Dark City

And they say lightning doesn’t strike twice. If Proyas's The Crow was dark, depressing, interestingly stylized, and narratively "unusual", all this is doubly true for Dark City, a very bleak and unpleasant vision of a world dominated by bald aliens who are allergic to light, can bend physics to their advantage and have a motive that, even after much thought, doesn't seem illogical or nonsensical. Of course, we've seen the single hero destined to carry out a revolution and defeat an invincible foe a few times before, but when everything around is so tastefully polished, thoughtful and novel, a little cliché can never hurt. And Jones’s soundtrack is perfect for the genre :)) 85% (24/12/2013)

If the Dark City was not consciously pointing out the proper noir atmosphere right from the beginning, I would almost say that the main character could have found the way to the beach on the Internet. While for us, travelling anywhere is nowadays a simple process, when with two clicks we can see not just the journey from the map’s position, but also the journey from the car driver’s position, in this film it formed the basis of the story. The film changed from noir crime film into a complete sci-fi in a split second. I thought that it is nice that in the nineties the American directors had balls to shoot similar movies. Nowadays, nobody would pay for it unless it had the stamp of Marvel or a remake. (04/04/2016)

Incredible. Proyas is an expert at bleak atmospheres, and this strange city hides a truly depressing secret. Almost all the actors are excellent but Kiefer Sutherland clearly reigns over them, and his doctor is very ambiguous throughout. Jennifer Connelly is again incredibly magical here. And yes, Dark City is quite similar to The Matrix. (29/06/2009)

Alex Proyas delights in darkness. He literally loves it. And he wants the audience to love it too. This is not only the case with the film "Dark City," but also with his other works. If there is a dawn, it is more metaphorical, an awakening, a change. This precursor to "The Matrix" gives another answer to the visions presented to us and what a person can achieve. (13/10/2015)

The materialized nightmares of Alex Proyas, where hope remains in the form of the beautiful Jennifer in impenetrable darkness. From Dark City, the believable and yet perfectly and typically divided characters of the charismatic protagonist or excellently played doctor Sutherland emerge. And just when everything starts to take itself too seriously, a horde of aliens arrive, boldly settling the film back into a position of a more cheaply constructed sci-fi narrative. But who cares, when it can be so innocently irresistible. (25/01/2006)