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The most helpful critical review
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More...
Breathtaking film. Beautiful to look at and it hurts your head to follow the plot. It's agressively intelligent and it doesn't wait for the popcorn public to catch up - you pay attention or you miss out.
That said, it's worth the effort, as all the strands fall neatly into place. Second and subsequent viewing show how everything was there for you to...
Published on 19 May 2007 by Mr. M. Poole
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Great film, shame about the DVD
A bizarre comic book land (think Dick Tracy with less light) and a twisting storyling will keep you gripped, and the plot is very satisfying as it ties up all the loose ends and answers all the questions. But the DVD is really not up to scratch. The transfer is non-anamorphic, the featurette is very 'blink and you'll miss it' and the 'making of' is laughable. This is all...
Published on 31 Oct 2000
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More..., 19 May 2007
Breathtaking film. Beautiful to look at and it hurts your head to follow the plot. It's agressively intelligent and it doesn't wait for the popcorn public to catch up - you pay attention or you miss out.
That said, it's worth the effort, as all the strands fall neatly into place. Second and subsequent viewing show how everything was there for you to understand from the start if you could just get the jigsaw puzzle pieces to hold still long enough.
Extremely good performances from Rufus Sewell (Martha Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence), William Hurt (Gorky Park, The Big Chill), Keiffer Sutherland (Lost Boys, 24), Richard O'Brian (Rocky Horror Show) and the sadly missed Ian Richardson (House of Cards, Hogfather). Where could you find a cast like that now?
It's all crafted by Alex Proyas, who went on to make a splendid job of I Robot.
Highly original, highly thought provoking, highly entertaining and highly recommended!
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Most Philip K. Dick-like film ever, 29 April 2000
By A Customer
I really loved this film. Strangely it's criticized for being more form than substance. Well yes, the movie is very stylish. And yes, it's a bit of a comic book world, with caricatural protagonists -- the dark city, the sad cop, the beautiful singer, the mad scientist. But far from being a weakness, this is a crucial element of the plot. I won't give it away; let's just say it's quite clever, even breath-taking and paradoxical. Like the Matrix, it was filmed in Australia, and it shares some of that film's (and that country's?) gloomy esthetic and mystical bent, without the fancy martial arts but with a tighter, more original and poetic plot. I haven't seen this film in a few years -- I really want to get the DVD soon!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Great film, shame about the DVD, 31 Oct 2000
By A Customer
A bizarre comic book land (think Dick Tracy with less light) and a twisting storyling will keep you gripped, and the plot is very satisfying as it ties up all the loose ends and answers all the questions. But the DVD is really not up to scratch. The transfer is non-anamorphic, the featurette is very 'blink and you'll miss it' and the 'making of' is laughable. This is all an even greater shame when you see that the Region 1 DVD is packed with great things... once again region 2 residents are second class citizens! A great film, a poor DVD.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
It is over before it begins, 22 Jan 2006
In a city where the sun never shines and everyone knows the way to Shell Beach but you can never get there, John Murdock (Rufus Sewell) thinks he knows a truth, with his half remember past he now seeks to find out the cities secret. It appears to be around the 40’s and John is thinking of his wife Emma Murdoch (Jennifer Connelly), that now may or may not be someone else. We are carried along with the story and just might find the secret out before John. Can we handle the truth? What happens if john finds out how unique he is and whom he may be threatening? “Dark City” (1998) seems like a short story (both story and screenplay by Alex Proyas “The Crow”) with a simple prime that was fleshed out to movie length. The visuals gothic in feel and style will hold you long enough to allow you to enjoy the slow unfolding of the story. Jennifer Connelly seems like she should have been born in the thirty’s/ forties as she looks and acts her part so well that you forget you are watching a movie; At times you forget that it is a sci-fi movie.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
A tale of a dark alternate reality..., 12 Aug 2001
Dark City. Id never heard of it before, but my mates girlfriend wrote an essay on it and bought him the DVD cos she thought he would probably like it. This is how i came to view this film. A city of eternal darkness is presented to you through the eyes of a certain Robert Murdoch, the main character. It is a story of false memories, a time when man has no past, and no future... No doubt youve seen The Matrix. Well there are certain similarities (am i me, is the world real) but they (Dark City came out one year before The Matrix) are formed into the storline in a very sublime way. Naturally for the price, the overall DVD quality - pictures, extras and the like are not up to the standards of the 2001 Space Odessey box set for example. Quality issues aside, Kiefer Sutherland deserves mention for his role as the anxious neuroscientist, and talks in a very unnerving way - if this guy was my dentist, Id let my teeth rot.There are bald men in black/nazi/uncle fester bad guys with agressive psychic ability, fantastic camera angles plus an eerie tesion througout the entire film which in itself deserves respect. Worthy viewing for any self respecting DVD owner.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Ignore Amazon's review of this film, 21 Jan 2008
Please ignore Amazon's review of the film. Dark City is a classic, one of the best science fiction films ever made. To say that it is a triumph of design over substance demostrates a total lack of understanding of the film. Yes the film is beatiful to look at, but the complexity of story is rewarding in equal measure.
This film is crying out for a Special Edition/Director's Cut.
If you have never watched this film before it is strongly recomended that you mute the narrative right at the start of the film and keep it on mute until the opening titles begin.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Quick Reviews!, 15 Sep 2007
Carrying on with the look of The Crow, Proyas gives Dark City an appropriately noirish atmosphere. Many have asked whether The Matrix 'borrowed' heavily from Dark City. The similarities are blatant, the opening few scenes are almost identical to the Wachowskis' movie, and some of the early dialogue is the same. The look is similar, as is the story to some extent: your life is being controlled by an outside, unseen force, and the human race is their little play thing. Then again, Proyas' story has elements from Metropolis, and Blade Runner. Both films are must-sees from the nineties, but unfortunately Dark City is barely known.
