History Film / DarkCity1998

* AwesomeMcCoolname: John Murdoch. More low key, but say it and try to say it doesn't sound badass.

** [[spoiler: [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Well]], the public might not notice as they would be busy currently creating and forming their own memories for the first time. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Essentially, this is the first day of their lives]]. The Strangers changed the city as an experiment so it's also safe to say John wouldn't pick up their habit. John is pretty much a [[GodIsGood benevolent god]] at this point, bringing an entire world into [[IncrediblyLamePun light]].]]

* BlankBook: Stranger made artifacts of John's "childhood".

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: Dr. Schreber's memory vial...]]

* HappyPlace: Shell Beach, which it is implied that several characters, including John, have either lived in or visited in the past. [[spoiler:Did it ''ever'' exist before John "created" it? Who can say?]]

* HiveMind – the Strangers

* ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway

** Though some, like Mister Sleep, are Mister Strange Verb.
*** Sleep can be a noun as well, so perhaps not the best example.

* ParentalAbandonment - [[spoiler: John is given this history in his fake memories.]]

-->'''Bumstead:''' <upon being shown to Walenski's office> I'm being punished for my sins, aren't I?

* {{Scenery Porn}}: Admit it, the city, the lighting, the cinematography, it's gorgeous.

* ToKnowHimIMustBecomeHim: Mr. Hand's justification for being injected with John's memories. Other Strangers consider it a bad idea, primarily because attempting to imprint Strangers with human memories always results in the recipient Stranger's death. Mr. Book is willing to go along with it anyway, because Murdock isn't blindly wandering the City, but following the clues the Strangers set out for him as part of the Murdock-as-serial-killer experiment. The imprint will lead them down the path he's following far faster than trying to re-create the experiment. And besides, Mr. Hand is really interested in giving human sociopathy a try.

** Dr. Schreber's! whispery voice and...penchant, for strange... pauses. He seems to be constantly short of breath.
*** It is mentioned he has a bad heart. Congestive heart failure would lead to an extreme shortness of breath.

--> -- {{Tagline}}

--> -- Alternate tagline

''Dark City'' is a 1998 science-fiction film directed by Alex Proyas and stars Rufus Sewell, WilliamHurt, Kiefer Sutherland, JenniferConnelly and Richard O'Brien.

* ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway

* BadassLongcoat - John, Inspector Bumstead and the Strangers.

* [[spoiler: DawnOfAnEra]]

* TheQuisling: Dr. Schreber. He's grown tired of it by the time the film comes around, however, and acts like a ReliableTraitor to the Strangers.
* {{The Stoic}}: The Strangers are a race of stoics, right off the assembly line with [[CreepyMonotone creepy monotones.]] [[spoiler: Mr. Hand is arguably the only Stranger in the film who subverts this trope, and as a result comes off as creepier and scarier than his fellow abominations.]]

** [spoiler: Even Shell Beach, while finally real thanks to John, is just an offshoot of the bleak urban landscape right next door, with even the promise of new, happier memories overshadowed by the implication that the city's inhabitants will never truly escape.]]

* ToKnowHimIMustBecomeHim: Mr. Hand's justification for being injected with John's memories.
** But if John's memory injection was known to have failed, how could that have worked? He never had the memories in the first place.

* BadBoss: It's strongly implied that the Strangers beat Dr. Schreber within an inch of his life before forcing him to erase his own memories, leading to things like his bad heart, lazy eye, and limp.

** [[spoiler: Well, the public might not notice as they would be busy currently creating and forming their own memories for the first time. Essentially, this is the first day of their lives. The Strangers changed the city as an experiment so it's also safe to say John wouldn't pick up their habit. John is pretty much a Benevolent God at this point, bringing an entire world into light.]]

''Dark City'' is a 1998 science-fiction film directed by Alex Proyas and stars Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, JenniferConnelly and Richard O'Brien.

* LampshadeHanging: At the start of the film, a naked John Murdoch picks up his clothes and dresses, and we get a full view of them. [[spoiler:The clothes have never been worn before, free of any wrinkles or wear, and the shoes are brand new without a mark on them. A subtle hint to the audience that things were not as they appeared?]]

