Ten Statements About....DARK CITY (1998)

Sometimes psychiatric methods take really, reall weird turns...

"These do bring back memories. This one is still warm. What is it? The recollections of a great lover? A catalog of conquests? We will soon find out. You wouldn't appreciate that, would you, Mr. Whatever-your-name is? Not the sort of conquest you would ever understand. Let's see, a touch of unhappy childhood, a dash of teenage rebellion, and last but not least, a tragic death in the family."

1) This is, without a doubt, Alex Proyas' crowning achievement. Forget the goth twittering of The Crow and the work-for-hire stuff he's been trapped in ever since this one crapped out at the box office--this is a truly visionary piece of work that at times is a detective thriller, at times a film noir, at times a horror film, at times a science fiction film and in the end, one of the coolest super-hero films of all time! And that all these disparate elements slide around together seamlessly, not interfering with each other in telling this one single story is astounding.

2) And you know what's really amazing? This is a film where the lack of backstory is woven into the film proper, yet you get a real sense of every character's life out of the context of the movie itself. Part of this is sharp screenwriting by Proyas, Lem Dobbs and David Goyer, but part of this is just the smart acting choices by Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Jennifer Connelly and others. The performances are so insightful, so intelligent that I believe that, for example, Hurt's Inspector Bumstead had this long career in the police force. Hell, I would cheerfully watch a syndicated television show of Bumstead's adventures.

3) I am fascinated at how Proyas plants these little prescient echoes of future plot developments in earlier scenes, like how the simple act of Sewell's John Murdock placing a dying fish in a bathtub foreshadows where he is going to go to seek sanctuary later on, or the maze in Dr. Schieber's office gives us a visual warning as to one of the film's biggest reveals.

This train may lead you around in circles...that'll lead you
to something you might not want to see....

4) And while we're on the subject of the good Dr....Keifer Sutherland is amazing in this film. While the initial impression is that Sutherland is playing at being Peter Lorre, you realize as you go deeper into the film how Dr. Schrieber's affectations indicate something much more nuanced and, ultimately, much more tragic.

5) No film of this sort can work without a memorable villain, and Richard O'Brien's Mister Hand is more than worthy of the task. O'Brien's physicality just sets the hackles of the back of the neck, and the true irony is how he's even more unsettling the more human he becomes. It's he, and not Ian Richardson's leader, that becomes the Stranger's standard bearer.

Okay, so that little kid who hangs out with Mr. Hand is just as creepy....even more so when we finally hear his one line of dialogue.

6) Make no bones about it--while there are strong suspense and action elements throughout this film, the science fictional elements are not only vital but integral to this plot. There is no way for the film to work without the presence of the Strangers and their experiment. And that gives the film an extra level of flavor to it.

7) ...and the film provides us with a couple of things we never saw before in 1999. Not only that, those things we never saw before are major plot points that move the story forward. The impact of these moments are made all the more impactful by seeing them through Murdock and, later on, Bumstead's eyes--since we emphasize with these characters, their wonder and shock are transferred to us.

I know she looks half-asleep...but trust me, it makes sense.

8) I appreciate how the characters around Murdock seem to gain more awareness the more information Murdock gets. Hurt, Connelly and the others seem positively asleep in the first act, only for them to become more vivid once the layers of the mystery is revealed...

9) ...and while we're on the subject of Jennifer Connelly's Emma, I love the fact that the fate that happens to her at the top of the third act is not a complication, but a way to give Murdock something he truly wants when he achieves his full potential and provides a wonderful coda to the film as a whole.

10) And thankfully, the CGI here is used not in making crazy creatures (the Strangers' true nature are used very sparingly), but in creating the effects of the 'tuning'--which in turn opens up Proyas' creativity, resulting in some innovative fight and chase scenes that take advantage of the mutable nature of the titular Dark City. I know some people might grouse about some similarities to Inception...but Proyas was here first.

Overall...one of the most brilliant science fiction films of all time, a personal favorite, and must-viewing for anyone who wants to see how you can successfully infuse the genre with elements from other styles without obscuring it. Well acted, well written and contains something I promise you'll never have anticipated seeing.

Ten Statements About....A KNIGHT'S TALE (2001)

"Dumbass."  "Jackass"

"He hits like a hammer. It's amazing!"

"But not perfect. He aims high on your chest. Roll your shoulder back when you strike. His blow may glance to your right."

