Flicks-a-saurus Rex

Dark City Director’s Cut **** (4 Stars)

Director – Alex Proyas (Wrote and Directed)

Starring – Rufus Sewell, Jennifer Connelly, Kiefer Sutharland, Richard O’Brien, and William Hurt

MPAA – Rated R for violent images and some sexuality.

I never saw or even heard of this film until one day I was reading old movie reviews by Roger Ebert and I came across his review of Dark City. He loved it so naturally I had to see it. I popped it into the player and I was instantly hooked. This film might fall under film noir, but it also falls under Sci-Fi, murder mystery, and almost horror genres. Dark City is a wonderfully twisted film that seems to be part Truman Show, part Bourne, part Matrix, and part Inception. Intact this film probably made the Matrix trilogy and similar films a possibility.

Dark City is not the best movie ever made, but it is work of art. All the sets are done on an indoor sound stage, and everything is real. These are not computer generated sets; this is not a film that thrives on CGI. Of course there are some computer graphics at work here, but the vast majority of the film is wonderfully real. The film has a very distinct palette like, The Matrix, of greens and yellows. The sets and costumes are heavily influenced by 40s gangster and detective films, and while we assume it is a modern film it is difficult to tell.

Dark City is a film not to miss. It is a brilliantly crafted Sci-Fi thriller. This film delivers first class edge-of-your seat thrills. The graphics are a hair cheesy in one or two places, and the sound stage sets suspend reality a little bit, but the stages gave so much control to the director as far as lighting and sound goes that it works out to the film’s advantage. There are great twists and turns here plot wise, and while not everything is explained, the audience is not lost in the mystery. Dark city is an 8.5 out of 10 in my book.



Sex/Nudity – 7 out of 10 – A woman is seen changing into a robe and there is a brief glimpse of full frontal nudity. A dead woman is seen with one bare breast exposed in two scenes. A man is seen naked from the back.

Violence Gore – 7 out of 10 -There are a few scenes in which dead women are briefly shown with circular symbols carved into their skin. A few people die and their blood splatters quite a bit.

Profanity – 3 out of 10 – there were one or two mild profanities and not more than 10 religious exclamations.