Dark City (1998 film)
| Dark City | |
|---|---|
| File:Darkcityposter.jpg Dark City film poster | |
| Directed by | Alex Proyas |
| Written by | Alex Proyas David S. Goyer Lem Dobbs (screenplay) Alex Proyas (story) |
| Produced by | Alex Proyas Andrew Mason Michael De Luca Brian Witten |
| Starring | Rufus Sewell William Hurt Kiefer Sutherland Jennifer Connelly |
| Cinematography | Dariusz Wolski |
| Edited by | Dov Hoenig |
| Music by | Trevor Jones |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
Release date | February 27 1998 |
Running time | 100 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $27,000,000 |
| Box office | $27,200,316 |
Dark City is a 1998 science fiction film written by Alex Proyas, Lem Dobbs and David S. Goyer, and directed by Proyas. It stars Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, and Jennifer Connelly. While it was not a major box office hit when originally released, it has a subsequently developed a considerable cult following within film industry and cinephile circles. Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert is a particularly high-profile supporter of Dark City, labelling it the best film of 1998.[1]
The story concerns a man waking in a hotel room with no memory, which soon proves to be but one of many troubles. He is sought by police, who believe him to be a serial killer, and also by a group of mysterious men with psychokinetic powers. Furthermore, something appears to be wrong with the world at large: time, memory, and identity behave in unusual ways.
Plot
John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) wakes in a hotel bathtub, suffering from what seems to be amnesia. As he stumbles into his hotel room, he receives a call from Dr. Daniel Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland), who urges him to flee the hotel from a group of men called The Strangers. Murdoch escapes, eventually uncovers his real name, and tracks down his wife Emma (Jennifer Connelly). He is also sought for a series of murders, which he cannot remember, by police inspector Frank Bumstead (William Hurt). Murdoch stays on the move in the city, which experiences perpetual night. He sees people fall comatose at the stroke of midnight, and he is pursued by The Strangers. In the chase, he discovers that he has psychokinetic powers like the Strangers, which he uses to escape from them.
Murdoch questions the dark urban environment and discovers through clues and interviews with his family that he was originally from Shell Beach. Attempts at finding a way out of the city to Shell Beach are hindered by lack of reliable information. Meanwhile, the Strangers, disturbed by the presence of a human who retains their powers (which they refer to as tuning) inject one of their men, Mr. Hand (Richard O'Brien) with Murdoch's lost memories, in an attempt to track down Murdoch.
Constantly on the run, Murdoch witnesses the Strangers altering the city's landscape and people's identities during the still period at midnight, during which time everyone is unconscious. Murdoch eventually meets Bumstead, who recognizes Murdoch's innocence and has his own questions about the nature of the dark city. They find and confront Dr. Schreber, who explains that the Strangers are endangered alien parasites with a collective consciousness who are experimenting on humans to analyze the nature versus nurture concept of their human hosts in order to survive. Schreber reveals Murdoch as an anomaly who inadvertently woke up during the midnight process with the ability to tune.
The three men embark to find Shell Beach, which ultimately exists only as a billboard at the edge of the city. Frustrated, Murdoch tears through the wall, revealing a hole into deep space. The men are confronted by the Strangers, including Mr. Hand, who holds Emma hostage. In the ensuing fight, Bumstead falls through the hole into space, revealing the city as an enormous space habitat surrounded by a force field.
The Strangers bring Murdoch to their home beneath the city and force Dr. Schreber to imprint Murdoch with their collective memory. Schreber, having worked for the Strangers, betrays them by instead inserting memories in Murdoch that train his tuning abilities. Murdoch awakens, fully realizing his abilities, breaks free and battles with the Strangers, defeating the leader Mr. Book (Ian Richardson) in a battle high above the city. Utilizing his newfound powers, Murdoch begins reshaping the city, returning the sun, flooding the areas surrounding the city with water and forming mountains and beaches, creating the actual Shell Beach.
The Strangers who survived Mr. Book's death retreat from the sunlight to die underground. On his way to Shell Beach, Murdoch encounters Mr. Hand and informs him that the Strangers have been searching in the wrong place, the head, to understand humanity. Murdoch opens the door leading out of the city, and steps into sunlight for the first time. Beyond him is a dock, where he finds Emma, now with new memories and a new identity as Anna, with no recollection of Murdoch. They reintroduce and walk to Shell Beach, beginning their relationship anew.
