Product Description

Alex Proyas, (The Crow) directs this futuristic thriller about a man waking up to find he is wanted for brutal murders he doesn't remember. Haunted by mysterious beings who stop time and alter reality, he seeks to unravel the riddle of his identity.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5091 in DVD
• Released on: 1998-07-29
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 96 minutes

Amazon.com
If you're a fan of brooding comic-book antiheroes, got a nihilistic jolt from The Crow (1994), and share director Alex Proyas's highly developed preoccupation for style over substance, you might be tempted to call Dark City an instant classic of visual imagination. It's one of those films that exists in a world purely of its own making, setting its own rules and playing by them fairly, so that even its derivative elements (and there are quite a few) acquire their own specific uniqueness. Before long, however, the film becomes interesting only as a triumph of production design. And while that's certainly enough to grab your attention (Blade Runner is considered a classic, after all), it's painfully clear that Dark City has precious little heart and soul. One-dimensional characters are no match for the film's abundance of retro-futuristic style, so it's best to admire the latter on its own splendidly cinematic terms. Trivia buffs will be interested to know that the film's 50-plus sets (partially inspired by German expressionism) were built at the Fox Film Studios in Sydney, Australia, home base of director Alex Proyas and producer Andrew Mason. The underground world depicted in the film required the largest indoor set ever built in Australia. Befitting a film of such ambition, the DVD includes a feast of bonus features, including audio commentaries by the director, producer, writers, and cinematographer, and also by film critic Roger Ebert, who named Dark City one of the best films of 1998. Also included is an isolated music track, an interactive game, and a photo gallery of production stills and set design sketches. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

It's all right
This is a movie that tries really hard to be weird. It is very affected and not really mind blowing. It's like a super-deluxe episode of the Twilight Zone. The story wasn't hard at all to follow or understand.

If you're someone who really loves weirdness, then you'll probably like this movie more than me. I like conventionality more. I recently saw Jumper and Transformers. I liked those movies better.

Some people seem to think that if you make something more weird, that that makes it more deep and intellectual. But I don't think so.

The reason I watched Dark City was just to see something different. It is fairly different from the normal summer blockbuster movies I usually see. It was reasonably entertaining, but slightly pretentious and extremely affected.

I don't want to say anything about what actually happens in the movie, because I don't want to spoil it for you. Let it all unravel as you watch.

The greatest film of all time never gets the respect it deserves.
Yes, Dark City is my favorite movie ever made, and while this Blu-ray is the way to watch it, it still doesn't get the respect it deserves.

Included on the disc are the original Theatrical cut and the new Directors cut (who would have thought you could improve on near perfection?). Many great special features and generally everything you could ask for. Except good video quality.

While this release looks good (for a 10 year old film) and better than DVD, Dark City deserves better, so I can only give this 4/5. None-the-less, Dark City is worth your time and this Blu-ray is the best way to see it. As a film it stands with the best of dystopian Sci-Fi like Blade Runner, so if you haven't seen it, you need to.

I wish more reviewers would remember, we are rating the Blu-ray here, not the film. We have to consider the entire package, and while Dark City is a 5 star film, this is not a 5 star release.

a Dark movie
Really cool movie, I was waiting for this edition long time ago, great sound and footage never seen before, got the director's comentary and some good extras as well, is a sci-fi movie that you must own!