Too much style and not enough substance

Rating: 4/10 (6 September 2003)

Science-fiction is almost a love of mine, because it is a genre that can produce works which inspire awe and wonder and at the same time ask daring questions about the nature of our world and of ourselves. Dark City had the potential to be one of those works, but failed rather miserably because it was too busy worrying about how it looked and forgot to flesh out its premises enough to ask daring questions. Instead it caved in to tired old cliches of evil overlords, the greatness of humanity, individuality and of the human soul, and a savior human who just so conveniently happened to be more powerful than all the forces of the aliens combined. Skip it if you're looking for something that will actually challenge your mind.
Two stars out of five.