Today in Forgotten Movies we look at Dark City, originally released in 1998 this is a film noir set in an alternate reality America during the 1930’s although elements of the 40’s and 50’s also show up in the movie.  When I first laid eyes upon the trailer I went bonkers, this was the follow up film from legendary director Alex Proyas, who’s  previous worked included The Crow (if one hasn’t seen this film, I highly encourage it, never was there such a love/revenge story such as this). Being a huge fan of The Crow (as many people were back then) I had no option than to grab a buddy and go see the film.

In a city that never see’s the light of day, a man is convicted of several murders against prostitutes of which he has no memory of ever doing. Not only does he not remember the murders, he has no idea who he is himself.   Helped by a mysterious doctor who says that he knows him, the man with no memory of himself begins to unravel a secret that’s been hidden from him and everyone else in this city, while trying to discover who he is and where he comes from.

Liking the tranquility and dark underground feel of The Crow and my love for the 1930’s I instantly fell in love with this film’s worldly feel.  Filming a whole movie with the lack of bright lights tends to show a lack of detail on everything you see as well as a grainy picture due to the type of film that gets used for filming in poor light condition. Luckily being a film noir piece period piece, detail is blocked out by heavy shadows that themselves add to the feel of both mystery and anticipation for what’s really hiding behind the shadows. And for those grains, I don’t notice any leaving for a nice sharp picture.

I must give a standing ovation for the cast choice, most especially the very talented and creepy Richard O’Brien who plays Mr. Hand, you might know him more as Riff Raff from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Other cast includes; Rufus Sewell as John Murdock, the man suffering from amnesia, the beautiful Jennifer Connelly as Emma Murdoch , John’s wife who feels that her affair is what set off John to preform all these killings, William Hurt as Inspector Frank Bumstead who is on the trail of John Murdock who also becomes aware that things aren’t what they seem to be, and Kiefer Sutherland as the mysterious Dr. Daniel P. Schreber, who tries to guide John Murdock to his true calling. Together they not only remove you from your everyday existence but they also make you feel that this world just might be real and that you might be living in a “Dark City”.

The most bizarre thing that really makes this movie stand out above all others is it’s sound track.  There has never been a movie (that I know of) that has had a musical score run through the entire length of the film. Like a traditional film, music is used to help intensify a moment and grab attention. That’s what this movie does but it grabs your attention in the very beginning and never lets it go, never does it let you think for yourself but to instead forcing you into a constant state of anticipation causing one to use all there attention to watch the story unfold through ones eyes.

Not only was this movie directed by Alex Proyas but he also wrote it and produced it. He also enlisted two script writers to help him unfold his dark and brilliant ideas onto the silver screen. To help he got both Lem Dobbs who also worked on The Limey and The Score and David S. Goyer who I’m sure you all know who worked on comic book movies such as Blade, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and together made one of the most mysterious film noir’s known to date.

This film was revolutionary introducing scenes and images that rival some movies today. You can even see the imprint it left behind in movies such as the very popular and very successful Matrix series. When watched back to back one can see on how much The Matrix borrows from Dark City. Never will there be a film like this nor will there be a film that will take you into such a world as “Dark City”. Available on both DVD and Blu-Ray