For the month of June, Arrow Films have released a new box set devoted to a cult classic movie. The movie, Dark City, has recently been given a new Blu-ray and 4K UHD release. As his follow up movie to The Crow, Alex Proyas next movie was a mind-bending and cerebral sci-fi tale. When released in 1998, the movie was a box office bomb. Despite its failure, film critics such as Roger Ebert thought highly of this movie. In later years, many have compared the movie’s themes to that of The Matrix, which was released the following year. While The Matrix would go on to spawn many sequels and rip-offs, Dark City remains a unique one-off movie from the mind of underappreciated director Alex Proyas.
Movie Review
Dark City takes place in a dark, grim and brooding nameless city with no specific year or location. John Murdoch, wakes up in a bathtub and has no memory of who he is. He soon finds out that he’s the prime suspect in a murder investigation case, which he isn’t sure if he has committed any crimes. With the clock ticking, John is on the run trying to find out who he is while a race of creatures known as Strangers lurk in the shadows.
Rufus Sewell as John Murdoch
First and foremost, the set design and overall style of the movie is very mesmerizing. Director Proyas had always wanted to make a movie with the imagery of a hard-boiled detective noir tale before he started work on The Crow. He certainly accomplished that: the movie uses imagery from Hollywood classic such as The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca. What makes this so unique is that this is mixed the imagery of the thought provoking science fiction movie similar to that of Blade Runner. Proyas and his team craft and shape these worlds for audiences to explore and they are pleasing to the eye.
The movie also falls back on its strong cast. Rufus Sewell is perfectly cast as the lost John Murdoch, who serves as a stand-in for the audience: just like Murdoch, we are lost and don’t know what’s going on. Scene by scene, you find yourself rooting for Murdoch as he searches for the answers. Kiefer Sutherland also stands out as the quirky Dr. Schreber, who serves as both an aide to the Strangers and to Murdoch. As the movie goes on, Sutherland gives a memorable performance switching from side to side. This is especially interesting to watch considering Sutherland found find mainstream success in his role as Jack Bauer in 24 just six years later. Meanwhile, Richard O’Brien is frightening as the elusive Mr. Hand. While O’Brien might be best known for Rocky Horror, he can turn in a good performance now and then in other movies. His performance as Mr. Hand is just one of them.
If the movie had any downsides, it would be the flatness of the characters and the pacing of the movie. At times, it feels like the movie is slower than it needs to be. This might be due to the fact of the movie trying to capture the feel of the old school noir movies, which tend to be slow. Along with that, some characters such as Detective Bumstead (William Hurt) and Emma Murdoch (future A Beautiful Mind Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly) aren’t particularly interesting. In their defense, this might be because of a particular plot element, which I shouldn’t spoil for new time viewers of this movie.
Director’s Cut vs Theatrical Cut
This new release of Dark City comes with both versions of the movie. While the theatrical cut did become a cult favorite, there were some things that Proyas wanted to change about the movie. Almost a decade after the movie’s release, he created the Director’s Cut. Most cinephiles and critics (including Roger Ebert) think that the Director’s Cut is superior for one particular reason: the movie’s mystery isn’t spoiled within the first five minutes of the movie.
Due to concerns from the movie studio that the movie might be too confusing, Alex Proyas begrudgingly agreed to insert a voiceover from Sutherland. Not only does the Director’s Cut remove this voiceover but it adds an extra ten minutes of footage, helping develop the story a little more. While some people prefer the original cut for the Trevor Jones score, first time viewers should watch the Director’s Cut first.
Bonus Features
Kiefer Sutherland as Dr Schreber
Both discs of this Dark City release feature a slew of extra, with some of them being brand new and exclusive to this set. The bonus features are as follows:
– new audio commentaries for both cuts of the movie, coming from Proyas and another with the hosts of the Film Versus Film podcast for the Director’s Cut.
– older audio commentaries from Proyas, Roger Ebert, Lem Dobbs and David S Goyer and many others.
– Return To Dark City- a new 58 minute documentary on the making of the movie. This features new interviews with Proyas, Sewell and many other people who worked on the movie.
– Rats in a Maze- a new visual essay from film scholar Alexandra West.
– I’m As Much In Dark As You Are- another new visual essay from film scholar Josh Nelson.
– Designs and Storyboards
There’s also the 2008 features from the first release of the Director’s Cut, which includes the featurettes Memories of Shell Beach and Architecture of Dreams.
Conclusion
This new release of Dark City is an impressive output from Arrow Films. In addition to the bonus features, the new restoration of the movie looks wonderful. Similar to Criterion, Arrow give movie lovers an appreciation of the film making process and this release of Dark City is no exception.
Movie Rating: 7/10
Release Rating: 8/10
I'm a writer/journalist with a passion for music and pop culture. Having graduated from King's College in Wilkes-Barre, PA in 2014, I've been looking for a platform in which I can share my passions. Since 2009, I've been posting to my own blog- The Walrus' Music Blog- via Blogger. I'm also the author of two self-published books, "The Camp: Stories from the Summer" and "The College: Stories from King's." Together, the two books cover the story of my life from 2004 to 2014. I've been lucky enough to interview several of my favorite musicians over the years and go to concerts from time to time. I'm also very devoted to the CBS reality TV show Survivor, which I started watching in 2002 when its fourth season started. I currently live in New Jersey.