Rent Dark City (1998)

Matrix Pre-loaded - Dark City review by CP Customer

Excellent performances from the cast make this an eeiree film full of twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat.

The story of a higher force controlling our lives is obviously a familiar one thanks to the Matrix but this film was out the year before the Matrix and this is a far darker version of a chilling story.

A film-stealing performance from Keifer Sutherland

A Genre Classic - Dark City review by CP Customer

The year before The Matrix was released and its sizeable influence since, I had the pleasure of seeing Dark City in the local cinema. Despite sinking without a trace, I'm pleased that many of us who did see the film, remembered the unique imagination it showed. So the opportunity to pick up the film in blu ray was too good to miss. This world is far from what it seems and those who live out their days on the surface are unaware of the real purpose of their existance. A very dark, gritty science fiction film that deserves your attention. Perhaps Kiefer Sutherland's best performance in a movie to date and Jennifer Connelly in an early role. It really has everything and this blu ray edition contains the theatrical and director versions, both very different. Much of the extra content concerns the issues bringing the film to the big screen and being given the go ahead. While other critics reflect on why it was overlooked, when clearly it deserved better.

Clever, Mysterious & Intriguing SciFi - Dark City review by GI

A really intriguing science fiction film that predated The Matrix (1999) and which I suspect influenced that very popular and ground breaking film. Dark City is a dystopian fantasy that involves a mystery and surreal imagery as the plot gradually unfolds. John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) wakes up in a seedy hotel with no memory. It's an American city circa late 40s and early 50s and seems trapped in perpetual nighttime. John quickly discovers he's wanted for a series of brutal murders of prostitutes including the freshly killed girl in his hotel bedroom. Avoiding the police led by hard boiled Detective Bumstead (William Hurt) John tries to find out what has happened to him and learns he has a wife (Jennifer Connelly), a strange doctor (Keifer Sutherland) and to top it all a very peculiar band of pasty faced weirdos are after him too. There's some Lynchian set pieces and the plot unravels in a well scripted and quite original story. There's a director's cut that is the version to see as it is the truer version of director Alex Proyas' vision. Great cast, great story and very entertaining.