A fine sci-fi, but maybe a little too clever & complex for it's own good.

Rating: 7/10 (7 March 2006)

Dark City tells the puzzling tale of John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell), one fateful night he wakes up in unfamiliar surroundings, a bathtub in a sleazy motel room & has no memory of how he got there. John investigates the room & finds a dead prostitute on the floor (never a good thing in any situation!) & a suitcase in which a postcard of a place called 'Shell Beach' seems to have some significance to him but John can't remember why. John then receives a phone call from Dr. Daniel P. Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland) who says that people are coming to get him & he should leave straight away, advice which John wisely takes. The motel manager (Ritchie Singer) discovers the dead prostitute & the police are brought in, Inspector Bumstead (William Hurt) is on the case & John his his number 1 suspect. Meanwhile John has an encounter with several alien controlled men dressed in black but he manages to escape. Eventually John meets Dr. Schreber face to face who informs John that an almost extinct race of aliens known as 'Strangers' put the entire city to sleep every night during which time they change people's memory's & the psychical layout of the city with a special power they have. Dr. Schreber goes on to explain to John that he also has this power & must use it in the fight against the Strangers in a bid to put an end to their sinister plans & liberate the dark city...
This Australian American co-production was co-written, co-produced & directed by Alex Proyas & is a thoughtful sci-fi film that has an intriguing central idea if nothing else. The script by Proyas, David S. Goyer & Lem Dobbs is audacious in it's ambitions while the scale & scope of the story is a bit overwhelming at times. Dark City hooks you from the word go, although maybe the prologue reveals a little too much, & it certainly has it's fair share of twists, turns & the story takes various imaginative directions. However, I became a bit lost towards the end, it's not that I didn't know what was happening but I just felt too much was happening, the film wanted to do so much so quickly that I started to lose interest. I also didn't like the fact that it was so far removed from reality (in every possible way) that I had a hard time caring or relating to anyone or anything. As a whole Dark City is a unique piece of film-making, it shows intelligence, imagination & it mostly entertains although I also think that dark City is a film that you shouldn't think about too hard & just accept what's going on as I'm not sure it would hold up to close scrutiny.
Director Proyas lets his imagination run wild & Dark City has absolutely stunning production design, the sets, the buildings, the clothes, the cars, the architecture & just about everything in Dark City looks fabulous, it has a really atmospheric Gothic crossed with art-deco crossed with film-noir look & feel to it. Dark City is one of those films which is a pleasure to watch & it seems as if every single shot had huge amounts of time & effort put into it.
With a supposed budget of around $27,000,000 it appears as if almost every penny ended up on screen rather than some A-list star's pocket. Dark City looks sumptuous throughout & has that big budget Hollywood feel to it. Some of the CGI effects look a bit dated now but their still more than acceptable. Apparently Dark City has one of the shortest average shot lengths of any modern film at just 1.8 seconds, basically there is a cut around every 2 seconds, that's incredible isn't it? The acting is good by all, Richard O'Brien is the stand out who steals every scene he's in.
Dark City is an engaging sci-fi film that tries to do something different & it succeeds. I must admit I have a few misgivings about it especially the way I was getting bored towards the end & I thought that maybe it was a bit too bizarre & 'out there' for my liking. Overall I'd still say that I think it's well worth a watch for those who want something a bit different.