"If he strikes on my right! If he strikes me on the left I'll be obliterated!"

"Well, I didn't say it wasn't a gamble."

1) The beauty of this film is that Brian Helgeland takes a moribund, long-dead Hollywood genre--the boxing/wrestling soap opera--and by resetting in another time, not only making the sensibilities of that genre fresh again but giving the whole storyline something of a relevance to the modern audiences.

2) And unlike the Renaissance Pictures' television series that I suspect inspired Helgeland to attempt this film, he utilizes the modern rock soundtrack to create ties to the modern concepts he wants to address while still making his cast act more or less like how we moviegoers expect medieval dwellers act. When he does slip an anachronism into the language--like when Paul Bettany's Chaucer refers to William/Uther as 'The Rock', or how William declares Jocelyn a 'foxy lady'--he manages to squeeze it in without drawing attention to itself.

3) And about that modern rock score...I like it because Helgeland wants us to recognize that while it may be based loosely on historical fact, it's first and foremost a work of fiction, a fantasy...and we should realize that the moment we see the gathered peasants and nobles singing along to Queen's 'We Will Rock You.'

"Can you believe it..in the future I'll be stuck fighting CGI
monsters in a string of dumb action films and you, you're
going to be a gay mercenary killed by a robot car..."

4) Someone needs to get into Paul Bettany's ear and convince him to abandon his quest to become yet another glowery action star and try some comedy again...because he has a true gift for it.

5) You remember how so many people, after The Dark Knight were going, 'Wow, Heath Ledger really pulled it off! He's a great actor!" I already knew that after watching this. You see, a film that's such a big ol' stew of disparate ideas, some having different intents and purposes, needs an actor with the force of personality and the skill to take this totally seriously. If a lesser actor chosen for being a pretty face had taken this on or--even worse--did this with a knowing wink and a sense of irony, the film would have failed. But Helgeland got Ledger, and surrounded him with actors equally skilled like Bettany and Alan Tudyk and Rufus Sewall able to keep the reality of this fantasy world intact, so the film succeeds. And speaking of Sewell...

6) I have no idea why Rufus Sewell doesn't have a bigger career. Maybe it's because Alan Rickman managed to corner the Nasty English Bad Guy market, but Sewell excels at playing the villainous Count Adhermar by underplaying him, keeping his voice thoroughly level and never losing his cool even as he's trying to fix a fight. In fact, the one part of the film that drags does so because Adhermar is sent off to the war for a stretch.

Somehow, I can't buy this as medieval fashion...or her as
a medieval fashion plate.

7) Look, I know this was the film that launched Shannyn Sossaman into a brief turn as Hollywood's 'It Girl' (until, apparently, Hollywood realized she kinda stunk on ice as an actress)...but I just. Don't. Get. It. She's arguably the sourest note in this film, the only one incapable of keeping her Medieval Ladylike persona...and she's got this strange face that seems badly fitted onto her face that's sort of off-putting. She's far from the best looking of the women in the film--I was rather taken by Laura Fraser's blacksmith Kate myself--and her lack of keeping herself within the film detracts from the veracity of the movie's world.

8) Okay, remember what I said about how Helgeland skillfully put the modern stuff into the film? Well, Kate's carving the Nike swoosh into William's armor...not so much.

9) Admittedly, this film runs a bit long at two hours and ten minutes. I would trip the third half hour a little bit...but only so I could expand the film beyond the climatic joust. You see, I sort of want to see a little bit of how the now-justly knighted Sir William ends up. Just a simple scene of William and Jocelyn happy together in their castle with his dad would have satisfied me as opposed to that nonsensical scene of William's retainers farting that was the after-credits sting.

10) As much as I've defended the film's use of modern music as a whole, I think I would have preferred the music handled more like it was in the 'Golden Years' dance sequence, where composer Carter Burwell created a nice bridge that eased us from the naturalistic sounds of a medieval band playing to the David Bowie track. Sure, I can still accept the more abrupt cues throughout the film, but the handling of that one scene showed me how much more cool this aspect could be handled.

But don't take my word for it...here's the sequence so you can see for yourself how skillfully Burwell handled it...

Overall..a great little fantasy/sports soaper given a greater sheen by some smart casting, clever writing and a rather remarkable juggling of its rather discordant disparate elements. Later films that tried this mix of modern and period fell flat on their face...which makes me wonder if this was a case of lightning in a bottle.