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Dark City (New Line Platinum Series)
 
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Dark City (New Line Platinum Series) (1998)

Starring: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland Director: Alex Proyas Rating: R (Restricted) Format: DVD
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (522 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Editorial Reviews

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


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.

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522 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (522 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
111 of 116 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Blu review only..., July 26, 2008
This review is from: Dark City (Director's Cut) [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)
I noticed the 440+ reviews here are for the film - not the Blu so I at least wanted to answer some common questions about this cut.

The director's cut is 111 minutes with the already mentioned changes listed here and everywhere - including the removal of the beginning narration, more character development scenes, etc. The transfer looks phenomenal (compared to how I saw it prior - even upscaled). I played the title on both a Panasonic plasma and a Bravia via a 80 GB PS3 and Sony BDP301. I paused the film in over 34 spots of action, dark contrasts, bright colorings and various hue changes. Virtually every frame looked excellent, especially the scenes with Jennifer Connelly singing; the majority of the colorings were in her scenes until those last beach sequences.

The special features are the same between the DVD and Blu with the exception of one of the commentaries. The 7.1 DTS HD sound was enjoyable, even though two of the channels were primarily used in the large machine sequences only.

A worthwhile Blu addition and I did not see too many failings in the grain reduction/transfer issues I had read about.
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87 of 98 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Dark Sci-Fi Question-Reality Film, March 18, 2003
By John Nolley II (Fairfax, VA United States) - See all my reviews
  
The trailers for Dark City suggested a film so complex and impeneterable to leave the viewer rather confused at its conclusion, yet in execution the film makes far more sense than the intriguing montage in the trailer.

Set in a dark world--literally dark, as no one seems to remember being out during the day--the film focuses on John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell), a man who awakens amnesiac to find a murdered woman nearby. Soon thereafter pursued by the police (led by William Hurt), he must solve the mystery of his missing memories and eerie pursuers.

Helped along the way by a woman claiming to be his wife (Jennifer Connelley) and a pendactic psychiatrist (Kiefer Sutherland), Murdoch learns that his pursuers are a race of aliens with the power to warp reality with their minds who continually change the city and the memories and even lives of the people inhabiting it in an experiment designed to save their lives. Murdoch has developed their same power to "tune" and save humanity from the aliens' machinations.

The film's theme of questionable reality--carried across on two levels as both human memories are manipulated and the physical world itself changed on a nightly basis--is done fairly well if somewhat less successfully than the in the Matrix.

Replete with dark imagery suiting the film noir genre and quite at home in Blade Runner, the movie makes for a stunning visual performance. The aliens are masterfully done as frightening and eerie outsiders. My only complaint is that I was able to grasp the film's actions and meanings on a first viewing with little difficulty; I had expected to come out with the sense of, "What the heck?!" that would require two or three viewings to fully digest the film's depth. Yet that aside, the film is still a definite watch for any fans of film noir or reality-questioning sci-fi.

The DVD includes a number of special features to sweeten the deal, including two commentary tracks, the theatrical trailer (whose music unfortunately didn't make it into the film), an isolated score track, and more. The video and audio transfers are crisp and clean.

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39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece, now even more perfect (plus DVD supplements)., May 15, 2008
This review is from: Dark City (Director's Cut) (DVD)
A brilliant film from Alex Proyas, that expertly mixes noir, science fiction and themes of existentialism. A lot has been written about this great film (go read Ebert), so I won't repeat. But here are the confirmed special features for the DVD release; it's a packed-to-the-gills release, and Amazon had not updated the product page at the time of this post.

* The disc will carry both the theatrical and director's cuts of the film - each of which will be presented in anamorphic widescreen, along with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track.
* Extras will include:
- 3 commentary tracks (with director Alex Proyas, Writers Lem Dobbs, and David S Goyer, Director of Photography Dariusz Wolski, Production Designer Patrick Tatopoulous, and film critic Roger Ebert)
- An introduction by Alex Proyas
- A Memories of Shell Beach making-of featurette
- An Architecture of Dreams featurette
- Text Essays
- Neil Gaiman review of Dark City
- A production gallery
- Trailers and more.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great movie, outstanding picture! A must-see for sci-fi fans..
I was surprised by the quality of the digital film transfer. If you haven't seen this movie before, here's an excellent opportunity to know it. Read more
Published 16 days ago by Aldenir A. Moraes

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark City the way Alex Proyas intended it to be.
While the original DVD release of Dark City is quite good it's here where Alex Proyas delivers an expanded story and rights some errors that were necessitated by the studio in its... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mark B.

4.0 out of 5 stars Sci fi movie throws space and time into flux
Dark city is a film noir sci-fi in the tradition of Bladerunner, though it also plays tribute to much older black and white silent films like Metropolis, and Nosferatu. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Edmonson

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark City provides bright blu-ray!
Always loved this movie! The blu-ray brightens the heart of the viewer with crisp images and full sound (LOVE that soundtrack!). Read more
Published 1 month ago by Doctor Trek

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark City (1998)-Beautiful special effects, good performances, interesting ideas!
I saw Dark City when it first came out in 1998 and believe it is a five star sci-fi thriller. Dark and colorful, it is another story of circumstances totally out of control... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Keith Mirenberg

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark City (Blu Ray)
One of my first purchase of Blu Ray.

It's great to have both versions of the movie on 1 disc while I am not sure I'd recommend "The Director's Cut" to those first... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Christopher Koh

4.0 out of 5 stars Great
Dark City is a film that will only grow with time, for not only is it a bottleneck work of art, but it's a transcendent film. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Cosmoetica

5.0 out of 5 stars I think this is in my ultimate top 3 sci fi movies ever watched
This will not be a well thought out synopsis or an insightful investigation into the characters' arcs and motives, I will leave that in other capable hands. Read more
Published 3 months ago by T. Graham

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark indeed
This has been a longtime favorite of mine. Worth re-watching for tone and atmosphere!
Published 4 months ago by JBomb

4.0 out of 5 stars So weird yet awesome
It is hard to give this movie a star-grade yet we got to do it right? If you like some of the good older scifi movies this is definitely following that and I got to say this is as... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Kat Wang

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Closed Captioned or English Subtitles? 3 1 month ago
Director's Cut? What's wrong with the original? 12 October 2008
movie reviews 7 September 2008
Will Amazon be re-stocking this anytime soon? 1 September 2008
Director's Cut Note 1 August 2008
AUDIO COMMENTARIES 2 August 2008
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