Dark City

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Dark City

R

Released Feb 20, 1998

1h 41m

Fantasy

Sci-Fi

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Popcornmeter

76%

Tomatometer

89 Reviews

85%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) awakens alone in a strange hotel to find that he is wanted for a series of brutal murders. The problem is that he can't remember whether he committed the murders or not. For one brief moment, he is convinced that he has gone completely mad. Murdoch seeks to unravel the twisted riddle of his identity. As he edges closer to solving the mystery, he stumbles upon a fiendish underworld controlled by a group of ominous beings collectively known as the Strangers.

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Critics Consensus

Stylishly gloomy, Dark City offers a polarizing whirl of arresting visuals and noirish action.

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Bill Boisvert

Chicago Reader

Real humanists may have misgivings.

Rated: 1/4

Jun 16, 2022

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Mike Clark

USA Today

Dark City is fascinating, visionary filmmaking that captures the sensation of dreaming and being unable to wake up.

Rated: 3/4

Jan 9, 2018

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Owen Gleiberman

Entertainment Weekly

City ultimately plays like one of those art-deco dystopian CD-ROM adventures of recent years.

Rated: C+

Sep 7, 2011

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Don Shanahan

Every Movie Has a Lesson

Dark City deftly creates a world both foreign and familiar at the same time to match the clouded tone of its story.

Rated: 3/5

Apr 7, 2024

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

This is an exceptionally stylish-looking production driving a story with grand aspirations, and though flawed, like the majority of Proyas’ work, it achieves most of what it sets out to do.

Rated: 3/4

Aug 22, 2023

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Dan DiNicola

The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY)

The movie's design is its only redeeming feature. This is one movie which seems to have been made almost exclusively for members of a Dungeons & Dragons fan club.

Rated: C

Jan 19, 2023

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Fer S

Great movie, good acting. I am not sure what it needs to be a must-watch. I was not 100% satisfied with the ending, but it was not bad.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/10/24

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Lonely S

Amazing cast, amazing director (at least in this movie and the original 94 "the crow" movie). Watch the director's cut. The theatrical version of Dark City ruins the plot twist of the movie from the very beginning. An industrial-gothic masterpiece.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/02/24

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David B

Cult classic and amazing movie. Would love to see a modern reboot or expanding of this concept universe, maybe another dark city out there with a new plot and cast. But this movie is hold.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/19/24

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Jeremy _

My favorite Matrix movie.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/27/24

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Emory E

Such a cool movie. This film has influenced soo many movies.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/18/24

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DanTheMan 2

Taking its cues from the film noir tales of the 40s and 50s, filled with neverending shadows, Dark City is an exceptionally stylish-looking production driving a story with grand aspirations. Unabashed in its eccentricities and relishes the hypnotic, mystifying world it creates. Director Alex Proyas drenches each shot with a unique feel and delivers a film with a visual sense with all the inventive, poetic power of Ridley Scott or Terry Gilliam firing on all cylinders. He expertly handles a story that's both dark and often violent and told with a remarkable sense of visual energy and imagination that defies logic and makes frightening, unexpected leaps that lead it down a path you couldn't predict. Superbly well acted and backed by incredible visual effects and a fantastic pulse pounder of a score by Trevor Jones, you often see Dark City unfavourably compared to The Matrix and yet this apocalyptic tale of alien abduction, telekinesis, amnesia, murder and love is an entertaining and unimaginable expedition through a cinematic phenomenon more than worthy of your time.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

05/16/24

Full Review

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Alex Proyas

Director

Rufus Sewell

John Murdoch

Kiefer Sutherland

Dr. Daniel Schreber

Jennifer Connelly

Emma Murdoch

William Hurt

Inspector Frank Bumstead

Richard O'Brien

Mr. Hand

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Synopsis

John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) awakens alone in a strange hotel to find that he is wanted for a series of brutal murders. The problem is that he can't remember whether he committed the murders or not. For one brief moment, he is convinced that he has gone completely mad. Murdoch seeks to unravel the twisted riddle of his identity. As he edges closer to solving the mystery, he stumbles upon a fiendish underworld controlled by a group of ominous beings collectively known as the Strangers.

Director: Alex Proyas
Producer: Alex Proyas, Andrew Mason
Screenwriter: Alex Proyas, Alex Proyas, Lem Dobbs, David S. Goyer
Distributor: New Line Cinema
Production Co: New Line Cinema, Mystery Clock Cinema
Rating: R (Violent Images|Some Sexuality)
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 20, 1998, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 1, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA): $14.3M
Runtime: 1h 41m
Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo, Dolby A, SDDS, Surround, Dolby Digital, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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