Dark City (1998) – Film Review

Director: Alex Proyas
Cast: Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland
Certificate: 15

By Sarah Morgan

Morecambe and Wise regularly sang ‘Bring Me Sunshine’ at the end of their shows, and it’s something you may find yourself requesting after watching Dark City, which is the extremely fitting title for director Alex Proyas’ third movie.

It was the follow-up to his 1994 cult hit The Crow, and stars Rufus Sewell as John Murdock, who wakes up in a bathtub with no memory of how he got there. In fact, he has no memories whatsoever, so is somewhat shocked to find the mutilated body of a prostitute nearby.

But this isn’t the only corpse he’ll be associated with during a night he would rather forget. But is is night? And if so, what has happened to the day? And who are the mysterious black coat, black hat-wearing figures who follow him everywhere?

“Lots to admire”

Only the mysterious Dr Daniel P Schreber seems able to answer those questions, if he can pin him down long enough to answer them. Meanwhile, John’s wife Emma and a detective are trying to find him, convinced he’s innocent of murder, but caught up in something far bigger than any of them can comprehend.

It may be far bigger than viewers can comprehend too. During an interview among the special features, Proyas claims that when the film was originally released in 1998, some critics claimed it was all style and no substance. It’s a description that annoys him, because he feels it’s packed full of substance, and that those that disliked his screenplay (which he co-wrote with Lem Dobbs and David S Goyer) simply couldn’t get their heads around it.

I think he might be right, but that assertion also suggests it’s far too complicated. The film wants to be mysterious and challenging, but ends up being baffling and pretentious, which is a shame because there is a lot to admire here, including some incredible visuals that are at once modern, but hark back to the heyday of film noir.

“Eccentric”

The cast is impressive too; Sewell is a strong leading man, William Hurt is likeable as the detective, Jennifer Connelly is convincing as Emma, and Kiefer Sutherland appears to be channelling his father, the late, great Donald Sutherland, during an unusually eccentric performance as Schreber. The likes of Richard O’Brien, Ian Richardson and comedy legend John Bluthal pop up too.

Sadly, they’re not enough to save the film. Perhaps the problem, however, is me – Dark City seems like a precursor to The Matrix, which was released a year later, and I’m not a fan of that either; those who are may gain more from this.

Both the director’s cut and the original theatrical version are included in the set, which is also packed with special features, including an hour-long look back at the making of the movie featuring interviews with cast and crew.

Sarah Morgan

Sarah Morgan studied film journalism at post-graduate level with the BFI and has been writing about TV and film for PA Media’s newspaper, magazine and new media customers since 1996. She’s also written for a wide range of other publications, both online and in print, including the book Offbeat and Intermission magazine, and is a regular contributor to the Talking Pictures TV podcast. When she isn’t watching movies, she’s collecting and reading vintage crime and horror paperback books or, for her sins, watching her beloved Sheffield Wednesday.

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