Dark City (Director's Cut) [Blu-ray]
Directed by Alex Proyas
If you're a fan of brooding comic-book antiheroes, got a nihilistic jolt from The Crow (1994), and share director Alex Proyas's highly developed preoccupation for style over substance, you might be tempted to call Dark City an instant classic of visual imagination. It's one of those films that exists in a world purely of its own making, setting its own rules and playing by them fairly, so that even its derivative elements (and there are quite a few) acquire their own specific uniqueness. Before long, however, the film becomes interesting only as a triumph of production design. And while that's certainly enough to grab your attention (Blade Runner is considered a classic, after all), it's painfully clear that Dark City has precious little heart and soul. One-dimensional characters are no match for the film's abundance of retro-futuristic style, so it's best to admire the latter on its own splendidly cinematic terms. Trivia buffs will be interested to know that the film's 50-plus sets (partially inspired by German expressionism) were built at the Fox Film Studios in Sydney, Australia, home base of director Alex Proyas and producer Andrew Mason. The underground world depicted in the film required the largest indoor set ever built in Australia. --Jeff Shannon
The critically-acclaimed triumph from visionary director Alex Proyas (I Robot The Crow) is back with a brand new directors cut featuring enhanced picture and sound never-before-seen footage and three commentary tracks that take you deeper than ever before into the world of one of sci-fis most exciting and revered tales. When John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) wakes with no memory at the scene of a grisly murder he soon finds himself hunted by the police a woman claiming to be his wife and a mysterious group of pale men who seem to control everything and everyone in the city.Starring Rufus Sewell (The Illusionist) Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind) William Hurt (A History of Violence) and Kiefer Sutherland (TVs 24).System Requirements:Running Time: 111 minutesFormat: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY/FANTASY Rating: NR UPC: 794043122927 Manufacturer No: 1000040376
Amazing Film
Imagine if you settled down for a nice warm bath and it was so relaxing that you fell asleep. You startle awake and look around the bathroom. Something feels wrong. You can't remember how you got there and you don't know who you are anymore. There's a strange looking syringe on the ground, so maybe this is drug related. That doesn't really explain the amnesia logically though. This all sounds unbelievable doesn't it? Impossible even. However, this is precisely what happened to John Murdoch (played by Rufus Sewell) and that's how "Dark City" opens.
Part of me doesn't want to say anymore about this film and the other part wants to tell you all about it. This movie truly is a psychological thriller with a sci-fi horror twist. (If you understand the relation of that line to Aqua Teen Hunger Force, you will be amused.) I actually can't think of a better way to lay it out. The viewer is essentially brought into a very strange world, but it looks very close to, say, a 1920's setting. Something feels very amiss throughout the whole movie and the viewer is left to unravel the mysteries with John. In this guise the movie is very expertly written because we never learn something too soon. All we know is that something feels off in this world and when everything is revealed it's quite shocking.
The film concept doesn't end there. It's actually a very deep film and if you pay attention to what's going on it asks very human philosophical questions. Such as if faced with extinction what would humanity do? What kind of atrocities could be committed in order to save our race? While the film doesn't precisely answer these questions it does help us understand the antagonists called The Strangers.
Despite the strong performances from Rufus Sewell and Jennifer Connely (John's love interest), I think that Keifer Sutherland's performance was the most impressive. He played sort of the mad scientist kind of role. I realize this film came out in 1998, long before Keifer was the surefooted star of 24, but to view this in retrospect shows how strong of an actor he really is. Not only does he play the role of mad scientist kind of character, but he's also overly nervous and exhibits a limp. I just felt this was kind of out of the norm for Keifer and was impressed that he pulled this off so convincingly. It's also strange that I mention this because he was not the main star of the film, which was Rufus Sewell.
Unfortunately the film doesn't answer all the mysterious questions that came to my mind, but that's okay. You don't need all questions answered in a story all the time. The film is so strong and so well written that these details can easily be overlooked as well. If you like delving into bizarre worlds with a science fiction element then this is definitely a movie to watch. I picked this up on a whim because it had an interesting cast and an intriguing synopsis. I was blown away, probably by the sheer fact I had no idea what to expect from this film. Amidst all this complexity it maintains a very strong and dark 1920's mystery feel as well. It's a very bizarre film, but also very well done in my opinion. If you are summarily intrigued by this then I do recommend you give this a viewing.
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