Dark City

Drama, Adventure, Thriller, Romance, Mystery, Action

Rufus Sewell	John Murdoch
William Hurt	Inspector Frank Bumstead
Kiefer Sutherland	Dr. Daniel Schreber
Jennifer Connelly	Emma Murdoch/Anna
Richard O'Brien	Mr. Hand
Mitchell Butel	Officer Husselbeck
Colin Friels	Det. Eddie Walenski
John Bluthal	Karl Harris
Ian Richardson	Mr. Book
Bruce Spence	Mr. Wall

Director	Alex Proyas
Producer	Andrew Mason; Alex Proyas
Writer	Lem Dobbs; Alex Proyas

If you're a fan of brooding comic-book anti-heroes, got a nihilistic jolt from The Crow (1994) and share director Alex Proyas's highly developed preoccupation for style over substance, you might be tempted to call Dark City an instant classic of visual imagination. It's one of those films that exists in a world purely of its own making, setting its own rules and playing by them fairly, so that even its derivative elements (and there are quite a few) acquire their own specific uniqueness. Before long, however, the film becomes interesting only as a triumph of production design. And while that's certainly enough to grab your attention (Blade Runner is considered a classic, after all), it's painfully clear that Dark City has precious little heart and soul. One-dimensional characters are no match for the film's abundance of retro-futuristic style, so it's best to admire the latter on its own splendidly cinematic terms. Trivia buffs will be interested to know that the film's 50-plussets (partially inspired by German expressionism) were built at the Fox Film Studios in Sydney, Australia, home base of director Alex Proyas and producer Andrew Mason. The underground world depicted in the film required the largest indoor set ever built in Australia. --Jeff Shannon