A Brainy Visual Affair.

Rating: 8/10 (2 March 2010)

Perhaps one of the very first films in the age of DVD to find its audience following a poor theatrical run, "Dark City" is the follow-up to director Alex Proyas' other stylistic achievement, the graphic-novel adaptation, "The Crow." In the film, our main character, John Murdoch, wakes up in a dingy hotel bath tub, bleeding from his forehead. Scared and confused, he comes to find that he is the suspect in a string of brutal murders and hot on his tale is a mysterious organization known as the Strangers, who oddly resemble the cenobites in Clive Barker's "Hellraiser," but whom have the ability to warp the world around them.
Like "The Crow" before it, "Dark City" is heavy on set-design, bleak atmosphere and memorable visuals, but thankfully, the script (co-written by David S. Goyer) is smart enough not to hinge on special effects and set design, and rather, toys with your expectations while delivering something stream-lined and efficient, instead of being overly long and bloated like it very well could have been. Driving the film is Rufus Sewell as Murdoch, a character who is never sure if what he is seeing or doing is even real. While Sewell sells it, his co-star, Jennifer Connelly, unfortunately isn't given much to do other than look good and sad. Thankfully performances by William Hurt and Keifer Sutherland inject some energy into the narrative, only to bounce off of the underplayed humanity on display by Sewell.
While "The Matrix," released a year later, would overshadow its influence on the science fiction world and pop-culture in general, it's worth noting that the film still stands as one of the best genre films of the 90's and begs to be seen by anyone with a love for sci-fi in need of some refreshment. It's perhaps the best film by Proyas, and at a breezy 96 minutes, it gets the job done well, never wasting a moment or sacrificing exposition. Even if you're not sold on its plot, you'll at least be mesmerized by its visuals, which in and of itself, is worth the price of admission.