Dark City (1998) Starring Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland & Jennifer Connelly Directed by Alex Proyas Written by Alex Proyas

“You’ve seen what we are. We use your dead as vessels.”

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit this film is more sci-fi than horror, despite how it was originally marketed, but Dark City is one of my all time favorite films and deserves a fresh look.

For those of you unfamiliar with the film, it goes a bit like this: John Murdock (Rufus Sewell) wakes in a strange dive motel with no memory of who he is or why he is there. Before he can overcome his confusion, he receives a panicked phone call from Dr. Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland) warning Murdoch that he is being hunted by a series of men in black coats. Also, there’s a dead hooker on the hotel floor; is he being framed for murder, or are these men in black seeking him to mete out some form of street justice?

John runs into the streets, and begins a quest that hearkens back to the lost days of noir films. He follows what few clues he has, trying to piece together his past, the identity of his pursuers, and whether or not he is the serial murderer the police are actively pursuing.

As he investigates the nature of his surroundings and of himself, he uncovers an even greater mystery. Every ‘night’ at midnight, the entire city falls asleep simultaneously. There is no sun; the city runs on twelve-hour intervals, from midnight to midnight. And while the city slumbers, more of the men in black crawl up from subterranean depths to alter the city with their psychic energies, and people’s memories with chemical technology. The humans of the city are slaves to these creatures, all part of some gigantic experiment.

Aided by his wife (Jennifer Connelly), Dr. Schreber, and a lone detective (John Hurt), John seeks the truth. His past, once discovered, may all be a fabrication. Is there a way to free the city from the grasp of the Strangers? It will be a difficult battle to do so, with their supernatural might; but John may be more than human as well…

There is no denying my unabashed love for this film. The look, the style, the many overlapping ideas behind the story are all interwoven so well to create a rich and full film experience. Dark City’s unique setting and plot allowed the crew to use all of their imagination when crafting the world. The city is constructed around the memories of its inhabitants, and so the film has some elements of a noir period piece, but is more of an anachronism than anything, containing many decades worth of constructions and lighting; every shot looks marvelous. Even the harshest critic, when bashing the film, could not deny the beauty and craftsmanship of the sets that were created here.

But aside from the aesthetic, Dark City’s story offers so much. When it was originally released back in ’98, Sci-fi was being ignored. Horror was being ignored. Both of these genres were at the end of a long lull, and all that was being released for them were a scant few crap sequels or studio-controlled fodder. Dark City’s release was a beacon for many, finally a Sci-fi film that may have been inspired visually by past films such as Metropolis, Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and Brazil, but it offered a story unlike any other, crafted with care and intelligence. And it was good!

Though the film captured the hearts of many a sci-fi fan, it was ignored by the general public, and failed at the box office. But Dark City is one of those films that, despite being generally unknown, was influential in many other ways. Its wonderfully detailed city sets were later used to film The Matrix, which would revitalize the Sci-fi market commercially. It relaunched the careers of Jennifer Connelly and Kiefer Sutherland, who had both been fading in the years prior. Dark City was also a major work in the career of David Goyer, a screenwriter who just recently worked with Christopher Nolan to create Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

Dark City is an excellent movie, and if you don’t at least give it a shot, I’m going to punch you in the face. Period.

Oh, but the reason for this write-up: the new DVD. Since Dark City was a failure at the theatres, as this point most of its fan base discovered the film on DVD. New Line distributed the movie as one of their early ‘no-frills and not good enough for a plastic case you have to make good with cardboard’ releases. But as an early DVD, Dark City did catch the eye of many movie enthusiasts who were looking for something different among the then-sparse DVD shelves at retailers. They enjoyed it. And word of mouth spread.

So, after almost a decade of moderate home video success, New Line has finally released a new edition on DVD and Blu-Ray, and it is glorious. The disc has the Director’s Cut, which has en extra 11 minutes of footage, and lacks the opening monologue, which many complained explained the entire mystery of the film before the show even started (it was a studio concession). Among the many other changes are the addition of one very young extra character, oodles of character detail, a few tweaks to the music ques, and the interesting decision to not dub over Jennifer Connelly’s lounge room singing with that of Anita Kelsey. The Blu-ray version contains both extended and original versions of the film.

Perhaps even more exciting than the alterations to the movie are the special features. Oh, the features! The original release had almost nothing included, so to make up for it, the new edition is crammed full of goodies. You’ll find five commentary tracks, including cast, crew, director, and a pop-up video movie fact track. There are interviews and retrospectives with cast, crew and even critics, creating a comprehensive look at the film’s making, its impact, and the reasoning behind the alterations for the director’s cut.

As a fan and a critic, I’m exceptionally pleased with the new release. If you’re a Dark City fan, you owe it to yourself to pick up the new DVD. And if you’ve never seen the film before, you can’t call yourself a movie fan until you have. Now is the perfect time.