Dark City (New Line Platinum Series) | Rufus Sewell, William Hurt

Dark City (New Line Platinum Series) | Rufus Sewell, William Hurt | Great Movie, and EXCELLENT video/sound quality

DVDs:

Dark City (New Lin...

	Dark City (New Line Platinum Series) Rufus Sewell, William Hurt New Line, 1998 average customer review:based on 458 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

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.

Amazing Film

Imagine if you settled down for a nice warm bath and it was so relaxing that you fell asleep. You startle awake and look around the bathroom. Something feels wrong. You can't remember how you got there and you don't know who you are anymore. There's a strange looking syringe on the ground, so maybe this is drug related. That doesn't really explain the amnesia logically though. This all sounds unbelievable doesn't it? Impossible even. However, this is precisely what happened to John Murdoch (played by Rufus Sewell) and that's how "Dark City" opens.

Part of me doesn't want to say anymore about this film and the other part wants to tell you all about it. This movie truly is a psychological thriller with a sci-fi horror twist. (If you understand the relation of that line to Aqua Teen Hunger Force, you will be amused.) I actually can't think of a better way to lay it out. The viewer is essentially brought into a very strange world, but it looks very close to, say, a 1920's setting. Something feels very amiss throughout the whole movie and the viewer is left to unravel the mysteries with John. In this guise the movie is very expertly written because we never learn something too soon. All we know is that something feels off in this world and when everything is revealed it's quite shocking.

The film concept doesn't end there. It's actually a very deep film and if you pay attention to what's going on it asks very human philosophical questions. Such as if faced with extinction what would humanity do? What kind of atrocities could be committed in order to save our race? While the film doesn't precisely answer these questions it does help us understand the antagonists called The Strangers.

Despite the strong performances from Rufus Sewell and Jennifer Connely (John's love interest), I think that Keifer Sutherland's performance was the most impressive. He played sort of the mad scientist kind of role. I realize this film came out in 1998, long before Keifer was the surefooted star of 24, but to view this in retrospect shows how strong of an actor he really is. Not only does he play the role of mad scientist kind of character, but he's also overly nervous and exhibits a limp. I just felt this was kind of out of the norm for Keifer and was impressed that he pulled this off so convincingly. It's also strange that I mention this because he was not the main star of the film, which was Rufus Sewell.

Unfortunately the film doesn't answer all the mysterious questions that came to my mind, but that's okay. You don't need all questions answered in a story all the time. The film is so strong and so well written that these details can easily be overlooked as well. If you like delving into bizarre worlds with a science fiction element then this is definitely a movie to watch. I picked this up on a whim because it had an interesting cast and an intriguing synopsis. I was blown away, probably by the sheer fact I had no idea what to expect from this film. Amidst all this complexity it maintains a very strong and dark 1920's mystery feel as well. It's a very bizarre film, but also very well done in my opinion. If you are summarily intrigued by this then I do recommend you give this a viewing.

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Great Movie, and EXCELLENT video/sound quality

I am glad I waited to buy this on Blu Ray. It's a great movie and the Video and Sound quality in this Blu Ray disc are EXCELLENT

Narration Begone!

Haven't had time to sit down and watch the new version yet, but I did take a few moments to check out the beginning and am ABSOLUTELY THRILLED that the opening narration is gone from the Director's Cut. I have always hated the opening narration which proceeds to tell you what's going to happen in the movie. Beyond my first viewing, I have never watched the original DVD with the narration - I keep the sound lowered until Keifer Sutherland looks at his watch, then raise it. I've never let anyone else watch it with the narration, either, especially if it was their first time seeing the film. Makes a great puzzle to assemble when you don't know what's going on.

Similarly, I was never able to watch Blade Runner until the narration was removed. Why would we need Harrison Ford to tell us what we can clearly see on the screen? Raspberries to New Line for forcing the insertion in 1998, kudos to New Line for allowing the Director's Cut (and keeping the original edit on the Blu-Ray addition as well for those who prefer that version.

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All Regions?

Concur with the recent poster - check carefully. Just received this, and found it was 'Region A' and NOT 'All Regions' as described by Amazon. Shame the guys at Amazon are letting themselves down with regard to descriptions.. Great movie tho - as I recall....

Fun to see but the original is best.

I concur with the opinion that, though fun to see, the added footage is underwhelming. The "bloat" definitely undermines the quirky, incongruous nature of the theatrical release. The DC cut seems cheaper and the characters more predictable. I did enjoy the opening sequence without the narration but beyond that the added 12 minutes made the movie a bit slow. Though I'm pleased I bought this version so I could experience the new footage, my yearly viewing of Dark City will be the original cut.

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