{"id":1153,"date":"2008-09-30T23:44:04","date_gmt":"2008-10-01T03:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=1153"},"modified":"2022-10-24T18:05:25","modified_gmt":"2022-10-24T22:05:25","slug":"dark-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/dark-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Into the never-ending night of Alex Proyas’ Dark City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I recall Dark City<\/em> being one of my favorite films of 1998, and I would have rated it quite highly had I been keeping score at the time. It is a bold science fiction film noir most obviously indebted to Blade Runner<\/em>, but also to favorites Brazil<\/em> (especially the sequences of buildings sprouting up out of the ground), Metropolis<\/em>, M<\/em>, and City of Lost Children<\/em><\/a>. In each of these, a protagonist survives in a hostile, often nameless dystopian city, often with the suspicion that his depressing existence is somehow not real. Alex Proyas, Lem Dobbs, and David S. Goyer’s screenplay explores the same flavor of paranoid schizophrenia that also figures in the literature of Franz Kafka and Philip K. Dick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dark City<\/em> was overshadowed at the box office by Titanic — as was everything else released at the time, to be honest — but like its later oddball distant cousin Donnie Darko<\/em>, its extended lifecycle included becoming a cult hit on DVD. In the meantime, director Alex Proyas further raised his bankability with later commercial success I, Robot<\/em>. So for Dark City<\/em>‘s tenth anniversary, New Line Cinema financed Proyas’ completion of a Director’s Cut for a special edition DVD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proyas describes his Director’s Cut as “more complete,” and blames the audience testing process for New Line Cinema pressuring him to add an explanatory voiceover. As he put it, the process undermined his confidence as a filmmaker and thus compromised the film. As was the case with the 2007 reissue of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner<\/em>, Proyas has now removed the opening narration, spit-polished the special effects, and extended some scenes. Watching it for the first time since 1998, it all nevertheless seemed familiar to this blogger, who found it difficult to spot anything new from memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rufus
The worst loo in The City<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DVD bonus features are dryly referred to by movie studio home entertainment executives as “value-added content.” Repurposed electronic press kits typically feature filmmakers congratulating themselves on how wonderful a film they’ve made and how brilliant all their colleagues were. In contrast, the Dark City<\/em> DVD squeezes in an interesting and fairly candid feature-length documentary on the making of the film and its impact upon numerous philosophers and film critics. No less a marquee booster than St. Roger Ebert praises the film and contributes an entire commentary track. Ebert has long championed the film, even including it among his series of Great Movies<\/a>. Among other excellent insights, he points out it predated the similarly-themed The Matrix<\/em> by over a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jennifer
Happy Birthday, Mr. Murdoch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The filmmakers relate their amusing struggles with the MPAA. Shown a relatively inoffensive cut of the film, they nevertheless wanted to give it an “R” rating, the best rationale they could give being its overall weirdness. So, faced with receiving an R no matter what, the filmmakers actually decided to add more nudity and violence. But there is still no profanity in this antiseptic universe. Dark City<\/em> is a film noir of the sort where even hookers say things like “Aw, shoot.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the cast, only Rufus Sewell participates in the documentary. He’s nothing like I would have expected; actually kind of goofy and animated, in direct contrast to his moody seriousness in the role. Kiefer Sutherland overeggs his performance with a limp, facial deformity, and speech defect. His character is a remorseful collaborator that turns on his masters, interesting enough without all the actorly accouterments. A striking shot of Jennifer Connelly standing on the end of a pier matches my memory of a similar shot in Requiem for a Dream<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recall Dark City being one of my favorite films of 1998, and I would have rated it quite highly had I been keeping score at the time. It is a bold science fiction film noir most obviously indebted to Blade Runner, but also to favorites Brazil (especially the sequences of buildings sprouting up out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,2],"tags":[1717,201,42,203,204,115,202,205,85],"class_list":["post-1153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-4-stars","category-movies","tag-1717","tag-alex-proyas","tag-fantasy","tag-jennifer-connelly","tag-kiefer-sutherland","tag-new-line-cinema","tag-roger-ebert","tag-rufus-sewell","tag-science-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/dark-city-feature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-iB","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1770,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":1153,"position":0},"title":"Frank Miller’s The Spirit is the Insane and Unhinged Product of a Uniquely Obsessed Auteur Mind","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"May 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"At last, finally another entry to our hallowed pantheon of zero-star unholy cinema atrocities. Frank Miller's The Spirit is far more than just merely bad. Like the most infamous movie disaster of all, Ed Wood's Plan Nine From Outer Space), it veers wildly from stunning weirdness to unintentional hilarity, interspersed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "0 