MovieChat Forums > Dark City (1998) Discussion > One of the worstly aged movie in the his...

One of the worstly aged movie in the history of cinema?

posted 13 years ago by poisonborz
101 replies | jump to latest

I've just watched this based on the score, and... firstly I don't want to repeat Dark City's faults, the bad acting, laughable background, plot inconsistencies, and everything else is neatly detailed in other threads.

But still, it has a score of 8.7 from nearly 90.000 people, and with IMDB's reputation for trustworthy scoring this got me thinking. I clearly remember walking out from Titanic in '97 thinking this was my greatest cinematic experience ever. That thought changed pretty rapidly of course since then, not because of the plot, but because the film was so much a product of its age. Shortly after Dark City came Matrix, and the whole genre of part sci-fi part action-movie changed forever. I wonder what score I would have given it in '98.

[–] dargis49-300-900689 12 years ago

Your concept of English is laughable at best. Worstly?

[–] Jay_Kay_71 12 years ago

you do realise that it's shot in a "film noir" style...

[–] grindovermatter 12 years ago

No, this film is a masterpiece that still holds up to this day.

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Long live the new flesh.

[–] spader725 12 years ago

I saw this movie for the first time today and I thought it aged fine. Not like the 90s cheese that is Jerry McGuire (though i did enjoy most of it). The CGI for the battle in the climax was pretty bad, but it is what it is.

[–] Morbius_Fitzgerald 12 years ago

I saw this for the first time when I was 12. I STILL think it is a bloody masterpiece. I know fanboy glasses but I can garuantee you this is not it. Yes this movie has bad acting(Kiefer Sutherland, UGH!) but seriously? I really enjoyed this. If you disagree with me remember my user name, that should tell you about my taste in movies. This is a B-grade movie with an A+ execution. My rating is 10.

Goth for LIFE!

[–] sami-18 12 years ago

I disagree that Dark City hasn't aged well because I actually believe it was never very good to begin with. Honestly I failed to ever see what is was that mesmerized some folks so much about Dark City. Sure it looked great and had a very interesting concept but the execution was horrible. Dark City is one of those classic beautiful hollow films of style over substance. It could have been fine but the acting, writing, and screenplay were just derivative pedestrian Hollywood junk. I won't even go into Proyas' music video style direction of quick edits.

I disliked Dark City as I sat in the theatre watching it back in 1998. At the end I apologized to the friends who I dragged out to see it with me. Over the years I've tried to watch it again many times with an open mind but every time I come out thinking the same. More than anything the film loses all possible credibility in the final showdown scene. It's just the kind of scene we've seen so many times before - a banal battle without reason.

[–] scook1 12 years ago

The quick cuts were more of the studio's idea, the Director's Cut has a surprising amount of slow, long takes in it -- actually most of the movie is shot that way.

I never liked the final battle in the movie, but the rest is fantastic.

[–] sami-18 12 years ago

@scook1

Really? I never got around to watching the Director's Cut but I've heard decent things about it. The only thing that makes me wary is that Proyas used the same method of quick cuts/edits in The Crow so it influenced my overall judgment of his directing style. I guess I'm asking if the Director's Cut is true or is it more of a clean up job after realizing how poorly the theatrical version played? Was it the studio's idea or Proyas' signature style at that time?

[–] sean100575 12 years ago

If you at any time thought that "Titanic" was the pinnacle of film making for any reason, no matter how fleeting, you have no business commenting on the quality of "Dark City" or any other exceptional film for that matter. In fact you should simply never log onto the IMDB ever again since you are clearly not worthy.

[–] jasonlivesagain 12 years ago

and with IMDB's reputation for trustworthy scoring this got me thinking

I'm surprised you CAN think, what with your belief in IMDb's scores actually being "trustworthy" or meaning ANYTHING. Maybe some more thinking and you can shake yourself from this deluded belief.