One very overlooked film

It always happens in cinema: a film comes out that wows critics and audiences love...but it went absolutely nowhere. Which is why it's great that films come out on DVD and you can sort out the good ones from the terrible on your own, without it disappearing a few months into their theater runs. Dark City was one of those films, and although it drew a lot of comparisons to the Matrix, this film actually came out a year earlier since this was 1998 and Matrix was 1999. Oh well, it's a great film anyways and shows The Crow wasn't Alex Proyas' beginner's luck. By the way, fans prefer to turn off the sound during the opening narration so my suggestion is the minute you see Keifer Sutherland's character on screen, turn it back on.

John Murdoch wakes up in a bathtub, confused and disoriented. In his apartment is the body of a dead hooker with odd looking wounds on her chest. To make matters worse, he's being chased by guys in black coats known as the Strangers. I don't want to spoil the rest (because that opening narration would do it for me anyway) but it's a great film with some familiar scenes with a unique twist, including one twist late in the film that caught me off guard.

The film is very much inspired by film noir as probably 97% at least is entirely at night or in poorly-lit buildings. It's a really cool looking film, including one scene where we have a chase while the city goes through a little change. Chase scenes have been done before but this at least makes it unique. It's obvious this is done by the director of the Crow and that's not a bad thing.

The special effects, such as Roger Ebert's slightly I'm-so-movie-savvy commentary says, is it's actually about the story and it's not just a case of "look what we can do" which was a problem I had with films like the Star Wars prequels and the 2 Matrix sequels. It's funny how he says there's a charm to effects that look slightly obvious which to me is the opposite: it takes me out of the movie when I notice bad compositing or unfinished looking textures (I'm looking at you King Kong).

I would very much recommend this film but like I said, skip the opening narration with the sound off until someone appears on screen, it'll make it much better.

A Neo-Noir Classic

I'm not going to waste time divulging details of the plot or labeling this film "sci-fi" as you can read everyone else's reviews for that.

Although the film mixes in a science fiction plot with some imagery of that genre, Above all, this film is a tribute to the classic American Film Noir style of the 40's and 50's. Aside from brilliant cinematogrophay eliciting the stark angles, high contrast and deep shadows that play throughout the movie, you have the much talked about set design of the city which is noir to its bones from the shot of the neon hotel sign, to the vintage automobiles, to the jazzy club with the femme fatale singing, to the detective played by William Hurt, to the wardorbe of "The Strangers" who wear black trenchcoats and black fedoras.

To best serve this example and appreciate director Alex Proyas homage to the classic Noir style, just turn the "color" settings on your TV all the way off to desaturate it of color thus making it black & white. Turn your "Tint" control to the red spectrum, usually to the right to give the B&W the classic feel.

Now, watch the movie again and see ALL the shadowy shots and contrasted angles you missed watching it in color. You'll understand my point and possibly the directors.

An All-Time Favorite - But William Hurt Deserves a Lifetime Achievement Razzie Award for Worst Actor

I typically never read movie reviews because they almost always give away too much of the plot and I'm very anal about screening a flick free of preconceptions and unnecessary influences; therefore I will refrain from discussing the movie in detail. But since the opening monologue goes right into describing the ancient race of beings featured in this movie, it doesn't hurt to say that these are possibly the most impressive aliens I've ever seen on screen. They truly look as if they exist in another dimension of reality. I'm sick to death of humanoid-like aliens and these creatures are far from human - far from anything I've ever seen really, only vaguely resembling earthly insects or amphibians. If you love science fiction, this DVD is a must.

I confess that my main motivation for writing today is to spew my dismay and frustration about the fact that William Hurt is a movie star. I don't know how he did it, but one of the worst actors of all time has somehow convinced Hollywood that he has talent. Apparently, people do way too many drugs in Hollywood. Way back when, I liked Hurt in BODY HEAT, thinking he played a pretty good pretty boy/dupe, in kinda the same way I thought Arnold Schwarzenegger did a pretty good acting job as a robot in THE TERMINATOR (only to realize from subsequent films that he always acted that way).

I'll admit I was duped by William Hurt too for many years, mainly due to my youthful ignorance, but I eventually came to realize that William Hurt always played William Hurt with his robotic mannerisms, hopelessly stilted manner of speaking and utter inability to connect with his character or convincingly interact with other actors. Yet Hurt is routinely praised by the likes of idiot reviewer Roger Egbert (whose pompous, look-how-smart-and-important-I-am commentary track here should definitely be skipped). Painfully bad movies (thanks largely to Hurt) like THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST are bafflingly considered to be good. Thank goodness his poor acting skills don't detract too much from DARK CITY which is much more of a special-effects showcase than an acting one, although main character Rufus Sewell is good.

Take a good look at William Hurt people - this emperor wears no clothes! Someone give this guy a Raspberry award for lifetime achievement in bad acting.