Director: Alex Proyas
Screenplay: Alex Proyas, Lem Dobbs, David S Goyer
Cinematographer: Dariusz Wolski
John Murdoch - Rufus Sewell
Inspector Frank Bumstead - William Hurt
Dr Daniel Schreber - Kiefer Sutherland
Emma Murdoch - Jennifer Connelly
Mr Hand - Richard O'Brien
Mr Book - Ian Richardson
Mr Wall - Bruce Spence |
Australian director Alex Proyas shot to international film prominence in 1994 when he directed Brandon Lee in "The Crow"; and he brings his distinctive visual style to his latest film, "Dark City", which he also co-wrote.
"Dark City" is a sci-fi thriller that weaves together elements of film noir, romance, serial murder and alien invasion. The aliens, known as "The Strangers", are shadow-like figures with telepathic powers that allow them to stop time and alter physical reality. They live in a cold mechanical underworld beneath the city, experimenting with humans in an effort to discover what makes them tick - the truth must be in there somewhere!
The city itself is a 40's style metropolis that is always in darkness. It is here that we meet John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell), one of The Strangers' human guinea pigs. But with him their experiment goes wrong. Murdoch wakes in a strange hotel room with no memory of who he is and wondering whether or not he is responsible for a series of grisly murders. He is yet to realise that he now has the telepathic powers of The Strangers and that they are also out to destroy him.
In his fight to escape both the aliens and the police and regain his lost memory, Murdoch finds that he can trust nothing and no-one, not even his estranged wife Emma (Jennifer Connelly), or Dr Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland), the psychiatrist who offers to help him.
The film is visually stunning with lots of unexpected twists and turns in the plot and the climax is suitably explosive. There are moments of humour and the sense of a light-hearted playing with genre and cliche - Dr Schreber is crippled, the epitome of every evil scientist you have ever seen. Detective Bumstead (William Hurt) is the classic Raymond Chandler hero - hardboiled outside, human inside. Emma isn't quite the femme fatale but she is a likeable and believable love interest. Rufus Sewell looks good but somehow lacks the charisma of a young Harrison Ford. The impressive international cast also includes Ian Richardson, Richard O'Brien of "Rocky Horror Show" fame, Bruce Spence and Colin Friels.
An intriguing and generally satisfying sci-fi thriller with an intelligent script, one of the first films to come out of Sydney's Fox Studios.
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