I recently rewatched the noir scifi thriller Dark City for the first time in well over a decade and realized that despite how insanely weird the film is, it really is as great as people like to pretend that The Matrix was. Directed by Alex Proyas of The Crow and I, Robot fame, Dark City centers around John Murdoch, played sublimely by Rufus Sewell, a man who has evolved and is no longer susceptible to the imprinting that all other humans in his city undergo every night.
The Strangers, a mysterious group of humanoid aliens with the power to change the environment around them and who share a group mind, thus needing the individuality of humans to increase their power have imprisoned a city full of humans and keep them under control by changing aspects of the city and their lives every night at midnight. Until John Murdoch becomes immune to them and begins to fight back against their control, eventually destroying their reality altering machine and killing most of the Strangers in the process.
Coming at a time when Hollywood was just beginning to stop taking risks on new projects, Dark City is unlike any other film you have ever seen, despite The Wachowskis best efforts a year later to rip it off. I called it noir before, but really it is only this in the vaguest sense of the term due to its setting, though there are also aspects of cyberpunk and steampunk mixed in alongside a healthy dose of body horror and existentialism rarely seen in American cinema. The direction at times can feel a little listless, which is a common problem of Proyas', but the visual environment and the atmosphere make up for these short comings.
The performances are for the most part downplayed, though Kiefer Sutherland is given some great scenery chewing moments and William Hurt puts in one of his best ever performances. The writing, camera work, and editing are nothing especially revolutionary, though the writing is something wholly unique and the camera work and editing help to create an atmosphere of unease and disorientation that keeps you constantly unable to really grasp the story as a whole.
And while this film received massive support from critics upon release, it completely flew by the average audience, only gaining a cult following after the release of The Matrix. I remember my dad showing me this when I was twelve or thirteen and the movie deeply disturbing me as a child; whether it was the pale, clicking voiced Strangers, the aloof main characters, or the general grimy darkness of the setting, but the film was not a pleasurable experience for me at the time, though after seeing it again a few years later, I came to understand that those aspects are what made the film something different, something great.
Then, a couple years later, The Matrix came out, ripping entire sections of the film and its storyline off, and it blew up and I never understood why. The Matrix was a decent movie, but I never really viewed it as the great, smart film that its legion of rabid fans made it out to me. And at first, I couldn't understand why it succeeded while Dark City failed so hard, then I realized that while Dark City is slow, intelligent, and unflinchingly strange; The Matrix is fine with dumbing down its philosophy for the lowest common denominator audience alongside its heavy emphasis on action is what made it succeed, not its quality.
So, while I understand why the success factor worked for one and not the other, I will always try to increase the audience for Dark City and promote it over The Wachowskis film and doubly so for both of its absolutely awful sequels. So, as we approach the 20th anniversary of the release of a completely unique film, if you haven't seen it yet, give Dark City a chance, and while this film might not be for everybody, I think you'll like it.
4 out of 5 stars.