DVD REVIEW
DARK CITY Director's Cut
07/28/08
SYNOPSIS: The
critically-acclaimed triumph from visionary director Alex
Proyas (I, Robot, The Crow) is back with a brand new
directors cut featuring enhanced picture and sound,
never-before-seen footage and three commentary tracks that
take you deeper than ever before into the world of one of
sci-fis most exciting and revered tales. When John Murdoch
(Rufus Sewell) wakes with no memory at the scene of a grisly
murder, he soon finds himself hunted by the police, a woman
claiming to be his wife and a mysterious group of pale men
who seem to control everything and everyone in the city.
Starring Rufus Sewell (The Illusionist), Jennifer Connelly
(A Beautiful Mind), William Hurt (A History of Violence) and
Kiefer Sutherland (TVs 24).
REVIEW: “Alex Proyas’ best science fiction movie
without a doubt is been release in DVD on July 29 2008, and
for all those fans of movies like The Matrix, Equilibrium,
and the Minority Report this is a most watch and have. I
consider myself disappointed for hadn’t watched this movie
when it first came out to the big screen, but after seen it
I considered myself a fan. The movie has all a sci fi fan
asks in this type of movie. The plot is smart, it will keep
the audience guessing, the way it is presented is
remarkable, it adds little by little until the final product
is revealed, the actors deliver, specially Ruffus Sewell,
which I think did a much better job than in “The
Illusionist.” he is convincing, versatile and appealing as
john Murdoch, Jennifer Connely and Kiefer Sutherland also
did an outstanding job as Emma and Dr. Schreber, and
overall, the supporting cast performed as its best. The
characters are exceptionally well designed, from the main
characters to those weird pale looking guys. The special
Effects and sound although not as impressive as many other
contemporary movies managed to entertained the audience and
gets the point across.
One of the major aspects of the movie is that it manages to
involved the audience and keeping guessing, the city itself
plays a key role and its sinister and dark atmosphere makes
the audience feel as John Murdoch feels. This is one of
those movies that mesmerize the audience without exceeding
the explosion, fighting scenes, or special effects; It is
the story and its development, the settings, the atmosphere,
and the acting by themselves that captures the audience
attention making them feel all the tension of this horrific
nightmare while tricking them more than once. Although the
movie starts slow and confusing, it takes speed after the
first 10 minutes and after that it will not let the audience
go until the end, with a surprising and emotive conclusion.
If I have something to complain about the movie would be its
ending scene, I think Mr Poyas tried to do an Steven
Spielberg ending which in my opinion was exceeding it.
The new DVD Director Cut includes about 15 minutes of
additional footage in extended scenes and dialogues, which I
can not say if it makes a difference or not since I did not
see the original version. Nonetheless, I have heard that
several changes were made in this version improving the
mystery of the Dark City at the beginning creating a more
sinister atmosphere, the characters, the story and the sound
are also more develop. The DVD version looks and sound
fantastic, this is one of those movies that should be seen
in a big screen TV with a surround system they are. It is
truth that comparison to more sophisticated movies like the
Matrix can be drawn to this movie, nonetheless, The Dark
City stand by itself in mysticism, creativity, and
development.
Review
By Milo
milo@smartcine.com
VIDEO:
2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
AUDIO:
English
Dolby digital 5.1mastered in high definition
Subtitles - English Spanish - Optional
SPECIAL FEATURES: The
DVD is well presented it looks attractive to the eye. Also I
recommend to watch the special features, which are very good
and instructive. You could watch the movies with the
commentaries of different members of the crew like director
and writers to understand the point they were trying to
make.
Audio Commentary with director
Alex Proyas.
Audio Commentary with Roger Ebert.
Audio Commentary with writers David
Goyer and Lem Dobbs.
Introduction By Alex Proyas: Director Alex
Proyas explained the visions and ideas of the Dark City,
explaining all the components of the movie (4:55).
Memoirs of Shell Beach: it is basically the
Making of featuratte, where writers and directors express
their opinion and also show how the city came alive, from
casting, to special effects(42:57)
Architecture of Dreams: it is a feature where
different cinema professor tries to analyze the movie, it is
very interesting listening to the different interpretation
they give to the movie (33:43)
Production Gallery: Navigate through different
images from the movie .
Digital Copy
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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