Dark City (Director's Cut out 7/29!) Sleep...now.

This is a really good film. It's gothic, dark, and depressing. Really drawing you in to the story which by the way seems like (in my opinion) somewhat of the inspiration for the Matrix. The ability to "tune" is like a cross between Neo's Matrix abilities and the Force. Great power.

The cast is wonderful. Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, William Hurt, Jennifer Connelly, Richard O'Brien, Bruce Spence, and Ian Richardson really act out their characters perfectly.

The Strangers are some of the best villains ever. Mr. Hand, Mr. Wall, and Mr. Book really freak me out. But Mr. Sleep (the little kid) is creepiest devil of the lot. Especially when he bites Murdoch's fingers on the ledge.

My favorite scene is when John Murdoch and Mr. Book have their big battle.


[image=http://www.eskimo.com/~noir/ftitles/darkcity2/dc05.jpg]

 

Yeah Trevor Jones did do a good job with the score.

Which scene was duplicated in Requiem For A Dream? I'm trying to think.

 

That's right. Wow, those scenes really are pretty much the same.

 

I always considered Matrix a dumbed down rip-off of Dark City. Not saying the Matrix is bad, just saying Dark City is just... better.

 

I absolutely ADORE Dark City. One of my favorites of all time ever.

To be fair to Matrix, though, I wouldn't say it was a blatant rip-off. For one thing, Matrix had certainly already been shot when Dark City was released. Also, it's not as though it was a totally original idea -- Dark City and Matrix shared a similar concept to The Thirteenth Floor, released the same year as Matrix (Matrix was March, 13th Floor May) and completely overshadowed. But the point is it was not an idea particular to any of the three films, just executed vastly differently.

Dark City went through a few name changes, starting as Dark City, then Dark Empire (I have a Cinefantastique magazine somewhere with an article on the film, with that title), then Dark World, and finally back to Dark City again.

Love that movie somethin' fierce, I tells ya. Tragically underrated.

M. Scott

 

Hmm. I think I'll see about renting the Thirteenth Floor to compare the films. Interesting. Hadn't heard of it until now.

 

I haven't seen Dark City in a while, but I remember that it was good: better than I expected.

Does Bruce Spence have a speaking role?

Looks like it's time for me to see it again.

 

Yeah Bruce Spence is Mr. Wall. He's the tall stranger who bickers with Mr. Hand (O'Brien) alot. He's the one that dies with William Hurt at the dead end to shell beach.

 

And the visual effects alone probably took that time.

Besides, there are drafts of The Matrix screenplay dating back to 1996 with all the elements in place.

M. Scott

 

I tell you what, I really started to pay attention to what Rufus Sewell was in after I saw him in Dark City.

 

The Thirteenth Floor was a Roland Emmerich production; I almost didn't go see it because of this. It turns out that Emmerich was constrained to a sensible budget, and did *not* have Dean Devlin involved with the writing or production, and these points may have been salutary contributors to the fact that the movie is a decent piece of work.

As for the "how could so many world-as-a-video-game movies come out in one season?" question, bear in mind that Daniel Galouye wrote the book over forty years ago, and most of the people messing with VR Phony Worlds -- The Matrix, Dark City, et al -- derived their many of their major plot points from the later work of people who aped Galouye.

Galouye wasn't the first one to use the concept in prose SF, not by any means; but he did it more coherently, and did it *better*, than anyone else had up to that time, and produced a minor classic in the field. Long-time SF fans will see every single plot point and development in the movie long before it occurs, because the material has been mined and re-mined over the years.

The folks who made The Thirteenth Floor lost a couple of very minor points that could have contributed to the immediacy and impact of the script, but they earned my respect and appreciation. If you're dubious, see it on cable or a rental...and pay special attention to the cinematography, which brilliantly uses low-budget film stock and lighting and color-processing to create a truly wonderful color version of classic "film noir" appearance motifs.

Just try to think of what impact it would have had on cinema had it been made in the same decade when the book was written! Even as it is, it's a worthwhile piece of film.

 

Dark City is one of those movies that I've been told to see, but I just haven't been able to find it anywhere.

 

Though a brand-new, extended Alex Proyas "Director's Cut" is on the way later this year, Roger Ebert apparently having recorded a totally new commentary for it.

(Removing Kiefer Sutherland's opening voiceover for this new DVD is virtually Priority #1 for Proyas...)

 

Ebert showed the film back in 1999 at Ebertfest where I live; at this past year's festival (right before he and Al Pacino started up a discussion), my S.O. and I overheard him mentioning the new commentary-thing. Prior to the in-person confirmation, I wondered if New Line pulled a "Sling Blade," and simply had him record new comments for the added scenes. It's a full-length track.

When theatrically released, I walked into Dark City late -- literally when Rufus Sewell wakes up in the tub -- so I basically saw the movie as Proyas intended: as an evolving mystery, where you're trying to figure out what's going on.

It was only months later that I bought the DVD and saw how the opening narration ruined a prime component of my enjoyment of the movie the first around. There is NO reason for that voice-over -- it spoils everything that you're about to see, and was added by the studio as a means of telling the audience what was happening, as opposed to (what Proyas wanted) them figuring it out on their own while the film went along.

I can't even draw a comparison between it and Blade Runner (the '82 theatrical cut). Whether you like it or not, at least in the latter, the Ford narration provides *some* atmosphere and does clarify plot points.

The Dark City prologue empties the entire bag of tricks right up front at the start, and that was surely not the intention of the filmmakers. That said, I too am anticipating the extended cut; from what Proyas has said on his own messageboard at Mysteryclock.com and various chats, he's adding in new VFX to finish up scenes that weren't completed when the edited-down version hit theaters back in early '98.

 

I have this movie on DVD, and I think it is very good. The visual style and cinematography are great.

I have to say though, the Strangers might want to consider reinforcing the walls of their interstellar spacecraft with a material a tad stronger than brick.

Also, that kid Stranger, very creepy.