Production
Director Alex Proyas wrote Dark City in 1990 and initially had the project attached to Walt Disney Pictures and then 20th Century Fox. The studios reneged on their agreements with Proyas due to their issues with the complexity of the story. New Line Cinema eventually accepted the project for production.[2] Before the final title of Dark City, the film had the working titles of Dark Empire and Dark World.[3] The film begins with a voice-over narration that gives away several key plot twists, which Proyas says was studio-imposed and "unnecessary".[4]
Writing
Director Alex Proyas first wrote the story of Dark City in 1990 as a detective story. The protagonist was a detective investigating a case that did not make logical sense, driving him insane as the evidence pointed to a larger, incomprehensible scheme. The detective was originally in pursuit of Murdoch, but Proyas considered the detective's perspective too analytical and changed it to the perspective of the man being chased to take a more emotive point of view. The original plot was changed to the story of Eddie Walenski in the film, played by Colin Friels. Proyas was also inspired by science fiction stories of simulated reality that he read during his childhood. The director considered the result to be a Raymond Chandler story with a science fiction twist.[5]
The initial ending for Dark City was originally bleak, with the Strangers claiming victory. Proyas, not liking the ending, decided to alter it to focus on the "individual's triumph" in an environment where individuality was being suppressed.[5]
Casting
Director Alex Proyas saw actor Rufus Sewell in several English television productions and a London stage show and decided to cast the actor in the lead role of Dark City.[5]
Proyas cited actor Richard O'Brien, who portrays the Stranger Mr. Hand in Dark City, as the inspiration for the design of the Strangers themselves. Proyas was familiar with the actor's previous work and held discussions with O'Brien and other actors who portrayed the Strangers to emulate O'Brien's presentation.[5]
The character Dr. Daniel P. Schreber was originally envisioned by Proyas to be an older man. During the casting process, Proyas decided to have the doctor portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland, who the director believed would seem more motivated to break free of the Strangers if he was young and still had potential.[5]
Filming
Filming took place in Sydney, Australia.[5] Dark City has one of the shortest average shot lengths of a modern film; a cut occurs in the film, on average, every 1.8 seconds.[6]
Design
The film was visually inspired by German Expressionist films such as Metropolis (1927),[5] Nosferatu (1921) and M (1931).[2]
The morphing of the city landscape in Dark City was an idea by Proyas taken from production of his previous film, The Crow (1993). The film had a rooftop set in which smaller-scale buildings were moved around to create different backgrounds, accomplished by workers out of sight. Proyas recalled the implementation to use in Dark City. The director also included anachronisms in the film, such as a car from the 1980s driving by in the film, set in an earlier era. The city in the film was built from human memories, so the director aimed to blend together various elements to reflect the combination.[5]
Similarities to other works
 | This section possibly contains original research. (December 2007) |
There are clear similarities between the film and The Matrix, which was released one year after Dark City, and was also filmed at Fox Studios in Sydney.[7] Nor do the comparisons end there; both The Matrix and Dark City concern artificial memories and habitats, and both are patrolled by faceless superpowered beings challenged when a human develops comparable powers. Comparisons have been made between scenes from the movies, making note of similarities in both cinematography and atmosphere.[7]
Some stylistic similarities have been noted to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 1995 film The City of Lost Children.[8][9] In the film, one of the Strangers says that some unsuccessfully imprinted people are found "wandering like lost children".
In the Doctor Who story "Castrovalva", as the Doctor and his companions explore the titular city, they continually find themselves back at the same courtyard, and realize the city folds back on itself and there is no exit. Eventually the native inhabitants of the city begin to realize their lives and memories have been created and manipulated by an outside force.
Spirals are a prominent visual element, similar to Uzumaki by Junji Ito, which was released around the same time as Dark City. Uzumaki also features (toward the end) the idea of an inescapable, spiral-shaped city.[citation needed]
Fritz Lang's 1927 movie Metropolis was a major influence on the film, showing through the architecture, concepts of the baseness of humans within a metropolis, and general tone.[10] The artwork for the soundtrack (below) also strongly resembles the iconic "clock machine" from Metropolis.
The plot also contains many similarities to Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Philip K. Dick's short story Adjustment Team, and Arthur C. Clarke's The City and the Stars.[citation needed] The random permutation of people's social identities is reminiscent of Jorge Luis Borges's short story "The Lottery in Babylon"[11][12] (in Fritz Lang's Metropolis, the story of the Tower of Babel is a key theme). In many ways, Ten Blocks on Camino Real by Tennessee Williams could be considered a primitive version of Dark City. There "Street Cleaners" take away the dead and admonish the losers. Although Tennessee Williams claimed that it was written about his time, the "convention" of it is that it does not exist in a specific time or place.[citation needed]
References to Memoirs of My Nervous Illness by Daniel Paul Schreber (after whom character Dr. Schreber is named) can be found in the film, notably in the use of his "fleetingly-improvised men" concept. The film has also been interpreted as containing references to the Bible, with John Murdoch being an allegorical Jesus; for example, the number of the room John is in at the film's beginning — 614 — may evoke John 6:14, a biblical verse in which Jesus' followers say of him, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."
