Stylish, thought-provoking, but still good fun.

Rating: 10/10 (13 April 2003)

**Warning, contains spoilers**
Wow. I just saw the movie twice in two days, which is saying something. But where to begin?
Obviously, the Matrix comparison. Yes, this movie was made first, so calling it a Matrix rip-off is a sign that you should work on pumping up your IQ a few notches. Back to the point, they're similar, but yet so different. What am I talking about? Well, I'd say it's the style.
There's no denying that both movies are stylish. The Matrix actually changed fashion when it was released. Dark City has a wonderful amalgamation of Film Noir and sci-fi, a weird juxtaposition that leads to a visual treat for the viewer. And it sets the movies miles apart. The plots have familiar elements. An artificial reality, subjective to those who are aware of it, an inhuman controlling race, a saviour character who learns to manipulate the reality better than the controllers. Yet they go about them in completely different ways.
The Matrix is an action movie, first and foremost. Dark City is a mishmash of styles, with the old Noir detective mystery being one of the frontrunning feels of the movie. Do yourself a favour if you haven't seen it yet; skip the first two minutes of the movie. It explains a large part of the plot which is uncovered later on anyway, and it's much more satisfying if it's not just handed to you.
The movie has pace, which again is at odds with its mood, yet somehow they work together brilliantly. A dark, dreary night with a fast-moving orchestral piece playing behind it as a character searches for answers, it's not what you'd expect, but it works. It's only heightened by the setting, the Dark City itself, which is a blending of many different architectural styles, though predominantly I was thinking of prohibition-era Chicago. Maybe it was the hats. Whatever, the end result is that it's an attractive movie, and beyond the surface similarities it doesn't feel at all like the Matrix.
Also, I'd like to respond to "mbredeck's" comments. The movie is subtle, and I'd suggest repeated viewing, because you can miss an awful lot, like this person did. He asked a series of questions in his comment, claiming they didn't have answers, yet they did, right there in the movie.
"Why do the bad guys try so hard to kill the protagonist?" When they realise what he's capable of, they don't, they try to capture him. Like they manage during the end. "How can they have so little knowledge of his whereabouts and activities during the story if they are supposed to be observing him?" They observe by pausing the city at midnight, and taking the memories. They don't have surveillance cameras set up everywhere. "The cop has a gun, why don't they have guns?" Well how many times have they had to deal with anyone they'd regard as dangerous? None. "Why don't they all get sucked out into space when they (improbably) break a hole in the wall and see outer space?" There's a blue barrier a distance from the spaceship which marks the "outside" of the ship, presumably what holds in the oxygen. You see the detective and stranger pass through it as they fall, and see it again at the end when the ocean fills up. "Why do we only see them shutting everything down at midnight--wouldn't there still be daylight hours that follow the tunings?" Like the good Doctor says, they control even the Sun. As John does at the end. "If they can tune the whole environment, why do they not use this ability to overcome the hero when they are trying to detain him?" It looks like they need to put their abilities together to do this, and as they're in the machine, not able to see where John is, it'd be impossible. "If the Strangers are a group mind, they would not need to converse with each other the way they do." They have a collective memory, not mind. They act on their own, they just can't remember their own past. "If they designed the machine that changes the environment based on their telepathic powers, why can't they control it as well as the hero, or at least prevent him from using it?" They didn't anticipate the need to stop a human using it, they didn't even believe he could Tune when they found out. As for the level of control, it's one thing that's not explained. Speculating, these things are the size of squids. The human brain is about as large as their entire body. There's a hell of a lot more potential there.
See, the movie is subtle, there's a lot to pick up if you pay attention.
But despite everything I've said about the movie, there's one main point to it. It's fun. If nothing else, you have a bunch of aliens chasing around a guy with psychic powers. And that's just good fun to watch.