Dark City

Plot synopsis:
John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) awakens in a hotel bathtub, suffering from amnesia. He receives a phone call from Dr. Daniel Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland), who urges him to flee the hotel to evade a group of men who are after him. During the phone talk, Murdoch discovers the corpse of a brutalized, ritualistically murdered woman, along with a bloody knife. He flees the scene, just as the group of men (known as the Strangers) show up to investigate the room.
Eventually, Murdoch learns his own name, and finds he has a wife named Emma (Jennifer Connelly). He is also sought by police inspector Frank Bumstead (William Hurt) as a suspect in a series of murders committed around the city, though he cannot remember killing anybody. While being pursued by the Strangers, Murdoch discovers that he has mind powers—which the Strangers also possess, and refer to as "tuning"—and he manages to use these powers to escape from them.
Murdoch explores the city, where nobody realizes that it is always nighttime. At midnight, he watches as everyone except himself falls asleep as the Strangers stop time and physically rearrange the city as well as changing people's identities and memories. Murdoch learns that he comes from a coastal town called Shell Beach, a town familiar to everyone, though nobody knows how to leave the city to travel there, and all of his attempts to do so are unsuccessful for varying reasons. Meanwhile, the Strangers inject one of their men, Mr. Hand (Richard O'Brien), with memories intended for Murdoch in an attempt to predict his movements and track him down.
Murdoch is eventually caught by inspector Bumstead, who acknowledges he is innocent, and by then has his own misgivings about the nature of the city. They confront Dr. Schreber, who explains that the Strangers are endangered extraterrestrial parasites who use corpses as their hosts. Having a hive mind, the Strangers have been experimenting with humans to analyze their individuality in the hopes that some insight might be revealed that would help their race survive.
Schreber reveals that Murdoch is an anomaly who inadvertently awoke during one midnight process, when Schreber was in the middle of imprinting his latest identity as a murderer. The three embark to find Shell Beach, but it exists only as a poster on a wall at the edge of the city. Frustrated, Murdoch and Bumstead break through the wall, revealing outer space on the other side. The men are confronted by the Strangers, including Mr. Hand, who holds Emma hostage. In the ensuing fight Bumstead and one of the Strangers fall through the hole, revealing the city as an enormous space habitat surrounded by a force field.
The Strangers bring Murdoch to their home beneath the city and force Dr. Schreber to imprint Murdoch with their collective memory, believing Murdoch to be the final result of their experiments. Schreber betrays them by inserting false memories in Murdoch which artificially reestablish his childhood as years spent training and honing his psychokinetic skills and learning about the Strangers and their machines. Murdoch awakens, fully realizing his skills, frees himself and battles with the Strangers, defeating their leader Mr. Book (Ian Richardson) in a psychokinetic fight high above the city.
After learning from Dr. Schreber that Emma's personality is gone and cannot be restored, Murdoch exercises his new-found powers, amplified by the Strangers' machine, to create an actual Shell Beach by flooding the area within the force field with water and forming mountains and beaches. On his way to Shell Beach, Murdoch encounters Mr. Hand and informs him that the Strangers have been searching in the wrong place—the mind—to understand humanity. Murdoch turns the habitat toward the star it had been turned away from, and the city experiences sunlight for the first time.
He opens the door leading out of the city, and steps out to view the sunrise. Beyond him is a pier, where he finds the woman he knew as Emma, now with new memories and a new identity as Anna. Murdoch reintroduces himself as they walk to Shell Beach, beginning their relationship anew.

Tags: comedy, dark, gothic, murder, neo noir, fantasy, thought-provoking, cult, alternate reality, violence, atmospheric, flashback, insanity, psychedelic, philosophical, claustrophobic, suspenseful, sci-fi

Review:
(People who have seen the Matrix BEFORE this movie MUST see it, it is very similar in these three respects).I gave it a 9 out of 10 ONLY because I thought the ending fight scene was a bit weak.
Great for a fight scene, but because the rest of the movie focuses on John Murdoch's quest to discover his past and the eerie, ominous happenings in the city, the climax seemed hastily thrown together, as if the crew all of a sudden remembered they had a deadline to meet and could no longer continue the plot in the previous fashion.The visuals in this movie were absolutely stunning.
Watch for the Strangers' clock, views of the city and John's memories.Proyas takes ideas and ambience from many other movies but integrates them all neatly into Dark City.
;D ) This 40's era ambience together with the sci-fi fantasy undercurrent makes for a very interesting feeling while watching.I'm happy that Kiefer Sutherland, Richard O'Brien (of Rocky Horror fame) and William Hurt agreed to do this movie, it gave Dark City just that much more validation in the USA (I wish things weren't like this, but they are).