Sewell's character Murdoch wakes up with no idea who he is, or who the dead woman beside him is. When he is chased by a group of leather clad baldies, he begins to wonder what the hell is going on. He questions why no-one can remember the last time there was daylight, or remember the way out of the city. Help comes in the form of odd doctor Sutherland, who seems to be the only other person in the city who doesn't mysteriously fall asleep at midnight. Sutherland teaches Murdoch how to harness his powerful gift (an ability to 'change' his surroundings), and then try to bring down the bad guys.
Questions of free will are explored, and like The Matrix we wonder whether it would be better not to know. At the end, there is still no escape from the city, although Murdoch's power to create remains. Most of the performances are good, though unlike The Crow, Dark City has a bleak, close to emotionless feel to it, and only Jennifer Connoly adds some glamour. The film is visually stunning and the plot is engaging, though it was always clear that this would never be the blockbuster which The Matrix set out to be. The DVD extras are a short making-of and a trailer, but you can pick this up cheap and catch up on one of the decade's forgotten gems.
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Amazing Tour de Force for SCI-FI Fans, 3 Nov 2002
This is a visionary SCI FI movie that will be a cult classic in years to come. Rufus Sewell (a young Ian McShane clone) shows - as he has in the past in such productions as Cold Comfort Farm and the BBC Middle March - that he is not just a pretty face, but has raw talent just waiting to be tapped. And this movie showcases that talent well!!! With a good supporting performance by Kiefer Sutherland in an understated, bumbling doctor role that is far from the mad scientists of the past, the movie takes you on a journey that shifts, twists and reshapes itself - literally - and never lets you down. The effects are marvellous! From the moment Sewell wakes up in a seedy hotel and has no idea who he is, you follow on a trek that is a maze within a maze within a maze.Filmed in Australia, this one is no SCI FI should miss!! A film that requires watching again and again.
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
An ace film, 24 May 2001
By A Customer
People rated 'The Matrix' as on original film, and until I watched Dark City, I would have agreed. The plots are similar, people having to 'wake up' to the real world, but I think that the plot of changing people memories makes Dark City the best between the two. Ok, so it dosn't have Matrix style computer generated scenes, but it has one hell of a plot and great actors. My only real complaint is that the first time you watch the film it might seems 'Jumpy' i.e. the scene quickly changes and some may find it hard to keep track of the plot, but if you watch it again it falls into place easily. I'd definatly suggest this film for anyone, especially those who have watched and liked The Matrix.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
In the city, in the dark, 3 May 2008
Cult films don't come much more groundbreaking than "Dark City" -- it was bending reality before the Matrix ever did.
At first glance, Alex Proyas' movie seems like a basic sci-fi little-man-against-the-evil-night-aliens movie, with all the plot complexity that implies. But it isn't. Instead, it's a dark grimy nightmare where nothing is what it seems, and everything we think is real is just an elaborate illusion. This is one of the rare films that is creepy from start to finish.
The Strangers are pasty-faced, bald, leather-coat-wearing aliens (think Darth Vader, post-mask), whose survival depends on somehow imitating human souls and dreams. So they created the Dark City, to observe and manipulate the unwitting humans.
Our hero John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) wakes up naked in a tub, with no memory of who he is, and the police hunting him for brutal murders that he is sure he didn't commit. And worse, hes being pursued by the Strangers, without even knowing who they are or why they're after him.
And then he starts seeing past the Strangers' illusions. Buildings are reshaped, people's memories change, and the sun never appears. As John searches for hints to his past, he finds that the places he knew never existed -- and it's connected to the Strangers. Now John and a suspicious cop will unravel the truth of the City -- and of why the Strangers want John.
It's not surprising that "The Matrix" and "Dark City" are often compared. They deal with an illusionary "real" world, malevolent manipulation, and one man who might be able to stop the bad guys. But "Dark City" is very much unique -- it's dark, angular, and haunted, like if Fritz Lang made a sci-fi noir with an eerie Philip K. Dick twist.
The Dark City is a pretty creepy place, like a... well, like a city at night, with some surreal skyscrapers, enormous cogs and giant clocks. Proyas gives all these scenes a creepy feeling, which is only increased by the fact that there are so few people in the streets and houses. Even everyday things like eating soup and going to work become unreal.
But it's also paired with a very suspenseful script, which is equal parts surrealism and gnostic philosophy. All the dialogue is well written ("You know something, I don't think the sun even... exists... in this place"), and very spare. But Proyas makes all the dialogue weirdly disconnected, as if the characters are never really communicating fully. It adds to the dreamlike feeling.
Sewell is well-suited to the role of John Murdoch, moving seamlessly from confusion to skepticism to a pretty wild action scene where he clashes with all the Strangers. Connelly has a good if underused role as his nightclub-singer wife. Kiefer Sutherland is a bit annoying, but he does a good Peter Lorre impersonation with all those nervous gasps.
The original DVD was rather bare-bones in its presentation, but apparently Alex Proyas slapped together a long-awaited director's cut. Apparently it restores a substantial amount of cut footage, some updated special effects, remixed sound, and a lighter-colored, techno-creepy cover that emphasizes the sci-fi elements over the noir darkness. Remember the director's cut cover of "Donnie Darko"? It's a little like that.
Like Kafka on acid, "Dark City" is a unique and compelling sci-fi movie, with outstanding direction and an amazing plot. Definitely a must-see.
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