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.

[–] cmertes-1 9 years ago

I watched it back then and didn't like it and I just rewatched it, the Director's Cut this time and the plot still doesn't make sense and the characters still don't have substance. So I don't know if much has changed, although the style-over-substance-ness of this movie might be more apparent these days and the utter lack of agency of the female character might also bother more people these days than it did back then (Don't get me wrong, Jennifer Connelly is pretty much the best thing this movie has to offer. I should have watched 251 minutes of her singing Sway in an endless loop instead of the movie. She just has no character to play.)

[–] benjaminwg 9 years ago

The new transfer of the new footage for the BR looks fantastic, but the original HD transfer that was done for the DVD looks terrible interspersed. Grainy and poor contrast. They need a new 4k, I guess, of all the footage. I don't care for the extended version of the row boat scene. Too much additional exposition and gives away the next reveal. I originally saw this on film in a huge state of the art auditorium with a mint print... only half a dozen of us. There's nothing wrong with the quality of the production or the art.

[–] hollyannbartel-112-273887 9 years ago

Is Dark City one of the worst(ly) aged movies in the history of cinema?

Nope.

[–] ridge-m-1 9 years ago

The wife and I just watched it again last night, my third viewing I believe. Classics always age well pal. That is why they are classic.

[–] soonerpike697 9 years ago

I think other than some of the CGI this movie has actually aged really well...

I do what I say and I say what I mean

[–] Naughty-God 9 years ago

Dark City actually looks pretty good in 2016, mostly because like most burgeoning Sci-Fi 90s films that were utilizing CGI they still relied on layered set designs and 3D lighting.

Even though this movie was shot primarily on a sound stage and has that "stagey" appearance I think it compliments one of the story's elements of living in an artificial environment.

Do you care to highlight the plot inconsistencies from this film? I had no problem following the story-line at all and I really appreciated Proyas' use of Film Noir narrative elements underneath the overall story arc of John's journey from murder suspect to messiah.

I really don't get people's personal obsession with IMDB ratings. They're meaningless, just like the Thumbs Up button on Facebook.