I have to admit that, on occasion, I dig movies up that I loved and find myself obsessed after rewatch. I like to think that I'm gradually getting smarter...at least wiser...as I get older. Since I rewatched Dark City, I've become obsessed, even ordering a new copy of the Director's cut on Blu-ray and looking up more of the history of the film.
Since it came out twenty-two years ago, spoiler free reviews aren't easy to come by; which is sad because it was a box office failure that a lot of people missed.
People, including me, forget that Roger Ebert picked Dark City as his favorite movie of 1998 and loved the movie so much that he recorded a commentary for the original DVD release.
This is a masterpiece from a bygone era of sci-fi cinema. The Matrix came one year later and actually reused some of the sets in Australia from Dark City. The movies have some visual similarities, mostly in the noir lighting with a limited color palette. Still, where The Matrix stuck to greens and blues, Dark City was more deliberate and versatile.
In the theatrical cut, the filmmakers were pushed to open with a voice over from Kiefer Sutherland's character Dr. Daniel Shiver, based off of a real person with a similar speech impediment, who does hold the hands of the morons that Hollywood thinks we all are and guides you through who these mysterious people "The Strangers" are and gives some ideas about where this city actually is.
John Murdoch, played by Rufus Sewell, wakes up in a bathtub in a crappy motel room with a dead hooker. His journey starts there. He's dazed and confused and only really knows that he's not a murderer. Or does he? He's pursued by these pale, hairless people. Most haunting of The Strangers following Murdoch, aside from the kid, is Mr. Hand played by Richard O'Brien of Rocky Horror fame. William Hurts' Inspector Frank Bumstead is on Murdoch's case. Or is he? Murdoch eventually finds his unfaithful wife played by Jennifer Connelly. Or was she unfaithful?
We don't know a ton about The Strangers early on; but, we know that they can "tune" which is the ability to alter their surroundings through telekinesis. Only, Murdoch can inexplicably do it too.
Thus, the mystery begins to unfold. I use the word "unfold" deliberately here because, this was made to be one movie. The fact that it never got a sequel isn't because of the lack of box-office return; it's because the movie closed the door behind it. It had an ending that was never meant to allude to an "until next time." It had something to say and it said it.
The music by Trevor Jones makes me ache for the movie music of the 90s. The man gave us the music to classics like Last of the Mohicans and kinda fell off of the radar after this movie. Seriously, tell me that you've heard a sci-fi action score like this in the last twenty years. I don't want to hear any of the Hans Zimmer, Inception, yanking an a goat's tail music volunteered as tribute:
I love both Bill Pope (The Matrix) and Dariusz Wolski (The Crow and this film) as cinematographers; but Wolski knocked this out of the park at every level.
I usually harp on cinematography; but, shit, Dark City is about special effects and production design. Whereas The Matrix fully embraced CGI and "doing it in post" early, Dark City did as much with practical effects and miniatures as possible. As a result, Dark City ages better.
Remember the scene from Matrix: Reloaded where Neo is fighting off a hoard of Smiths in what is clearly a completely CGI scene? That didn't age a week. The only VFX in Dark City that I find to be noticably aged came in the film's final show down and, by that point, who the fuck cares? You've been taken on this journey that leads to this moment. To not praise the VFX movie across the board completely is to not appreciate Star Wars before the special editions.
Dark City showed cities being remolded before our eyes and it is visually awe inspiring to watch nearly a quarter century later.
So, why did it fail financially? Well, fortunately, there are enough nerds who saw it after theaters who have ultimately made it profitable. I was only thirteen when it came out. I wouldn't have gotten it that young.
It doesn't have the star power of The Matrix or other competing movies of the time. At the time, either William Hurt or Kiefer Sutherland were probably the biggest names. This is Jennifer Connelly before Requiem for a Dream. Rufus Sewell, despite only having a few lines as Fortinbras in Branagh's Hamlet in 1996 has always been an impressive actor to me; but, he's never had name recognition.
The marketing didn't help. The Strangers certainty look terrifying; but, it came off as a straight up sci-fi/horror movie. It's not. One could say that it's sci-fi/action. Really, it's more accurate to call it sci-fi/noir or just cut the crap and call it sci-fi. You could cut all the crap and just call it a cinematic masterpiece.
Bottom line, it is sci-fi if a bygone era. It's a movie that was meant to stand on its own and cover the whole story in one movie. The world was built and changed all in one go and could be witnessed for the price of one ticket.
Namely, it's real cinema.