It does my heart good to know my job (Crazy Mike's Video--best indie video store in Northwest Washington) has a copy of Alex Proyas's "Dark City". Anyhoo, it's one of my alltime favorite films when it's all said and done. Visually, its both stunning like a competently directed Batman movie (a rarity indeed) and is heavily inpired by the likes of Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam. It's edited at breakneck speed to highten the suspense and the acting from breathlessly exasperated Rufus Sewell to the chillingly calculating mannerisms of Richard O' Brien (yes, from the Rocky Horror Picture Show) never fail to impress. And seeing former movie heartthrob and future right-wing character hero Jack Bauer, Keifer Sutherland play a mad scientist who skulks around the villians like an abused child is golden. If you're looking for deep characterization, this might not be your film, but there's good reason--the characters are either soulless aliens or their human constructs. This film features one of the most satisfying movie endings in the last ten years, but I won't give it away if you haven't seen it. (I just love the line "I'm going to fix things" as Sewell walks away and buildings begin to reassemble along the path he walks.) I'm not sure I'd call it the best film of 1998 as Roger Ebert did, but it's no slouch. Any fans of "DC" around these parts?
It is similar to The Matrix, but I believe it was released first and personally I think it's the better movie of the two.
Excellent movie, very moody and stylized. I put in up with stuff like The Fifth Element or The Crow or Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow in terms of being much more "artsy" than most mainstream stuff, very visual and dependent on that to carry mood.
Y'know, the Matrix used the same sets too (or at least some of the city ones). The Trinity rooftop chase set is in Dark City I believe. As for the movie itself, I thought it was good. I felt that I would actually rather read the book because it seemed very...literary.
