Dark City

USA 1998 - Sci-Fi/Mystery — 100 min — Directed by Alex Proyas
Cast: Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly

John Murdoch awakens alone in a strange hotel to find that he has lost his memory and is wanted for a series of brutal and bizarre murders. While trying to piece together his past, he stumbles upon a fiendish underworld controlled by a group of beings known as The Strangers who possess the ability to put people to sleep and alter the city and its inhabitants.

This is an instant classic, or as close as you can get. Been a about two years since I saw it last, but it still holds up. Top notch performances and a great story set in a moody dark city. Rufus is perfect as John Murdoch, alone in a strange world. Jennifer Connelly is just so incredibly beautiful and she's even a good actress. Looks and acting skill seldom go hand in hand, but she's great. William Hurt never does a bad part, and even Keifer does well here. You have to remember that this is a pre Matrix move, and not the other way round. The city in itself is a fifties setting, and it's excellently done. Gotta hand it to the director - he did an excellent job too. The only thing that stops this from being a perfect ten, is the final battle. It's rather generic, and totally unsurprising. If they only would have taken another path, made something special happen, I would give it a ten without hesitation, but as it stands, it's still a strong nine in my book. And that's not bad.

My rating: 9 / 10