A taciturn stranger wakes up in a strange anachronistic city. He's missing his memories, but he talks to a local who seems to know the area. The first people he encounters are dangerous freaks. As he struggles to survive in his new environment, he unlocks his psychic powers and uncovers the secrets behind the city. That's a pretty good plot summary for both BioShock and Dark City.
BioShock is one of those video game franchises that keeps threatening to become a feature film. I Am Legend and Hunger Gamesdirector Francis Lawrence is supposedly set to direct BioShock for Netflix. Dark City would be a pretty good bar to compare his work to.
What is Dark City about?
Alex Proyas, best known for his 1994 film The Crow, became taken with the pulp noir films of the 40s and 50s. He imagined a film about a detective struggling to solve an impossible case, gradually losing his grip on reality as every clue he finds fails to add up. Proyas approached respected production designer Patrick Tatopoulos and asked him to design the perfect city, composed of bits and pieces of other real-world metropolises. As Proyas worked out the script, he decided to shift his focus from the detective to the prime suspect. After writing a screenplay on his own, Proyas brought in Lem Dobbs and David S. Goyer for the final draft. Inspired by The Twilight Zone, film noir, and the works of Franz Kafka, Dark City hit the big screen in 1988. It became a cult success and remains influential to this day.
Dark City follows John Murdoch, the aforementioned ill-fated amnesiac who wakes up in a hotel bathtub with a dangerous mob of killers called The Strangers on their way. Murdoch receives a call from a doctor who urges him to run, sending him on his way without the faintest clue as to who he is or what he's doing here. A detective named Bumstead has picked Murdoch as a suspect in a series of gruesome murders. As Murdoch wanders the bizarrely beautiful streets of this unforgiving city, he discovers his connection to The Strangers and the strange power that it grants him. It's a unique odyssey, allowing the audience to discover the weirdest elements of the plot alongside Murdoch. The film encourages the viewer to sit back and immerse themselves in a world where the rules are firm and inscrutable. It works as a delightfully unnerving exploration of an impossible reality.
How does Dark City relate to BioShock?
Dark City likely feels reminiscent of 2K's beloved 2007 classic because the two works have some points of inspiration in common. Proyas was inspired by 40s film noir, while BioShock director Ken Levine sights the architecture of the Great Depression. Proyas is pulling from Raymond Chandler and John Huston, and Levine pulled from Huxley and Orwell. Both works have a similar grasp of art deco design work, employing a lot of inspiration from Fritz Lang's 1927 classic Metropolis. Dark City takes place in a world without the sun while BioShock takes place in a world lit by harsh fluorescent bulbs. Massive sculptures and complex art pieces decorate the most engaging areas. The look of Rapture is reminiscent of Tatopoulos's city, but the similarities are clearer in the narrative.
Ignoring BioShock 2, the central drive of the BioShock franchise is typically exploring unique locations to discover their dark secrets. Dark City could be a BioShock sequel. The titular city could fit comfortably into the conversation with Rapture and Columbia. John Murdoch would feel right at home alongside Jack and Booker. It fits right into the standard plot structure. John has a hidden connection to the area he's stuck in, there's a doctor that helps him out, there's a lot of memory alteration, and there are psychic powers at play. Dark City is less action-heavy than BioShock, but it has the same heady mixture of hard science fiction and horror. It's more subtle, more restrained, and more atmospheric. It doesn't match the themes of BioShock, but the new city needs a new thesis. It captures the same energy, but it would be hard to imagine John with a gun in his hand.
Dark City is a clever cult sci-fi film that captures a lot of what people love about the BioShock franchise. Without wishing to spoil, the film ends better than the games. Dark City made a narrow profit at the box office, but it really found success in its director's cut home release. Roger Ebert was an early champion of the film. Dark City won a variety of awards across its run. It's not the easiest film to find, but fans can find Proyas' instant classic on a variety of streaming services. Dark City is a fantastic cult classic that deserves more attention, even if that attention comes from fans missing their time in Rapture.