Jennifer Connelly, as always yowza!) who may or may not be the amnesiac’s wife. The fugitive is also being pursued by a dogged police detective played by William Hurt, who believes that Sewell’s character is a serial killer responsible for murdering half a dozen prostitutes. The whole thing takes place at night, hence the dark city of the title, where the streets are always wet and everything has a sort of bizarre art deco look.
Then things start to get weird.
This is one of those movies where you really can’t discuss the plot without giving away too much for people who haven’t seen it. About halfway through I was thinking that the filmmakers should have just stuck with a straight film noir homage, the way it starts out, but by the end the rest of it had won me over. DARK CITY is a good film that ultimately makes sense, even though for a while you’ll probably wonder. The version I watched was the expanded director’s cut. Since I never saw the theatrical release, I don’t have anything to compare it with. But I liked it, and if you haven’t seen it and have a fondness for oddball movies and film noir, you ought to give it a try.
5 comments:
I like this movie a lot. Saw it in the theater, and once since then.
I'm a big fan of Dark City and you experienced it that way it was meant to be experienced.
The main difference with the Director's Cut is that it removes a studio imposed opening voiceover that gave away the entire plot.
Seriously. The studio made Proyas include a voice over that explained everything in the first 5 minutes. Totally ruined the film.
I think I saw this but have little memory of it. Perhaps it was too difficult a narrative to retain.
Love this movie. If I remember right Roger Ebert picked it as his favorite movie that year.
I love this film and I have the dvd with commentary by the late Roger Ebert. He was and is my favorite film critic.
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