dark city is such a rare treat :
it ?
s a stunning , hyperkinetic vision of a place where our reality is fused with noir , science fiction and the darkest nights in manhattan and london .
to boot , it is accompanied by an intense , well written and thoughtful story .
movies of this caliber and idea aren ?
t made too often , and
it ?
s unfortunate that i waited this long to see it .
alex proyas , who ? s previous film the crow looked good but couldn ?
t cover up the terrible acting or story , here
shows a near masterpiece
; a combination of metropolis , edward hopper and phillip marlowe , fused seemlessly .
at times it moves beyond film into artwork .
it is the story of ?
strangers ?
, aliens from another planet ( and we know they ?
re aliens because they shave their heads and wear overcoats ?
one of the detractions of the film ) who experiment on humans to discover what makes them live , what makes up our ? soul ? .
these aliens are superior to humans because they have mastered the ? ultimate technology ? of shaping matter with their mind , called ? tuning .
they are aided by a human scientist , played by kiefer sutherland , who has ?
betrayed his kind ?
and at the start of the film watches as the entire city stops at exactly midnight .
during this time , john murdoch , played swiftly by rufus sewell , wakes in a bathtub in a room with a swinging overhead light ( a terrific visual effect - not only is murdoch confused , but so is the audience ) .
without a memory and a strange guilt that he may be a killer , he receives a phone call to flee , as the strangers are after him .
i don ?
t want to proceed to much further with the explanation of the story ; one of the pleasures of the film is watching it develop , in a way regaining murdoch ?
s ?
identity ?
along with him .
it ?
s
a pleasure to watch the characters develop through the cinematography .
murdoch ?
s
wife , anna , is introduced through a stunning beam of light : she is a lounge singer who sings into a bright spotlight .
shadows , outlines of men in hats watch , as she gently curves through the shine .
we see the outline of her body from behind , an hourglass , as she sings a slow , rhythmic song .
a great entrance .
however , a film such as this is only successful if the morals and themes behind it are strong enough to leave the viewer satisfied .
the city is nice to look at , but if it ? s a poor story then it ?
s not worth watching .
blade runner was popular not only because it ?
s visuals , but
it ?
s
story and themes were thought out and provoked strong response from the audience .
it is discussed it and argued , therefore a success .
other science fiction films of recent times , such as the fifth element , are nice to look at , but are dropped and forgotten because the cookie cutter moral behind them is so flimsy .
we ?
re left with ?
love conquers all ?
after finishing the fifth element .
dark city is not so easily explained away .
as the strangers discovered , locating the human soul and discovering what makes us survive is not such an easy task .
where is reality ?
dark city is certainly the best science fiction film of the 90 ? s , and ranks along with the best made in the 80s , such as blade runner and the two aliens films .
perhaps it ? s the best of the both decades ; it had the darkness of the aliens films , as well as the visuals and compelling story of blade runner , but moved beyond , i think , because the themes behind it were much stronger .
anyone who wants to make an argument for better science fiction films please feel free to write , i ?
d love to hear it .
a pleasure to watch an intense , well written and thoughtful story played swiftly thought out and provoked strong response shows a near masterpiece a rare treat certainly the best science fiction film