#2: Dark City (1998) January 7, 2008
Posted by badblokebob in : Thriller, Sci-fi, 5 stars, 1990s, 2008 , add a comment1998 | Alex Proyas | 97 mins | DVD | 15 / R
A little while ago I wrote about not falling in love with new films any more. Well, put bluntly, here’s one.
Dark City is probably the most underrated film I’ve ever seen. It is, to my mind, absolutely brilliant. It’s an intelligent and engaging neo-noir thriller with wonderful sci-fi twists. The imagery is fantastic — the film is beautifully designed and shot in a wonderfully stylised and highly effective manner. The sets and effects are breathtaking — not showy like so many blockbusters, but utterly effective and impressive. The script and story are complex (though never too much) and interesting, allowing you to piece together the mystery of just what is going on. To my mind, it’s much more effective than the whole “what is the real world” thing of The Matrix.
Incidentally, on that subject, if you’ve seen all of that particular trilogy you may find some bits of Dark City eerily familiar — to say which would spoil things, but many are so obvious you don’t have to be a film buff to spot them. Either both universes are based on similar philosophical ideas, or the Wachowskis just ripped this off (in case you hadn’t noticed, it predates The Matrix by a year, and many of the most recognisable elements are in the sequels anyway). Considering there hasn’t been a lawsuit (to my knowledge), I’ll guess it’s the former. But Dark City does it all better: there are no rambling, incomprehensible speeches and it doesn’t batter you around the head with philosophical claptrap when all you want is the story to move forward.
The film’s single major flaw is the studio-impossed opening narration, which gives away far too many plot twists — honest to God, if you ever watch this, mute it during the New Line logo and don’t turn the sound back on til the first close-up of Kiefer Sutherland’s fob watch. If you don’t, you’ll find most of the mystery of the plot ruined, as this narration shockingly gives away most of the answers. (There are rumours of a director’s cut, 15 minutes longer and without that narration, slated for release back in 2006. Maybe this year it’ll turn up as a “10th Anniversary Edition”.)
I could witter on for pages about how much I’ve fallen for Dark City. It’s a superb movie, massively underrated, that I hope I haven’t over-hyped for any reader who wants to seek it out. But please, if you do, heed my warning about muting the opening narration — it really is worth it.
#74: The Departed (2006) August 6, 2007
Posted by badblokebob in : Thriller, Martin Scorsese, Crime, 2000s, 4 stars, 2007, remakes , add a comment2006 | Martin Scorsese | 145 mins | DVD | 18 / R
An all-star cast lead Scorsese’s Oscar-winning remake of Hong Kong action thriller Infernal Affairs. It’s an unusual yet striking mix of elements: cops vs. robbers thriller, gangster drama, relationships of those who protect/threaten us drama, and several more. It winds up with an unusual feel for structure and pace, though is never less than stylish. Having not seen many of Scorsese’s earlier films it’s hard for me to say if this is up to standard, as many say it is; but I still believe Greengrass’ United 93 was more deserving of the Best Director nods. As I did earlier this year with The Prestige, my rating errs on the side of caution.
#72: Brick (2005)
Posted by badblokebob in : Drama, Thriller, Film Noir, 2000s, 4 stars, 2007 , add a comment2005 | Rian Johnson | 105 mins | TV | 15 / R
There’s a nagging sense that you’re watching a student short film for large chunks of Brick, especially at the start. This is accompanied by a niggling worry that it’s also been vastly overrated. But it does, eventually, kick into gear — the incomprehensible plot becomes a bit clearer and the fantasy that these high school kids are in some film noir becomes less irritating and more quite fun. It occasionally lapses back into its earlier problems but, all said, I’m glad I bothered to stick with it.
#70: Primer (2004)
Posted by badblokebob in : Thriller, Sci-fi, 2000s, 3 stars, 2007 , add a comment2004 | Shane Carruth | 74 mins | DVD | 12 / PG-13
According to many this is a real ‘love it or hate it’ film; in typically awkward fashion I’m going to place myself right in the middle. The thing is, I can see both sides — there’s a great conceit here, with a decent plot built around it; but it drags the idea of treating your audience’s intelligence with respect too far into the realms of Simply Not Explaining Things Properly, including taking almost half the film for anything to become clear. Sadly this clarity only lasts a few minutes before things get muddled up again in the second half of the plot. I’d like to be able to love Primer, but the things that make me want to hate it just pull it down.
#69: Mean Creek (2004) July 30, 2007
Posted by badblokebob in : Drama, Thriller, 5 stars, 2000s, 2007 , add a comment2004 | Jacob Aaron Estes | 86 mins | DVD | 15 / R
A group of teenagers concoct a plan for revenge on a bully in this drama from first-time writer/director Estes. Whilst the premise might sound straightforward and liable to be morally simplistic, the writing, acting and direction combine to make a film that is complex, tense, tragic and ultimately believable. Some might argue it loses its way a little towards the end, almost struggling to find a suitable conclusion, but it doesn’t do so enough to make it anything less than an excellent film. Highly recommended.
#68: Heat (1995)
Posted by badblokebob in : Drama, Thriller, Crime, 5 stars, 1990s, 2007 , add a comment1995 | Michael Mann | 164 mins | DVD | 15 / R
Heat will probably always be best remembered for two things: the excellent running shoot out on the streets of L.A., and De Niro and Pacino on screen together for the first (and, so far, last) time. There’s a lot more to it than that, of course: ostensibly a cops-and-robbers crime drama, the film follows the personal lives of each side as well as the usual professional actions. The cop-with-failed-marriage/criminal-with-successful-relationship juxtaposition may already feel cliched, but it works well enough here, and is well executed without distracting from the meat of the plot — which is, still, the crime and justice.
#67: Right at Your Door (2006)
Posted by badblokebob in : Thriller, 2000s, 4 stars, 2007 , add a comment2006 | Chris Gorak | 91 mins | DVD | 15 / R
L.A. is hit by a series of ‘dirty bombs’ in this indie suspense thriller, that follows the story of what happens to one man in the suburbs, as well as the various people whose paths cross his. Mainly based in one location (his home), the film is an effective and suspenseful account of what it’s like to be an ordinary person almost in the middle of such an attack. The frantic early pace does let up a little as the film goes on, but it remains gripping right up to the well-executed twist.