Brilliant Fusion of Sci-Fi and Neo-Noir.

Rating: 9/10 (23 January 2004)

A sort of Sci-Fi meets Noir that's full of so much weird imagery it borders on Burtonesque. Set in a sort of Gotham meets Metropolis (the movie, not Superman's city) city in which there are many many subtle incongruencies which may not be noticed immediately by the average viewer. This movie demands a second viewing. The story is at the same time unique and yet grounded in certain staples of Sci-Fi and Noir. Although it opens with some cryptic background, it truly begins with a man waking up in a bathtub and realizing he has totally lost his memories. This provides a great clean slate on which to let the viewer experience his search for answers in this bizarre dark city. The script although confusing is well written with hundreds of little intricacies to be noticed on the second and subsequent viewings. The acting is on the whole quite good, Rufus Sewell pulls off the confused but slightly angry "John" very well, probably his best role in film. Jennifer Connelly (whom you may recognize from her Oscar winning performance as Alica Nash in "A Beautiful Mind") plays John's sort of love interest, tackling the complex character of Emma and lending her real emotion, it's easy to see how great an actress she is, and indeed she finally won the laurels after this movie with a string of great performances. Keifer Sutherland manages a great creepy character, his sort of breathing problem at first may seem overacted but ends up adding a sort of pace to his scenes, an urgency if you will. Richard O'Brien is just straight up frightening, honestly I don't think they did enough with his character, he could have been so much more menacing than they ended up using him for.
Overall this film is an EXCELLENT one for any fan of sci-fi, noir, or really anyone who likes a great underrecognized film. I made it through without comparing it to the Matrix so far, but I have to say something first off, it came out BEFORE, so none of that "matrix copy" crap, and no I'm not saying the matrix copied IT, the movies have too much dissimilarity (especially in quality, Dark City is sooo much better than the Matrix) to throw around accusations of imitation.
"When was the last time you remember doing something during the day?"