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"0 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/0-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Spirit","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/the-spirit-movie-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/the-spirit-movie-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/the-spirit-movie-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/the-spirit-movie-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/the-spirit-movie-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1692,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/blindness\/","url_meta":{"origin":1153,"position":1},"title":"A Disease Immune to Bureaucracy: Fernando Meirelles’ Blindness","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"March 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Director Fernando Meirelles has examined desperate pressure cookers (City of God) and institutional corruption (The Constant Gardener) before. Blindness proves perfect to meld both themes, with a science fiction twist imagining the downfall of civilization itself. Blindness is part of a special subset of the horror\/sci-fi\/disaster genre: the dystopian end-of-civilization\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Julianne Moore in Blindness","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/blindness-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/blindness-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/blindness-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/blindness-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/blindness-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5677,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/terminator-dark-fate-is-a-trashcan-of-exposition\/","url_meta":{"origin":1153,"position":2},"title":"Terminator: Dark Fate is a trashcan of exposition","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Criticizing the plots of popcorn action blockbusters is usually a fool's errand. Nobody cares if Hobbs & Shaw makes any sense, but surely it's fair game in the Terminator franchise, where untangling pseudo-scientific time travel logic is 99% of the fun. So the biggest disappointment of Dark Fate (other than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Terminator: Dark Fate","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/terminator-dark-fate-trio.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/terminator-dark-fate-trio.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/terminator-dark-fate-trio.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/terminator-dark-fate-trio.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/terminator-dark-fate-trio.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2060,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/solitary-confinement-moon\/","url_meta":{"origin":1153,"position":3},"title":"Solitary Confinement: Moon","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"November 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Moon is a rare science fiction thriller that doesn't derive its tension solely from the spectacle of spaceships, robots, or offworld locale. Rather, it's a psychodrama about paranoia, in the Philip K. Dick tradition of Blade Runner, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly (not to mention the countless movies Dick\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Moon","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/moon-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/moon-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/moon-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/moon-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/moon-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":937,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/batman-dark-knight\/","url_meta":{"origin":1153,"position":4},"title":"Batman wants to be taken seriously in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"August 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I really wanted to like The Dark Knight. Director Christopher Nolan (also cowriter with brother Jonathan) and star Christian Bale have long proved themselves thoughtful, serious filmmakers, but if they have one common flaw it might be a terminal deficiency of levity. The Dark Knight inarguably has all the hallmarks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Dark Knight","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/batman-dark-knight-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/batman-dark-knight-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/batman-dark-knight-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/batman-dark-knight-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/batman-dark-knight-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2071,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/a-man-alone-babylon-a-d\/","url_meta":{"origin":1153,"position":5},"title":"Vin Diesel is a Man Alone, in Babylon A.D.","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"December 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Vin Diesel has made something of a specialty in dystopian science fiction movies, possessed of astonishing visuals but horrifically bad scripts. I'm looking at you, Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick) Does he seek these kinds of projects out, or has he been typecast as a weary but action-ready\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/babylon-a-d.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/babylon-a-d.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/babylon-a-d.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/babylon-a-d.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/babylon-a-d.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1153"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7004,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153\/revisions\/7004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}