Many critics say that William Hurt's character, the detective, and Jennifer Connelly's Emma Murdoch could have used a little more development, but I think part of the point of Dark City was that you don't really know who people are (not to mention yourself).
I had to resist the urge to talk like a Stranger after seeing the movie a few times.Trevor Jones, one of my favorite movie composers, did the score for Dark City, and I must say it's very apropo.
Some of my other favorite scores by him are the Dark Crystal and Last of the Mohicans.Altogether, I think Alex Proyas had a stroke of genius in the making of this movie.
DARK CITY is an enriching and surreal experience, full of beautiful images and powerful symbolism.John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) wakes up one night, resting inside a bathtub.
For unknown reasons, Murdoch happens to fit into their intricate schemes for conquest...This is just scratching the surface of the premise for Alex Proyas' moody and engaging film, DARK CITY.
As  an  eccentric   psychiatrist,  Dr. Daniel Paul Schreber, Kiefer Sutherland conveys a confused doctor who shares a frightening connection to these Strangers.DARK CITY is splendid viewing injected with a theme about the loss of identity and the destruction of individualism in order to create an ideal society.
He uses the Gothic and claustrophobic themes commonly and dark colors prevail during the film like "The Crow" .The story doesn't follow a certain order of rule, instead there is some mind games and puzzles in the film, that causes watchers to be active in each minute and motivate to the movie..The topic is about a man who loses his past and first finds himself in a bath tub, doesn^t know about himself and his life, but he has one ability that no one has, he can be alive when the evil forces stops the time and reshapes the world according to their own demand.
The darkness and coldness of the strangers is in contrast to the bright light of the sun created by John Murdoch in the end.This film is very philosophic, which I like.
With an execution commercial enough to bring in the box office moola and a philosophical subtext accessible enough for the general public to latch on to, the rest, as they say...is history.The philosophical under pinnings though, (of blue pills, red pills, the subreality of consciousness and all that mambo jambo etc), so successfully popularised by The Matrix, was infact neither originated by  The Matrix nor as fully realised than in other more accomplished works.Which leads me to....drumroll.....As such, IMHO, the best execution on the concept of reality and perception was already explored in a much more unbelievably visual opus, one year earlier, the grossly overlooked, criminally under-rated,"Dark City".
Filmed primarily in Sydney and starring Rufus Sewell, Jennifer Connoly, William Hurt and Keifer Sutherland, Dark City is an incredible piece of work with an intricate and detailed story with an even more amazingly executed motion picture behind it.
The sets and visual effects have been so well thought out and performed that together with the impressive acting (including many Australian actors such as Colin Friels and that tall funny looking guy from Mad Max) the film simply sucks you in and you can fully believe that the word Proyas has created exists; which is something that not many film makers can achieve easily.
In an undefined time and place, a group of aliens called "Strangers" are dying in their planet and are experimenting new options of life with humans.A amnesiac man awakens in a bathtub and receives a phone call from a Dr. Daniel Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland) warning him that he should leave the hotel room since he will be captured.
"Dark City" is a timeless cult sci-fi noir that has not aged and uses references from other films that perfectly works.
Genuinely disturbing, as interesting as any murder mystery and beautiful atmosphere with art deco, film noir, and night on elm street under belly.At first you will be tempted to draw comparisons with the matrix and at other times the mind wonders and the ghostly tall men enter our dreams, but as the film progresses the human heart begins to take centre stage particularly in the characters of the two police chiefs as well as the central figure of John Murdoch.
Dark City is also a visually stunning film with moody lighting, detailed sets and fantastic model work.
The performances the main actors give excellently convey that sense of cluelessness.If you're a fan of The Matrix, this is also a film you need to see because not only do they have similar plots, they also retain some of the same sets.
Essentially I think the first thirty minutes of The Matrix are the whole of Dark City.I had the privilege of seeing this in the theatre in its original 35mm print and I have to say it looked absolutely incredible.
Thats the most i can tell without giving away major plot points.The movie is set in a 1940ish looking city where detectives are hunting John, along with the mysterious strangers.
The special effects in Dark City are stunning and realistic, especially when certain characters use "tuning".Rufus Sewell gives a good performance as John Murdoch, though i could'nt help feeling he was holding back somewhat.
