Hey, what do you Peakers think of this film? I thought it would be an interesting question to ask because of the divided response the film seems to have had. Most critics seem to have disliked it but it's one of Roger Ebert's favourite films.

 Personally, I love the film. I watched the Director's Cut today and was really impressed, moreso than the first viewing I gave it a couple of years ago. Not only does the story come together perfectly (with barely any plot loopholes, which is rare in this type of film), but the film conjures up all sorts of philosophical ideas. Memory, the nature of reality in relation to that and time, morality... And irregarding that, there's the amazing set design, which is almost like Blade Runner, in its imagination of a place you would do anything not to be consigned to, but you'd give anything to be there for a few days. At first the noir elements seem overt and self-conscious, and the characters stereotypical, but these turn out to be integral aspects of the actual story. On the surface the film looks to be any modern engaging sci-fi, but it's much more than that I believe. The pre-Matrix cinematic revelation that everyone somehow missed...

 Thinking of other films that are thematically linked, Dark City could also be seen as a kind of solipsistic reworking of The Truman Show. In Dark City, people's pasts are falsified and memories created inside their mind whereas Truman has his life engineered by everything outside of himself. Both films are very paranoid. Also, from what I've seen of Chris Nolan's new film Inception (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3XzUYd6nrU&feature=channel) it looks quite similar.

Dark City has been one of my most hated films for such a long time...  Probably because the idea seemed interesting, and I was looking forward to seeing what Alex Proyas did next, so my expectations were set fairly high.  I'd seen it three times, I think, because I kept trying to give it a chance.

I thought there was some terrible dialog writing, scenes that built up to nowhere, the terrible Jennifer Connelly lip-sync incident, and desperation to be creepy/scary (Richard O'Brien + little kid as villains).  And I absolutely did not buy Rufus Sewell.

A friend from work loves the movie and owns the director's cut, so I borrowed it for another viewing, hoping the changes would improve it, and they sort of did...

I liked Sewell a lot more this time, they fixed the lip-sync issue by using Connelly's actual vocals, the pacing and storytelling is improved -- but overall, it's gone from "hate" to "don't mind".  I don't think I'd ever bother to own it, but I'm glad Proyas at least got his version out for the people who really like this movie...

It's been a few years since I've watched it, but it was a favorite for a while there. I'm a sucker for neo-noir, specially when you throw in some high-concept sci-fi (hyphens are cool). I liked the mood, the set design, and the setup for the climatic battle gave me the same "aw yeah" feeling I got with the first Matrix. The CGI swirly business itself was fairly blah, but it wasn't enough to spoil the rest.

I've put off buying the Director's Cut for too long, I think. I'd love to watch that voiceover-free version with someone who doesn't know the big twist.

Logic Hat Online- logichat.org

It is a shame that they went with the CGI swirly business, because some of the effects are so good. Basically, all the effects that I assume were done with stop-motion animation (the buildings changing) are really impressive and all the CGI was fairly awful and looks really dated.

Btw, has anyone here seen Knowing? As another mostly-hated but Roger Ebert-endorsed Alex Proyas film I'm interested to watch it. This one I have less hope for though somehow. Critics of Dark City said that the film had great ideas but the execution was wrong, whereas when I look at Knowing, the actual ideas just look terrible. As for Nicolas Cage, I just can't make up my mind about him. Is he just one of these actors (like Steve Martin) that doesn't care what films he does? I'd like to think that, but I don't think it's true. Maybe he's just someone with awful taste who happens to be good at acting.

My favorite sci-fi movie back in the day and have never heard a negative word about it.

I saw it on acid in the theater and it blew my mind ;P