Rating of
2/4
"Dark City" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 04/19/12
Dark City has the dubious honour of being known as "the film that's not as good as The Matrix." Released a year earlier and featuring some very similar ideas, it is the story of an amnesiac, stalked by mysterious black clad strangers who can alter reality through a city that's shrouded in perpetual darkness. In fact the whole concept of the hero with no memory, hunting for clues through darkened streets reminded me a lot more of a videogame plot, and to be honest, it felt as underdeveloped and episodic as one too. The performances did not help either; Rufus Sewell's hero is about as memorable and charismatic as a dead TV channel, Jennifer Connelly acts like a prom queen in a high school play and Kiefer Sutherland (at his least bankable, when everyone was sick of the bratpack and the 24 crash cart had not yet jolted his career back to life) hobbles and wheezes through his part like a podgy faced playground nerd looking for someone to show his sick note. Only Colin Friels and William Hurt really caught my attention as the pursuing detectives, but both are killed off far too quickly and easily. There are some nice visuals and it does maintain the attention, but the Twilight Zone concept is by far the strongest thing going for it, but on that score, the Wachowskis left this film gasping like Kiefer in their dust.
