REVIEW DATE:8:15:9:9
Lots of critics started out their reviews of this movie with a question. Something like, "What if you where [in the main character's situation]?" Well, I'd freak, find a hole to crawl in, and stay there. But then, I'm not the main character, am I?
John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell), however, is the main
character. We meet him as he wakes up in a luke warm, soapless, hotel bathtub with no
memory of who he is, how he got there, and what 
he's doing. John is so out of it that he has to learn his name from his
driver's license. Oh, and he also finds the body of a dead prostitute on the floor,
several weird symbols carved into her body.
Understandably freaked out, John leaves the hotel as fast as his little feet can carry him. He walks aimlessly around a darkened city for several scenes until a gang of strange men in black start to chase him, and not a one of them is Will Smith, so they must be evil. Not only are they evil, but, when John accidentally slices one of them open, we find that they aren't even human. The plot thickenith.
During the fight, both John and I found that he possesses strange telekinetic powers. The plot thickenith some more.
Finding his wife, John learns that, not only does he have a wife named Emma (Jennifer Connelly), but she was unfaithful to him. She also tells him of his doctor, Daniel Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland). Now, considering he can't remember any of this, John departs to assimilate the info. On the one hand, she could be lying. On the other hand, infidelity can turn people into murderers. But he's not a murderer. Or is he?
While all this spins through his head, time stops. No kidding, time literally stands still in the city. Cars, trains, people; all of them stop dead, the entire city put to sleep at exactly the same moment.
Except, of course, for John. He is the only one left standing, and we are treated to an excellent scene of him dashing about a crowded highway, shaking sleeping people out of there cars in a vain attempt to wake someone up. Then, before he knows it, things start to change. Buildings shift and twist into different shapes, radio towers grow out of the ground like corn stalks, apartment tenements become rich condos, and the entire city begins to swarm with men in black.
Freaked out to a new extreme, John tries to conceal himself, and
runs into the good Dr. Schreber, awake, and running around with these men in black,
helping them perform experiments on people. After some pummeling
Schreber explains that
everything, the city, the people, John's memories (or lack thereof) are all the work of
these men in black, whom he calls, the Strangers. The Strangers are alien beings, who use
our dead as "vessels", and have the ability to alter physical matter with their
minds. They've constructed the city, kidnapped people to inhabit it, and every twelve
hours they shut the whole thing down, go out, and change things around, people's memories
included. No one in this city has his or her original memory intact; no one here has free
will. They're all just puppets; rats in the Stranger's city sized maze.
John, however, is different. During the implantation of his new life, John resisted, and wound up a blank slate. John has, somehow, inherited the Stranger's ability to effect matter with his mind.
Where did he get this power? Why are the Strangers doing this? Can he ever control this power? And what do I have to do to get a decent drink around here?!?!
Oops, sorry. Scratch that last one.
Directed by Mr. Alex (The Crow) Proyas Dark City is not only (appropriately) dark, but also atmospheric and well paced. Every time I tried to shut off the tape to, say, get a refill, something else would happen to keep my ass in that seat. Whenever that happens, I just know that I'll like this movie, no matter what the outcome of the plot. Well, on second though, if the movie ended on a brain dead note, I'd probably hate it. In fact, I'd feel twice the hate I normally feel because, not only did this movie keep me in my seat, it heightened my expectations.
Thankfully, Dark City does not end on some lame note. It's actually quite an upbeat ending when compared to the rest of the movie. Proyas comes through on the writing side of things as well, crafting several good secondary characters, including Emma and Inspector Frank Bumstead (William Hurt), the cop who's after John. Best of the lot, however, is Mr. Hand; a Stranger implanted with John's memories in an attempt to track him down. Not only is this character a creepy villain, but Richard O'Brien turns in a great performance. Yes, this is that Richard O'Brien, the one from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He's come along way, let me tell you.
When actors play characters with no memories two paths open up. These actors can either (a) stand out in the roll by using their talent to bring the character to life or (b) flounder about like dieting fish. Keanu Reeves knows what I'm talking about. Yo, Keanu, Johnny Mnemonic ring a bell? Thankfully, Rufus Sewell is a much better actor then Mr. Reeves. Yeah, I know, faint praise. So, sue me.
Jennifer Connelly, unfortunately, is Johnny's wife. It's a shame really, for she is a fine actress. Too bad the only thing the script has her do is run around looking for John. I mean, she is a babe, and a babe that can act, I would have liked her to get more screen time.
The Internet Movie Database lists Dark City in the "Film-Noir" genre. Now, I don't know much about this genre (except for the fact that there are a lot of German films in it), but if there mood is anything like Dark City's I think I'll have to search more of these movies out.
Rent Dark City. After all, there's nothing new on Must Flee TV now, is there?
RATING (OUT OF A POSSIBLE FIVE)
