Better than I expected... a pleasant surprise.

Rating: 8/10 (9 March 1999)

When I first saw the trailers for this movie and references to "Illusions", I was sure that it would be full of the same kind of continual confusion and in-your-face surrealism that are the signature of movies like BRAZIL and JACOB'S LADDER.
To my pleasant surprise, the movie manages to include a fair portion of those surrealistic elements, and it still has some logical underpinnings that gradually emerge that, unlike the aforementioned movies, offer some solace for those of us who feel like there should be some order behind a movie.
Other than this feat of making surrealism actually work in a movie, I also appreciate the casting of Jennifer Connelly in Dark City. There was something about her soft, sensual nature that made you want everything to work out for her character, and made for a nice contrast to the harsh, brooding nature of the sets and story.