Dark City

 Dark City

• Director: Alex Proyas
• Seen by this director: I Robot, The Crow
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Rufus Sewell, Jennifer Connelly, Kiefer Sutherland, William Hurt,
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Rufus Sewell – Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, The Tourist, Pillars of the Earth, Holiday, Amazing Grace, Paris je t’aime, The Taming of the Shrew Re-Told, A Knight’s Tale, Hamlet, Cold Comfort Farm, Middlemarch
• Jennifer Connelly – Alita Battle Angel, American Pastoral, Winter’s Tale, Creation, He’s Just not that Into You, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Blood Diamond, House of Sand and Fog, A Beautiful Mind, Pollock, Requiem for a Dream, Labyrinth
• Kiefer Sutherland – Melancholia, Stand by Me
• William Hurt – Humans, Winter’s Tale, Robin Hood, Into the Wild, A History of Violence, AI, Sunshine, Smoke, The Accidental Tourist
• Why? Sci fi. The cast.
• Seen: 16 December 2021      

       Aliens come to Earth because they’re dying out on their world. Dr Schreber (Sutherland) helps them. He’s a traitor to the humans.

       John Murdoch (Sewell) wakes up with no memory. Jazz singer Emma Murdoch (Connelly) is told that her husband John needs help/ is wanted by the police.

       It’s all very film noir-y with lurking, threatening, human-looking aliens and weird scientific experiments. It’s also atmospheric, mostly in sepia tones, justifying the film’s title. The story is strange, amorphous, filled with shifting memories and realities. Its complexity and surrealism creeps in under the skin.

       Human souls, memories, individuality – all very existential. It doesn’t hurt that it’s a bit Doctor Who-y. I’m intrigued. It’s worth seeing again someday. 

4 * of 5. Hal says 2*. He doesn’t like the premise.