Notable cast/crew: Rufus Sewell as John Murdoch. William Hurt as Inspector Frank Bumstead. Kiefer Sutherland as Dr Daniel P Schreber. Jennifer Connelly as Emma Murdoch. Richard O'Brien as Mr Hand. Ian Richardson as Mr Book.
Running time: 111 minutesDirector: Alex Proyas
Verdict: Not a documentary on life in Cleveland, Dark City was a box office flop due to problems marketing it and to problems with the plot. That Titanic was still dominating the box office didn't help. This is about as far in the other direction as you can go. It is an influential movie, though, as the concept of false, manipulated realities was rehashed in later films like The Thirteenth Floor and The Matrix (which even borrowed some of its sets).
The film begins looking like a noirish murder mystery, but it quickly becomes apparent there's more going on than meets the eye. The twist comes before the halfway point in the film where we discover the city is really part of an alien experiment on humans where the city and people are changed each night to observe human reactions to situations so that the aliens can determine the nature of the human soul. Why they need to know this, how they got these humans, and what their purpose for doing this is, are never explained, to the film's detriment on repeat viewings. The movie essentially relies on the plot twist plus stylish setting to drive the film. If you don't like the twist, the movie quickly falls apart, especially with the second twist near the end of the film.
The cast is mainly a handful of good actors, but they're given little to do besides push the film to its twists. The problem being that once the twist is revealed there's no real resolution. The aliens are defeated, but there's no explanation of where the humans go from here. How'd they get there? How will they get home? How are they going to figure out who they originally were? Do they even care about any of that? This is a fairly shallow movie that has a great premise, but doesn't deliver on later viewings when you know what's coming.
Out of five bananas, I give it:
The film begins looking like a noirish murder mystery, but it quickly becomes apparent there's more going on than meets the eye. The twist comes before the halfway point in the film where we discover the city is really part of an alien experiment on humans where the city and people are changed each night to observe human reactions to situations so that the aliens can determine the nature of the human soul. Why they need to know this, how they got these humans, and what their purpose for doing this is, are never explained, to the film's detriment on repeat viewings. The movie essentially relies on the plot twist plus stylish setting to drive the film. If you don't like the twist, the movie quickly falls apart, especially with the second twist near the end of the film.
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| We can put the pool right here next to the solarium. |
The cast is mainly a handful of good actors, but they're given little to do besides push the film to its twists. The problem being that once the twist is revealed there's no real resolution. The aliens are defeated, but there's no explanation of where the humans go from here. How'd they get there? How will they get home? How are they going to figure out who they originally were? Do they even care about any of that? This is a fairly shallow movie that has a great premise, but doesn't deliver on later viewings when you know what's coming.
Out of five bananas, I give it:
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