Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10097 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

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 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!

Most Philip K. Dick-like film ever
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!

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 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.