One of the last scenes of the movie, in which buildings "restore" themselves, is strikingly similar to the last panel of the Akira manga. Proyas called the end battle an "homage to Otomo's Akira".[13]
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for the film was released on February 24, 1998 on the TVT label.[14] It features music from the original score by Trevor Jones, and versions of the songs "Sway" and "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" performed by singer Anita Kelsey. It also includes music by Hughes Hall from the trailer[15], as well as songs by Gary Numan, Echo & the Bunnymen, and Course of Empire that did not appear in the film.
Reception
Film critic Roger Ebert is a well-known fan of the movie, having rated it with four stars out of four,[1] naming it the best film of 1998.[16] In 2005, he included it on his "Great Movies" list.[17] Ebert uses it in his teaching, and also appears on a commentary track for the DVD. Leonard Maltin also gave it a positive review, rating it three out of four stars.[citation needed]
Awards
Dark City won the following awards:[18]
| Year | Award | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Bram Stoker Award | Best Screenplay (tying with Gods and Monsters) |
| 1998 | Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival - Silver Scream Award | |
| 1999 | Saturn Award | Best Science Fiction Film (tying with Armageddon) |
| 1999 | Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film - Pegasus Audience Award | |
| 1999 | Film Critics Circle of Australia Award | Best Original Screenplay |
It was also nominated for the following awards:
- the 1999 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
- the 1999 International Horror Guild Award for Best Movie
- the 1999 Saturn Awards for Best Costumes, Best Director, Best Make-Up, Best Special Effects, and Best Writer
References
- ^ a b Ebert, Roger. "Dark City". Chicago Sun-Times. 1998-02-27.
- ^ a b Don Kornits (1999-06-02). "Alex Proyas - Director, Dark City". eFilmCritic. Retrieved 2007-07-06.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Dark City". Entertainment Weekly. 1998-02-20.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Stratton, Jerry. FireBlade DVD Review: Dark City. 1999-09-21.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Rob Blackwelder (1998-02-13). "VISIONS OF 'STRANGERS' DANCE IN HIS HEAD". SPLICEDwire. Retrieved 2007-07-06.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Boardwell, David. "Intensified continuity: visual style in contemporary American film". Film Quarterly. Spring 2002.
- ^ a b Morales, Jorge. Comparación de los Filmes "Dark City" & "The Matrix". Retrieved December 24, 2005 (Spanish)
- ^ Carpenter, Jerry. "The City of Lost Children" (review). Movie Reviews. SciFilm.org. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
The production design by Jean Rabasse is marvelous. The city is dark and damp, all stairs and walkways. It clearly served as inspiration for DARK CITY three years later—one scene even features sharply inclined risers filled with members of the cyclops cult just like those used by the cenobites in the later film.
- ^ Mestas, Alex (2003-03-03). "The City of Lost Children (1995)" (review). DVD Reviews. LightsOutFilms.com. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
The film is similar in theme and execution to the slightly better Dark City.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "The Metropolis Comparison". Dark City DVD (1998).
- ^ Leeper, Evelyn C. (2005-09-09). "Jorge Luis Borges's "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" (and other stories)". The MT Void. Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
"The Babylonian Lottery" [...] is clearly commenting on the arbitrariness and irrationality of the political systems that Borge was seeing at the time [...] But when I read it now, the image it brings to my mind is that of the transition scene in the film Dark City, where the poor become rich, and the rich lose their status. Could this be a reference to Borges?
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Schneider, Dan (2005-10-20). "Review of Labyrinths, by Jorge Luis Borges". Cosmoetica. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
In another of the more famous tales, The Lottery In Babylon, a tale in which all the citizens of a society randomly switch positions of power and identity is a nice idea, but the payoff is Borges telling the reader that life is but random. A much better take on that germ of a notion was in the 1998 sci fi film Dark City, in which that idea had deeper meaning and a real tale behind it.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Proyas, Alex. Dark City DC: Original Ending !?, Mystery Clock Forum. 2006-07-29.
- ^ Fawthrop, Peter. "Dark City (Original Soundtrack)". All Music Guide. Retrieved March 4, 2006.
- ^ Dark City trailer (QuickTime). Retrieved 2007-05-04.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. "The Best 10 Movies of 1998". Chicago Sun-Times. 1998-12-31
- ^ Ebert, Roger. Great Movies: Dark City (2005). 2005-11-06.
- ^ IMDb: Awards for Dark City (1998). Retrieved 2007-05-06.
External links
- Dark City home page
- Dark City at IMDb
- Dark City at AllMovie
- Dark City at Rotten Tomatoes
- Dark City at Metacritic
- Dark City at Curlie
- Dark City at Box Office Mojo