Recommendation of The Week (05/09): Dark City Directors Cut on Blu-Ray

If director Alex Proyas had given up after directing The Crow nobody would have blamed him. This was the film that infamously led to the death of Brandon Lee an actor who despite being the son of a famous martial artist, showed a lot of promise in his limited filmography. Soldier on he did though and has given us some great movies including Knowing and I,Robot. In the late 90’s and after The Crow, Proyas directed a mind bending sci-fi/horror film called Dark City, co written with David Goyer who would go on to have success with the Blade trilogy as well as a directing career of his own.

In its original cut released in theatres, Dark City was a mess. It was too fast paced, moving like lightning and barely giving the audience time to take it its gothic noir atmosphere. The film was also overwhelmed by a booming score which drowned out the dialogue in a lot of scenes. Most puzzling of all though was the decision to include a voiceover at the beginning basically explaining the entire mystery behind the story. The movie begins with John Murdock (Rufus Sewell) waking up in a bathtub with no memory of how he got there. In his apartment is a dead body and Murdock finds himself pursued by Inspector Bumstead (William Hurt) as well as some strange pale men in long black coats. Murdock must find out who he really is and also who these men are whilst dealing with his new found psychic abilities. This leads him to a secret that threatens all the inhabitants of the dark oppressive city.

The directors cut released to blu-ray and DVD in 2008 addresses a lot of the problems in the original cut. The voiceover has been excised and the score toned down. There are also lots of additional little character moments which enrich the experience no end and make you actually have time to care about what you are seeing on screen. Whereas in the original when Murdock begins to battle the strangers with his powers you weren’t sure what was happening because everything had moved like lightning, here the battle feels as epic as it should have because you are in no doubt about what is going on. It could just be my imagination but it also seems like the effects have been approved, they look smoother with the model work less obvious.We aren’t talking Blade Runner levels of classic here due to a new version, but Dark City is ripe for rediscovery, especially on blu-ray where the darkness and noir details really pop out at you.

If you liked The Matrix then you really need to check out Dark City, and remember before you cry plagiarism, Dark City came out a full year before the Waschowski brothers movie.

by Chris Holt