Customer Reviews
Wow, an offbeat sci-fi treat for sure! - By: Rob B., 15 Nov 2008 
I bought this DVD despite the usual negative reviews on Amazon & was very glad I did. I watched it last night & was well impressed by this forerunner to the Matrix movies. This strange film is fast-paced & gripping - sci-fi movie-making at its best.
If you enjoy offbeat movies with lashings of sc-fi sauce & a dash of toungue-in-cheek detective melodrama then buy this classic movie & ignore the calls of 'boring' from the Hollywood fan club.
unconvincing - By: Mr. D. Thompson, 16 Sep 2008 
I have mixed thoughts about this film after wathcing it twice through. I was really looking forward to it - the idea of a film noir sci-fi setin a mysterious dark futuristic world appealed to me. Yet after watching it i feel somewhat unsatisfied.
it is definately more style than substance - the characters were lame, some of the lines really cheesy & the acting wooden. I wasnt sure wether to applaud or laugh out loud at sutherlands attempt at the mad professor.
i think this film has very high ambitions but the lofty heights it is after far outstrips the sum of its parts. As a whole it just doesnt feel succinct. I wouldnt be suprised if it was the case that different producers had been been working on different parts of the film without anyone overseeing it all.
A great idea & set is let down by a poor script & the direction of the film is too pacy - too much goes on within the first 20 mins - often a case with sci - fi films with a point to prove. There was no chance to set the scene, meet the characters, hence they appear a bit lifeless & wooden. Had this been a comic book adaptation I wouldn't have minded so much as that is what i would have expected, but as it sets out to be an intelligent thought provoking sci-fi thriller - I feel it should have either been one or the other. It seems to be stuck somewherein the middle of flashin the pan blockbuster without attention to detail & characterisation & throught provoking indie thriller.
it certainly can't the budget that let it down - mr sutherland, miss connoly, richard o'brien & william hurt are all famous hollywood actors - i'm sure they cost a few million - but then you get really bad cheesy effects of the Strangers flyingin the air alongside good effects of buildings rising from the ground & morphingin front of you.
it just seems like it deosnt all quite fit together - part comic book film noir - part intelligent sci fi - part low budget 60's b movie yet at least 4 hollywood actorsin it - which could have easily been replaced with unkowns as there was no exceptional performances to note....
overall it's worth watching - but be wary of the reviews calling it a sci fi masterpiece - there are some bits of direction & production here that are fit of the types of movies you find on the Sky channel "Zone Horror" - which doesnt fitin with the script, the idea & the cast...?
and finally yes there are similarities with the Matrix - but there are also lots of derivitive elements from other filmsin Dark city - it is by no means original itself. Itsin the same category as films like Cube & 13th Floor - good ideas let down by certian elements, be it script, production values or limitation of budget.
Persoanlly i preferred the matrix to this - yes itsin a different league, but the Matrix succeedsin what it sets out to do much better than Dark City does - a lot goes onin a short space of time & the action scenesin Dark City are laughable & should have been edited - whereas the matrix - well the action scenesin that have been hugely influential (although again there are elements of martial arts moviesin there too)and copiedin good & bad ways dozens of timesin countless movies.
Yet again i see dark city as a good idea that has been poorly executed - worth 2 viewings possibly - but i wont be watching it again soon.
WARNING: BLU-RAY VERSION NOT REGION FREE! - By: Matthew J. Bignell, 10 Aug 2008 The Blu-ray for this movie is listed as being all regions, but it is actually a Region A release, rendering it unwatchable on U.K. Blu-ray players, which I had to find out the hard way. Take care when buying.
boring - By: K. A. Gibson, 11 Jun 2008 
simply rubbish. a complete waste of time. enough well known names to persuade you to buy or rent but pointless & one of the worst films i have ever seen.
a masterpiece - By: Robert Hickling, 15 May 2008 my wife being a huge fan of the matrix thinking it so original was dumb founded when i disagreed but this gem of a film {and ghostsin the shell} proved where the wachowski brothers "borrowed their ideas" the one etc buy it!
