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Dark City is another timeless story from the director of The Crow, Alex Proyas.  A man awakes in a bathtub and has no memory of who is he is.  A little streak of blood is on his forehead not far above his nose.  He climbs out of the tub and slips around.  Out of the bathroom he knocks over a fish bowl and saves the goldfish by dropping it into the tub.  Then he finds the body of a dead woman with strange spirals carved into her flesh.  The telephone rings and he answers it.  The man on the other end tells him he is his doctor and that men are looking for him and he must come see the doctor immediately.  The amnesiac drops the phone and takes off without finding where to go and he barely dodges out of the hotel room before men in dark coats arrive.  The mystery begins and soon it becomes obvious that not everything is as it seems, even reality.

Dark City is a great atmospheric film set in a totally undefinable time.  The movie is quite film-noir, and has great gritty and stylish texture.  The hodgepodge of elements from different times mixed with "alien" designs lends a lot to the feeling of disorientation that is integral to the story.  Everything is tightly integrated to form a multi-layered film that is engaging to the audience on several fronts.  The direction is tight and the skyless but city-lit night is as reflective of the story as it was in The Crow.  There is a lot of good acting in this movie although I can see how some might find Keifer Sutherland's character grating.  I however enjoyed his work in this film.  There is an excellent blending of musical score and scene mood.  The lyrical score was very good as well and really hammered home to the main time that the dark city emulates.  Another excellent mood film.

DVD NOTES: The Dark City DVD is jam packed with special features.  It has both a widescreen and full screen version of the film.  It has two commentary tracks and an interactive game played right on the DVD without accessing ROM features.  There are cast and crew Biographies, Filmographies and select Star Highlights.  The extras continue on from there.  The video quality is excellent with solid dark scenes (a must for a film like this).  The audio has good movement across the soundstages when needed but aren't always used.  This is an excellent DVD.

( Thank you for reading my review.
Bob Male)

All ideas, opinions, and information are from the reviewer and are not representative of any company or group involved with the creators and/or staff of the materials being reviewed.