Dark City (1998)

DARK CITY is a drag.  The visuals are great, of course.  (That is, 
what I could make of them, at the focus-challenged Cary Imperial.)
Too bad Batman's not around, to maker better use of director Alex
Proyas' superbly shrouded cityscapes.  (With the exception of one 
scene, the entire movie is shot at night.  And, in that regard, it 
works wonders.)  Alas, the characters who *are* there, including 
Rufus Sewell's man-with-no-memories-who-may-or-may-not-be-a-serial-
killer, don't register much at all.  Nor does the sci-fi subplot, 
involving a race of reality-morphers, who are conducting some sort 
of experiment on the citizens of said city.  Nice fireworks at the 
end, though, involving a well-realized telekinetic battle of the 
wits.  That's something you don't see every day.  With William 
Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, and, with a jump to the
left, Richard O'Brien.  Let's do the Time Warp again...  (Rated
"R"/100 min.)

Grade: C-

Copyright 1998 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros

Originally posted to triangle.movies in MOVIE HELL: March 1, 1998