"There is nothing beyond the city."

Last Night i had the great honour of watching the director's cut of Dark City. Dark city is one of the most brilliant science fiction movies ever made in my opinion. It is the story of a man apparently named John Murdoch who wakes up to a world he doesn't remember. This world is the Dark City where, at midnight every night, strange figures called the 'Strangers' use the power of Tuning to rearrange the city and its inhabitants as an experiment to search for something.
The Strangers.

Have it be known that this movie was made before the Matrix. The theme revolves around that philosophy where we don't really know if what is around us is real or not and challenges our memories to their limit. The theme questions perceived realities and relationships and whether their existence contains any meaning or is it just someone else's experiment.

Visually, this film is extravagant. Taking motifs from Film Noir and German expressionism, Dark City makes for a brilliant genre mash-up. Film Noir influences are seen in the detective sub-plot with the over hanging lights, the fog and the cynical jokes. While the German expressionism comes in the shape of the Tuning, when the Strangers alter the city the buildings become deformed and out of shape, exposing the falseties of the world that these people believe is their home. and as a final touch, Dark city incorporates a MacGuffin: (an object that drives the story) the elusive Shell Beach that everyone knows but cant remember how to get there.

Not to mention the special effects, which for a 90's movie at some points puts current movies to shame. The tuning ability, the changing city and the ever night are some awesome sights to behold from this movie and i cannot press enough that more films that are special effects heavy need to be more like this: where the effects compliment the story and not the other way around. STORY comes first in any film.

I bought the movie for my brother as a Birthday present because he had seen it as part of a Uni assignment and wouldn't stop raving about it. And when he showed it to me i was simply blown away.Though not the greatest film I have ever seen, Dark City was fantastic and I give it 9/10.