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Movies / On DVD / Dark City
Dark City

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Dark City (1998)

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Reviews Counted:8

Fresh:6

Rotten:2

Average Rating:6.4/10

Consensus: Stylishly gloomy, Dark City offers a polarizing whirl of arresting visuals and noirish action.

Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

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... 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. [More]

Starring: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, Richard O'Brien

Starring: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, Richard O'Brien, Ian Richardson, William Hurt, Bruce Spence, Colin Friels, John Bluthall, Mitchell Butel, Melissa George, Frank Gallacher, Ritchie Singer, Justin Monjo, Nicholas Bell, Satya Gumbert, Frederick Miragliotta, Peter Sommerfeld, Timothy Jones, Jeanette Cronin, Paul Livingston, Michael Lake, David Wenham, Alan Cinis, Bill Highfield, Terry Bader, Rosemary Traynor, Edward Grant, Maureen O'Shaughnessy, Dhobi Oparei, Marques Johnson, Doug Scroope, Cinzia Coassin, Tyson McCarthy, Luke Styles, Anthony Kierann, Laura Keneally, Natalie Bollard, Eliot Paton, Naomi van der Velden, Peter Callan, Mark Hedges, Darren Gilshenan, Ray Rizzo, Bill Rutherford, Marin Mimica, Tony Mosley, Glenford Richards, Stanley Steer, Greg Tell, William Upjohn

Director: Alex Proyas

Director: Alex Proyas
Composer: Trevor Jones
Producer: Andrew Mason, Alex Proyas
Story: Alex Proyas
Screenwriter: Alex Proyas, Lem Dobbs, David S. Goyer

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Dark City

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1 - 7 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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It does not take long to realize that there is a lot less here than meets the eye.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
04/28/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Murdoch's quandary proves surprisingly engrossing, the art direction is always striking, and unlike most contemporary sci-fi, the movie does risk a cerebral approach, tapping a vein of postmodern paranoia.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
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Proyas drenches each shot in a unique feel and delivers a movie with a visual sense with all the inventive, poetic power of Ridley Scott or Terry Gilliam firing on all cylinders.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Empire Magazine
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Dark City trades in such weighty themes as memory, thought control, human will and the altering of reality, but is engaging mostly in the degree to which it creates and sustains a visually startling alternate universe.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
04/28/08
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is one of those movies that's more concerned with set design motivation than anything that's going on inside the characters' heads.

Full Review Source: CNN.com | comment 1 Comment
04/28/08
Paul Tatara
Paul Tatara
CNN.com
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...a reminder of how sensuous a visual trip movie watching can be.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Richard Corliss
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
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Dark City by Alex Proyas is a great visionary achievement, a film so original and exciting, it stirred my imagination like Metropolis and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment 5 Comments
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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...so relentlessly trippy in a fun-house sort of way that it could very easily inspire a daredevil cult of moviegoers who go back again and again to experience its mind-bending twists and turns.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
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1 - 7 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Dark City

March 10, 2009: Alex Proyas Looks Back at Dark City Opens in new window
Director Alex Proyas has kicked off his guest-starring stint at /Film in the best possible way -- namely, by revisiting "Dark City." More...

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