1998 
Rufus Sewell 
Directed by Alex Proyas 
Reviewed 01/13/01 
     

In 1998, Roger Ebert named Dark City the best film of the year.  With this I went out and rented Dark City.  It was awesome.  Do you like science fiction? Watch this movie.  Do you like action? Watch this movie.  Do you like stunning art direction and special effects? Watch this movie.  Do you like good acting with character development? Again, watch this movie.  How about an excellent story based on a great, interesting, idea or a movie that will make you think?  Dark City!

The film tells the story of a race of aliens who have taken a bunch of people for an experiment to this (dark) city.  The city is composed of machines which can be controlled and manipulated by the aliens with their ability to tune (I couldn't quite make out hat they were saying when referring to this abilty but it sounded like tune).  We learn that they are doing these various experiments to find out what makes humans human; what exactly the human soul is and what gives us our feelings and memories.  Every night at midnight everybody falls asleep and the alien guys go to work, shifting buildings, giving people new memories to create new lives for the people without them knowing.

When Rufus Sewell wakes up one night, without a memory, and uneffected by the tuning (and he actually has the, unconcious, ability to tune), he tries to figure out what is going on in this place.  With the help of a doctor who helps the aliens in their experiments he tries to overcome them.

Dark City was a film that's not full of action but is fast paced and an "on the edge of you're seat" movie the whole time.  Though I did not rate it as highly as Roger Ebert, I do understand how this movie made it to the top of his 1998 list.  I will not forget this film.

Blair Bass