Dark masterpiece

Rating: 8/10 (16 November 2002)

This is a gloomy but beautiful futuristic sci-fi horror questioning the essence of humanity and the role of memory in the composition thereof.
The Dark City is a brooding metropolis suspended in space and controlled by a race of underground, super-evolved, uniform beings whom possess a collective memory and whom manipulate time and space. This is known as "tuning." This process occurs when the beings halt time at midnight, surface to the city, steal people's memories and inject them with new ones, as well as install new life circumstances and experiences.

John Murdoch is a person whom the tuners are unable to manipulate. Dr. Daniel Schreber is a psychiatrist whom is working with the tuners, being forced to aid in their search for answers: What is the human soul? What makes a human "human?" John comes to realize that his memories and the memories of all of his friends and family are artificial; mere injections of a serum. Whilst attempting escape from the murderous clutches of the tuners, he seeks his wife, the answers to the questions he has about his true identity and memories, and escape to a utopian though fabricated place known as Shell Beach.
This is a film that borrows from many other ideas and films in the genre but is nonetheless intelligently written and exciting. The story is presented in a visually appealing, unique, and often disturbing manner. Its generally cynical perspective regarding the significance and authenticity of the human experience is overcome with the message of the ultimate ability of free will; humans can control their destinies and humans are more than the sum of their memories. It only takes concentration and a requisite trip to a sunny setting that they had previously not known the route to.