I could think of a few other actors who could have gave a much better performance but he was generally good.Kiefer Sunderland as Dr. Daniel Schreber was very good and seemed to have put all of his effort into his character, its quite an unusual role for Sunderland but he pulls it off pretty well.Another performance worth mentioning is Richard O'Brien as Mr Hand, he gives a genuinely creepy performance as one of the main strangers, i thought i would see him and think crystal maze through all of his scenes but he does a pretty good job of playing a convincing character.Overall the movie leaves a few unanswered questions, leaving the viewer to conduct their own theories about the outcome of events.
I've read reviews of "Dark City" in many places (and many of them here) hailing it as a modern science fiction masterpiece, so boy was I disappointed when I watched it and came to the sober conclusion that it's just not very good.
At least this had an interesting story, but as befalls so many films in this mind-bending sci-fi genre (and "The Matrix" suffers from this as well, though it's a far better movie), the writers have set up such a cerebral concept that the movie grinds to a halt when it has to trudge through all the exposition just so that the audience can keep track of what's going on.
Rufus Sewell and William Hurt do o.k. but Jennifer Connelly phones in a wan performance and Kiefer Sutherland is barely watchable in a lamentable impersonation of the creepy Nazi chasing Indiana Jones in "Raiders of the Lost Ark." His line delivery is so eccentric and monotonous that I was cringing every time he opened his mouth by the film's end.No, I'm afraid the majority is out to sea with this one.
After reading the user comments for this film, i found it disappointing.It definitely was a new concept in its time, but the movie has aged very badly.The bad guys dressed in black look ludicrous with their hats strange jaw chattering noises.It took me a lot of patience to complete the film.As i said the concept was good but the execution was not.Some users have compared it to the Matrix.I however am of the opinion that the later is a much better executed movie and is also less taxing on the brain.
And all a year before The Matrix came along and scooped up all they credit (they even used the same sets!) The acting here - while having received some criticism - is all top notch in my book, and by the time the credits roll, you'll be amazed at the total transformation the characters and story have made since those opening shots.
More than a cult film yet still criminally ignored in certain circles, Dark City, by way of poor box office and studio interference, never got off to the best of starts.
The problems were compounded with the release of The Matrix the following year, where that film's popularity, and its sci-fi linkage to Dark City, led many to think that Proyas' movie was a Matrix rip-off; pushing it further (unjustly) back in the sci-fi noir pantheon.
Fact is is that Dark City homages much great cinema from previous years, but it has influenced much that followed, with Inception fans asked to note that Nolan himself was taking notes...Stolen Memories.Dark City is a feverish film noir dressed up in stunning sci-fi clothes.
But hell you have to say the visual look and atmosphere of the design is very much attention grabbing.I have become the monster you were intended to be.With the film noir characters in place; Hurt's dour sleuth, Sewell's amnesiac and Connelly's sultry torch singer, Proyas brings German expressionism in abundance whilst overseeing an eye splintering neo-noir colour palette.
The late Roger Ebert championed Dark City with much gusto, and he provides very good input on the DVD, much like Roger I have to say, this is a unique and fabulous sci-fi noir experience.
Sci-fi is my favorite genre, and I especially like the darker films ie, Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, Videodrome, Brazil, Alphaville, The Fly, Terminator, etc.So (if you're still reading) you can assume that I was pleased when I was able to locate a copy of Dark City.
I had heard a lot about it, as an underrated film and a dark sci-fi masterpiece (or so I had heard).I wasn't sick when I began watching it, but by the end I was really wondering why I put myself through the whole thing.
The script could have been improved, the sets made more kind of oddly beautiful in an ugly way (see Blade Runner), the combination of old and futuristic elements more fluid, and the aliens having more than sub-60's-Doctor-Who creativity and believability (ie, not just greenish humans with no hair)In summary, this was almost a good film, but it ended up as a steaming pile of Dark Sh|t..
Predating both the "Matrix" (1999) and "Inception" (2010), 1998's "Dark City" is an excellent 'shifting realities' fantasy film.
The story, which revolves around perceptions and memory, is excellent, as is the dark, 'goth' look of the film (at times somewhat reminiscent of "Hellraiser").
Now Murdoch must find a way to stop them before they take control of his mind and destroy him.Rufus Sewell and beautiful Jennifer Connelly and great in this visual sci-fi fantasy world with a hint of neo-nior action .
Set in a bleak dystopian world, Dark City, directed by Alex Poryas of 'The Crow', is a mind-bending science-fiction vehicle that aims to challenge audiences at a psychological level while pushing the boundaries of cerebral ideas.
A man named Murdoch(Rufus Sewell) struggles with memories of his past, including a spouse (Jennifer Connelly) he cannot remember, his records mostly gone, in a nightmarish world with no sun and run by aliens with telekinetic powers who seek the souls of humans .
