Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10942 in DVD
• Released on: 1999-07-26
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 96 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
If you're a fan of brooding comic-book anti-heroes, 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-plussets (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. --Jeff Shannon

Video Description
DVD Special Features

The Making Of Featurette
Trailer: 2 mins approx
Subtitles :English

Synopsis
Upon awakening with a start in an icy bathtub in a strange room--with a woman's dead body inconveniently nearby--John Murdoch can't remember how he got there. With a police detective hot on his trail and a psychiatrist skulking around, Murdoch discovers that the key to his mystery is the presence of strange extraterrestrial creatures, the Strangers, who are experimenting with the memories of the humans in his city--from which there may be no escape. Ambitious sci-fi noir, with rich production design and a dense, Kafkaesque concept.

Customer Reviews

Wow, an offbeat sci-fi treat for sure!
I bought this DVD despite the usual negative reviews on Amazon and was very glad I did. I watched it last night and was well impressed by this forerunner to the Matrix movies. This strange film is fast-paced and gripping - sci-fi movie-making at its best.
If you enjoy offbeat movies with lashings of sc-fi sauce and a dash of toungue-in-cheek detective melodrama then buy this classic movie and ignore the calls of 'boring' from the Hollywood fan club.

unconvincing
I have mixed thoughts about this film after wathcing it twice through. I was really looking forward to it - the idea of a film noir sci-fi set in a mysterious dark futuristic world appealed to me. Yet after watching it i feel somewhat unsatisfied.

it is definately more style than substance - the characters were lame, some of the lines really cheesy and the acting wooden. I wasnt sure wether to applaud or laugh out loud at sutherlands attempt at the mad professor.

i think this film has very high ambitions but the lofty heights it is after far outstrips the sum of its parts. As a whole it just doesnt feel succinct. I wouldnt be suprised if it was the case that different producers had been been working on different parts of the film without anyone overseeing it all.

A great idea and set is let down by a poor script and the direction of the film is too pacy - too much goes on within the first 20 mins - often a case with sci - fi films with a point to prove. There was no chance to set the scene, meet the characters, hence they appear a bit lifeless and wooden. Had this been a comic book adaptation I wouldn't have minded so much as that is what i would have expected, but as it sets out to be an intelligent thought provoking sci-fi thriller - I feel it should have either been one or the other. It seems to be stuck somewhere in the middle of flash in the pan blockbuster without attention to detail and characterisation and throught provoking indie thriller.

it certainly can't the budget that let it down - mr sutherland, miss connoly, richard o'brien and william hurt are all famous hollywood actors - i'm sure they cost a few million - but then you get really bad cheesy effects of the Strangers flying in the air alongside good effects of buildings rising from the ground and morphing in front of you.

it just seems like it deosnt all quite fit together - part comic book film noir - part intelligent sci fi - part low budget 60's b movie yet at least 4 hollywood actors in it - which could have easily been replaced with unkowns as there was no exceptional performances to note....

overall it's worth watching - but be wary of the reviews calling it a sci fi masterpiece - there are some bits of direction and production here that are fit of the types of movies you find on the Sky channel "Zone Horror" - which doesnt fit in with the script, the idea and the cast...?

and finally yes there are similarities with the Matrix - but there are also lots of derivitive elements from other films in Dark city - it is by no means original itself. Its in the same category as films like Cube and 13th Floor - good ideas let down by certian elements, be it script, production values or limitation of budget.

Persoanlly i preferred the matrix to this - yes its in a different league, but the Matrix succeeds in what it sets out to do much better than Dark City does - a lot goes on in a short space of time and the action scenes in Dark City are laughable and should have been edited - whereas the matrix - well the action scenes in that have been hugely influential (although again there are elements of martial arts movies in there too)and copied in good and bad ways dozens of times in countless movies.

Yet again i see dark city as a good idea that has been poorly executed - worth 2 viewings possibly - but i wont be watching it again soon.

WARNING: BLU-RAY VERSION NOT REGION FREE!
The Blu-ray for this movie is listed as being all regions, but it is actually a Region A release, rendering it unwatchable on U.K. Blu-ray players, which I had to find out the hard way. Take care when buying.