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List Price: $28.99 | | Label: New Line Home Video
Salesrank: 410
Released: July 29, 2008 |
| Our Price: $9.99 |
| Used Price: $10.47 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: Blu-ray |
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Editorial Review:
The critically-acclaimed triumph from visionary director Alex Proyas (I, Robot, The Crow) is back with a brand new directors cut featuring enhanced picture and sound, never-before-seen footage and three commentary tracks that take you deeper than ever before into the world of one of sci-fis most exciting and revered tales. When John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) wakes with no memory at the scene of a grisly murder, he soon finds himself hunted by the police, a woman claiming to be his wife and a mysterious group of pale men who seem to control everything and everyone in the city. Starring Rufus Sewell (The Illusionist), Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind), William Hurt (A History of Violence) and Kiefer Sutherland (TVs 24).
Description of Dark City (Director's Cut) [Blu-ray]:
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. --Jeff Shannon
Dark City (Director's Cut) [Blu-ray] Reviews:
Great movie, outstanding picture! A must-see for sci-fi fans.. 
2009-10-27 - 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. This is not a regular sci-fi movie, and I think this is really what makes it unique in the genre.
Dark City the way Alex Proyas intended it to be.
2009-10-06 - 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 original 1998 release. Characters have been expanded further and the pace was tightened up on what I considered to be an excellent movie to begin with. It simply gets better in the director's cut.
The most notable change I've noticed was the removal of the narration at the beginning which simply gave away the film's secret far too early regarding "tuning". Also the opening sequence is shorter without any cutaways to the traffic and denizens of the city. Wordlessly, Dr. Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland) checks his watch as it freezes at midnight, turns and walks away from the camera as if he were Marty Feldman beckoning you to "walk this way". On the original commentary on the 2001 DVD release Proyas stated that, regarding the original cut, he was pleased with 90% of it. The introductory sequence was a sizable chunk of that 10% he was unhappy with for it was the studio's decision and not his to spoon-feed the audience.
Afterwards it was the slow revealing of the nature of the city and the characters who inhabit it where the director's cut shines. Once past the abbreviated beginning the story now has a bit of extra time to develop the details further.
The director's cut DVD, while marred by the "Digital Copy" (Expired July 29, 2009, even though all DVDs are already digital copies of film/video to begin with) it has a much better picture when compared to the original 2001 flipper DVD release. It also boasts three commentary tracks: A version of Roger Ebert's original commentary with new interview details spliced in (you can tell which parts were spliced due to when Ebert got surgery performed on his jaw), a newly-recorded Alex Proyas commentary and finally commentary track with both Lem Dobbs and David Goyer. Three documentaries (totaling 82 minutes) help to flesh out an already spectacular thought-provoking film.
I wouldn't replace the old 2001 release with this DVD. I do prefer Ebert's more detailed commentary on the 2001 DVD release. And, like Ebert's commentary, the other commentary tracks are different enough to render the original release worth keeping. It is also missing the "Find Shell Beach" interactive "game" (more along the lines of "find all the easter eggs for a kitschy little animation") and some other lesser features such as the pan'n'scan 4:3 version of the film. New Line has always done excellent DVD's for their "Platinum Series". And, if you don't have the 2001 version, it can be found cheap.
With the discovery of a lengthier and more complete version of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" found in Buenos Aires, Dark City whets the appetite for its inspiration. And, within these links of films, I wonder how much of an influence Dark City had on 1999's "The Matrix".
I'm not disappointed by this DVD. It was an impulse buy for me for $15 at a brick'n'mortar store a couple years ago. The price is even better now on Amazon. It's a cut which has the fans of Dark City and neo-noir science fiction in mind.
Sci fi movie throws space and time into flux 
2009-09-28 - 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. Kiefer Sutherland portrays a doctor who is a sort of subservient quasimodo/mad scientist figure with a scarred right eye. In Dark City we have a laboratory where humans are being experimented upon by an alien race, and who are administered doses of personality by Kiefer's character who is acting on behave of the aliens. Every night the city and people's memories are shifted into new configurations unbeknown to them. The Matrix film, which came out a year later, shares many similar qualities. As in the Matrix there is a protagonist who discovers that he has the ability to manipulate this virtual world, and he, John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell), eventually acts as the savior of the humans trapped in this world. Questions about reality, perception, identity, as well as space and time, make this a thinking man's sci-fi. John Hurt, plays a tough guy inspector, and Jennifer Connelly portrays Emma, John Murdoch's wife.
The blu-ray extended cut looks very good with 15 extra minutes compared to the theatrical release. The director, Alex Proyas, has added some additional scenes to further develop the characters. Also, he has taken out the voice over at the beginning of the film. There are numerous special features consisting of interviews with the director, the script writer and others, including Roger Ebert.
Dark City provides bright blu-ray!
2009-09-15 - Always loved this movie! The blu-ray brightens the heart of the viewer with crisp images and full sound (LOVE that soundtrack!). The Director's Cut is the same as the anniversary dvd, but after seeing this on blu-ray, well... And this came with the Digital Copy, so I can enjoy this movie on the road on my PSP as well.
Dark City (1998)-Beautiful special effects, good performances, interesting ideas!
2009-08-17 - 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 masquerading as possible paranoid delusion. The ending reminded me of the Matrix, but it was very interestingly done.
It appears that the overused theme of an individual (or individuals) suffering from paranoia underwent an increase in usage in middle of the 90's in movies. Fortunately, it was pretty clear almost from the outset of the movie that this was not the case. The atmosphere of the film was dark, brooding and always troubling, until its Matrix like ending. John Murdoch is "the one"!
This film had absolutely terrific special effects, and featured some good performances of an interesting theme.
