Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'Dark City'

​Written by Scotty

Battling memory loss is a real problem these days and with nobody knowing what really causes it, we have to do our best to keep those memories alive. I for one am not a huge fan of taking pictures and putting them in photo albums, yes I am that old, I like to rely on the pictures in my head. When these start going away, I will be out of luck when it comes to telling stories about what I did and how beautiful the landscapes were. I hope not to forget anything and I keep up on memory training as time goes on, I don’t care about the little things like what I had to eat this morning, it is more about my time in haunted hotels and trips overseas that I have been fortunate enough to be able to take.

Waking up in a strange room, John Murdoch does not know who or where he is. While getting dressed, he receives a strange phone call from a doctor that knows what is happening to him. While not believing a word that the doctor says, Murdoch sees a dead boy on the floor and knows that he needs to get out of there as soon as possible. Doctor Schreber knows that John will struggle since he was not able to give the man his new injection to change his memories and needs to do everything in his power to find the lost man. Not knowing what will happen to him with the Strangers, his employers, Schreber tries to find out what little bit of information John might stumble across and where it may take him.

Retrieving his lost wallet, John Murdoch is able to figure out what his name is, but with a handful of newspaper clippings in his pocket talking about murder, he does not believe who he has become. Being pursued by the Strangers, an albino race of human looking beings, John is on his own until he is able to get help from his wife Emma. But while running for his life, John finds that he has the power to tune, like the ones that are chasing after him. Not knowing how or why he has this ability, John is able to get in touch with Doctor Schreber to find his answers. But the police are also on his tail and want to lock him up for the murder of now seven working girls. Only wanting to get his memories back and finding out that everybody has the same sort of memory loss that he has, John will have to control his feelings and show that there is more to a person than their memories, they have to have a soul to survive in the unrelenting city.

I remember watching this movie after I bought it in 1998 and thinking it was a crazy purchase. Thank goodness I do not throw anything away, because when I watched it again, it is a great piece of work. The story is sound, but it is the acting that makes it believable. As John is forced to make decisions that will change the outcome throughout, he still has no idea who he is and that has to be the genius behind the magic that you see on the screen. With no motivation to do the right thing, John is able to make a new reality out of nothing and then by gaining the power to transform the city like the Strangers have, it is one man against the world.  Not giving up and being able to control his destiny, this movie should make you realize that no matter what funk you think that you are stuck in, you can still make a difference, no matter what problems are standing in front of you.  Happy Viewing.

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