Dark City

**_Atmospheric, dark mixture of film noir, comic book horror and sci-fi_** A man (Rufus Sewell) wakes up one night to great mysteries: There's a dead prostitute nearby that he gets blamed for murdering, but he can't remember much of anything. Several people seek him in the ensuing night hours of the big city: a somewhat mad doctor (Kiefer Sutherland), a detective (William Hurt), his estranged wife (Jennifer Connelly), an alluring woman of the night (Melissa George) and a group of pale bald males in black trench coats. He tries to piece together reality and escape the perpetually dark city. Alex Proyas' "Dark City" (1998) takes place entirely on elaborate shadowy sets with CGI backgrounds, etc. The first time I tried to watch it I gave up after 20 minutes. But, if you're in the right mode, it's a cool sci-fi flick with elements of film noir and mystery/horror that is thought-provoking and never devolves into predictable blockbuster dreck. The revelations at the end are well done. In addition, Sewell makes for a top-rate protagonist and William Hurt is effective. Many complain about Kiefer's offbeat performance, but the role called for it. If you don't like it blame the writers. On the female front you have Jennifer Connelly when she was still curvy and ravishing (by the early 2000s she lost too much weight and thus her alluring appeal). Meanwhile Melissa George is gorgeous in her small role as a call girl. My interest in "Dark City" was spurred by Roger Ebert's exuberant accolades. He was so impressed by the illusion of the vast scope of the city, which can be attributed to the well-done CGI backgrounds and accouterments beyond the immediate exemplary sets. Of course, this is no big deal today, but at the time it was still fairly new technology. Some people compare "Dark City" to the more popular "The Matrix" and for good reason since they have similar themes and "The Matrix" was actually shot on some of the same sets, but that one came out over a year later in 1999. There are also similarities to "Gattaca," which debuted 4.5 months earlier in late 1997. "The Matrix" went on to mega-success at the box office while "Dark City" floundered despite its brilliant bits. Why? For me, the characters needed fleshed-out more with increased human interest. There's some, for sure, but not enough. As such, audiences in general found the film odd, perplexing and uncompelling. However, sci-fi aficionados should eat it up. It's superior to "Gattaca," but not as as good as "The Matrix." The film runs 1 hour, 40 minutes, and the Director's Cut 1 minute longer; it was shot on sets in Sydney, Australia. GRADE: B-/B