By Nik Rasmussen— In 1998, I was wandering around in a movie rental business on the outskirts of Cloves, New Mexico. The building, a doublewide trailer with an add-on in the center, housed wall-to-wall VHS movies. Between the desert dust that was visible in the sunlight shining down through the window and the strong haze of cigarette smoke, I saw an image that would stick in my mind for a lifetime: the cover of Dark City.
If some of you have never heard of this film, I’m not surprised. Dark City lives up to its name. The story begins with a man waking up in bathtub with no idea where he is or what happened to him. Sound familiar? If you thought of Saw, then you were right, but Saw was released in 2004.
From the very start we find ourselves in the same confused boat as our protagonist. What happened to him? Why can’t he remember anything? Why is there a dead hooker on the floor? Why are pale men in black coats chasing him? Why does everyone except him fall asleep at exactly midnight, and why does the sun never rise? Let me just say that I would not have guessed the answers to the mystery. Because this is an uncommon path of investigation, we find ourselves at full attention trying to unravel the mystery alongside the main character. Warning: this film will warp your brain, unless your brain is already warped, but who isn’t a little mental nowadays?
As a longtime film enthusiast, I’ve seen a lot of movies, and if you think that all the movies within the last five or more years seem to all be the same but can’t put your finger on why, Dark City will break the streak. Yes, there are similarities to The Matrix (1999). I say this to everyone: you can’t say a movie is bad if you haven’t watched it to see for yourself.
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