* LampshadeHanging: At the start of the film, a naked John Murduch picks up his clothes and dresses, and we get a full view of them. [[spoiler:The clothes have never been worn before, free of any wrinkles or wear, and the shoes are brand new without a mark on them. A subtle hint to the audience that things were not as they appeared?]]

* BadassLongcoat - John, Bimstead and the Strangers.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: John Murdoch. More low key but say it and try to say it doesn't sound badass.

* FlashbackCut: John's shattered memories of Shell Beach. [[spoiler:Also how Dr. Schreber presents himself to John to teach him to Tune in mere seconds.]]

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: Dr. Shreber's memory vial...]]

* {{Shout Out}}: To ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}'', see {{Looks Like Orlok}} above. The Strangers are also partially based on the mob from ''Film/{{M}}''.
** Crosses with {{Actor Allusion}}, but, seriously, Jennifer Connelly is in another movie about Film/{{Labyrinth}}s?

* BadassLongcoat - John
** Practically half the cast, certainly Hand and Bumstead and arguably Schreber and Book.

* [[spoiler:ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway]]

** [[spoiler: Presumably, John would start easing people into the truth while searching for the origin of the species (which was probably Earth.) But with the new world John has created, would everyone really want to leave? Cue Dark City 2: Matrix 4: Battlestar Galactica Season 5.]]

* [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Gun]]: [[spoiler: Dr. Shreber's memory vial...]]
** A particularly good example in that its also the same Phlebotinum that's driving the plot and is responsible for most of the MindScrew.

* [[spoiler: DoppelgangerReplacementLoveInterest - Anna]]
** [[spoiler: A rather odd example in that she's John's original love interest with a new set of memories effectively making her a different person.]]

** What about Mae, at first?

* [[spoiler: {{Guns Are Useless}}: Inspector Bumstead learns this the hard and [[TearJerker tragic way.]]]]

* [[spoiler:HeelFaceTurn: Dr. Schreber, although he had long grown tired of the Strangers by the time of the events in the movie.]]

* [[spoiler: MergedReality]]

* [[RealityWarper Reality Warpers]] - The Strangers [[spoiler: and John]].

* TimeStandsStill: Whenever the Strangers make a change to the city, the clocks stop at midnight, and everybody except for John falls asleep.
** It's alluded to in the movie that Walenski remained awake at least once as well, and that's what caused him to go crazy.
*** It's stated outright in at least the book that this happens every now and then, they just wipe the poor bastard and it never happened. This has the side effect of meaning that Walenski, rather than being crazy, is sort of the OnlySaneMan

* VerbalTic: The Strangers' odd predilection for making clicking noises and ending sentences with the word "yes".
** Dr. Schreber's! whispery voice and...penchant, for strange, pauses. He seems to be constantly short of breath... ironic that a doctor should be so ill. Though he's {{not that kind of doctor}}.
*** Though he did say he had heart problems. . .
**** And he is scared shitless by the Strangers. [[spoiler: Especially if they were to discover that he'd anticipated a human gaining the ability to Tune and had developed a memory sequence so that person could [[TookALevelInBadass Take A Level In Badass]], and take down the Strangers. Not to mention the fact that the Strangers beat him half to death before they forced him to erase his own memory. It's likely that the same beating which left him with a scarred eyelid and a limp also caused some damage to his respiratory system.]]
* WeaksauceWeakness – the Strangers have an aversion to water and sunlight.

* ExecutiveMeddling: ViewersAreMorons, so we have to explain the plot in an {{opening narration}} so they don't get confused and scared. Thankfully excised in the Directors Cut (or just mute the sound for the first few minutes.)

* HeyItsThatGuy: After this movie, Dr. Schreber [[MemeticBadass got loose, killed all the Strangers, returned to Earth and became]] ''[[TwentyFour Jack Bauer!]]''
** And John became [[AKnightsTale Count Adhemar]].
** Do you recognize Mr. Hand? Just picture him [[RockyHorrorPictureShow jumping to the left... then stepping to the right!]]
** [[HomeandAway Angel]] is a [[FanService prostitute]]?!
** And [[JenniferConnelly Emma]] should already have experience with [[LivingLabyrinth Living Labyrinths]].