The mystery is what makes us closely follow the main character, John Murdoch, as he tries to piece parts to unveil the past.The Story is very intriguing and keeps the viewer interested through series of events that unveil the truth about the city and the viewer is confronted with questions about the very essence of humanity, and whether our world is really as real as we think.
Dark City was one of the more ambiguous movies I have seen in a long time.
Although Dark City is a Sci-fi movie it is of the dystopian sub-genre.
Thus starts a tale of discovery and a wonderful hundred minutes.What makes sci-fi movies fun is the transportation of the viewer into its world and Dark City does this well.
For quite some time in the movie, the plot unfolds like a crime story - but slowly and creepily leading into its sci-fi elements.
If somebody saw Dark City on DVD today they might never understand why its so good a sci-fi movie..
Where THE MATRIX took a sci-fi principle and used it as a basis for a straightforward action flick, DARK CITY remains about the ideas and their implications all the way through.The film kicks off as a straightforward murder mystery, featuring the ever underrated Rufus Sewell (in a rare Hollywood good guy role) as a wronged man on the run from the authorities.
Dark City was not compelling, the plot was contrived and directed at the moody trenchcoat wearing audience who will gladly eat up anything that is served to them that they can be assured no one else will like.During a second viewing, on video, I remembered the pain I felt while sitting through this movie.
Antonioni's "Blowup" is good example for this trend.This movie is just loony, I admit it, but the plot is bad, as well as acting (Kiefer, for God's sake...!), main character is just another big flaw in this "flawless" mess.If you think that Proyas is a genius, you should go to church, and praise God for a drop of intellect..
To be honest, I feel bad not liking this movie because the design and filming was so amazingly beautiful.
Director Alex Proyas has created in `Dark City' a totally new breed of film.
A cross between sci-fi, film noir, and even German expressionism, `Dark City' fails to belong to any category.
In the traditional sci-fi atmosphere, `Dark City' deals with a man, John Murdoch, struggling to overcome a great mystery as aliens stifle his efforts.
The city is dark and gothic in a 1930's style America - Alex Proyas's direction is so dark that it adds to the mystery and tension of the film.All the performances are strong (Yes - even Connelly and Sutherland) and add to the believability of the whole thing.
It is a frightening look at humans, memories, what makes us who we are - but it is all tied up in the mysterious workings of the constantly dark city and the shadowy Mr Hand (O'Brien).Don't underestimate this film.
Fantastic visuals and a mysterious story (somehow Lovecraft, Clive Barker and Kafka mixed in a sci-fi context) make Dark City one of those movies most of the audience will just like or dislike: you get it or you don't.Last but not least: a fine cast with William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland and Jennifer Connelly make the whole experience complete..
Rufus Sewell is a competent leading man, but you get the feeling that his part could have been played by any good looking guy, the same goes for his love interest Jennifer Connolly.
In some ways, Dark City makes for a good compilation of films like The Matrix, Minority Report, Blade Runner, and even Metropolis.
Alex Proyas' "Dark City" (1998) stars Rufus Sewell as John Murdoch, a man who wakes up one night to great mysteries.
The story follows Murdoch as he tries to piece together reality and escape the perpetually dark city.You have to be in the mood for a movie like this because it takes place entirely on elaborate shadowy sets with CGI backgrounds, etc.
Of course, this is no big deal today, but at the time it was still fairly new technology.Some people compare "Dark City" to the more popular "The Matrix" and for good reason since they have similar themes and "The Matrix" was actually shot on some of the same sets, but it came out over a year later in 1999.The film runs 100 minutes and the Director's Cut 111 minutes; it was shot on sets in Sydney, Australia.GRADE: B+.
Dark City rips it's visuals off of Brazil, Blade Runner and most importantly the Hellraiser films.
I suppose I would have enjoyed this movie more had I not seen The Matrix prior to seeing DARK CITY.
I'll start with the good.Set design is very, very well done in Alex Proyas' "Dark City".
Dark City COULD have been a brilliant thought-provoking thriller in the hands of a director that understands what actually makes a film good and doesn't treat the viewer like a child.
The movie does have a really engaging mystery throughout, you do wonder what is going on with these "Stranger" people and why some of the humans memories are erased/being scrambled with and why everything is so off in this city.
Overall, I sort of get why this one is a cult classic just because it is "different" but different doesn't always mean good, I'd much rather watch a movie like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind that deals with the ideas of memory and love (the love story in Dark City is fairly laughable) in a much more sophisticated nature.