Descent Film-Noir & Sci-Fi Flick

Rating: 7/10 (3 June 2000)

"Dark City" is a good example of what good special effects can do for a movie. Still there is so much more this film could have accomplished. The story was a bit confusing and when things started to clear up towards the end there was still a lot of unanswered questions. A more well defined story could have helped. Let me give an example using two more popular films. Take "Godzilla" and "Jurassic Park" both featured great F/X but only the latter had a strong exciting story. Now granted "Jurassic Park" & "Godzilla" were aimed at a younger audience, but then take "The Matrix" into account. Here is a film with strong appeal to adults, great special effects, and an exciting story. Still I give "Dark City" above average marks for descent acting and originality. William Hurt was delightful as always and Kiefer Sutherland who is one of my favorite actors does a good job as the mad scientist although anyone could have probably played the part. I'm still glad it was him though.
The story is about a guy named John Murdoch (Sewell) that awakens in a bathtub with very little memory and soon finds he is being sought for murder. In his attempts to escape he learns about some strange beings that control the dark world he is living in and finds that they posses great power. In time Murdoch finds he has some surprises of his own. Frank Bumstead (Hurt) is the inspector that captures Murdoch and thereafter realized that there are some strange things happening. Dr. Schreber (Sutherland) is a some what unwilling pawn of the menace known only as the Strangers. A definite for Film-Noir & Sci-Fi buffs.