Ominous, involving, and deep

Rating: 9/10 (30 April 1999)

*Dark City* is thrilling, dark, relentless, terrifying, stimulating. It is one of the most involving science fiction films I have ever seen. It borrows liberally from other sources, yes; but it combines these plundered elements into an original story that is surprising and frightening.
Many folks have compared this far superior film to another very good science fiction movie, *The Matrix.* Both movies share the same paranoid vision of a reality controlled by an outside, and possibly malevolent, force. But whereas *The Matrix* uses the concrete reality we know and love as a reference point, *Dark City* gives us no such boundary. Others have commented that the end of *Dark City* is unfulfilling, and they are right. But there is a reason *why* the end is unfulfilling: Proyas asks us questions about the nature of reality that are much too difficult to answer in the span of 2 hours. This film asks questions about the malleability of humankind, the resonance of dreams, the power of the will, and the need for evolution. These are philosophical questions it cannot answer, and wisely it does not try.
The "showdown" at the climax of the film is not representative of a lack of creativity, as it is in so many other films. We are almost fooled into thinking that conquering the Strangers will provide John with the key to solving his problems, but it does not. We are left with the same nagging questions after the smoke has cleared from the highly-charged, brilliantly-conceived showdown: does reality exist? Who dictates what form of reality we must embrace? Will life improve now that the Strangers have been obliterated?
*Dark City* is a film that forces us (or forced me, at least) to confront the terrible fear that life is but a nightmare.