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Fun Stuff => ENJOY => Topic started by: Jackie Blue on 31 Jul 2008, 12:40
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Totally out of the blue, I noticed that there has recently been an extended Director's Cut of Dark City released. It was an awesome movie to begin with and this version is even better.
If you haven't seen it, it's basically the film that The Matrix ripped off almost blatantly, stars Keiffer Sutherland as a creepy/cool doctor, Jennifer Connoly, and uh... some guy. Plot summary would spoil the movie, just take my word on this. It's similar in tone to Cronenberg's eXistenZ as well.
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Man, the movie has so little in common with the Matrix besides that it takes place in a...well...dark city and there's supernatural things going on. The only real connection is that they did use some sets from Dark City for parts of the Matrix because they had them lying around.
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The plots are also remarkably similar if you want to get into spoilers.
Humans live in a big city that isn't the "real world" they think it is and is controlled by seemingly supernatural beings. One human emerges who has the same powers they do and they must stop him. In the process of doing so, one of the beings decides to become more like a human (just like Agent Smith became "like" Neo against his will).
Not only were some of the same sets used, but some of the same shots as well.
Anyway it's an awesome movie so shut it. :x
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If we're going to genre it, it's really a film noir piece with vaguely sci-fi stuff thrown in.
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this was one of my favorite movies as a kid, and lately i've been wanting to watch it again.
i always ask my friends "have you seen Dark City?" and they're all "no" and then i'm all "whaa???" so this is a perfect oppurtunity to enlighten them.
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Yeah this version is SO much better, not only is the sound perfectly redone but he removed the opening voice-over that basically gave away the entire plot before the movie even begins. Also in the singing scenes you can now hear Jennifer Connely actually singing instead of a voice-over job, and I think it helps because she has a really smexy voice.
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If we're going to genre it, it's really a film noir piece with vaguely sci-fi stuff thrown in.
Wait, so like Blade Runner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner)?
Yeah, when I was younger I didn't like Dark City but when I saw it relatively recently (not the director's cut) I liked it a helluva lot better.
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The plots are also remarkably similar if you want to get into spoilers.
Humans live in a big city that isn't the "real world" they think it is and is controlled by seemingly supernatural beings. One human emerges who has the same powers they do and they must stop him. In the process of doing so, one of the beings decides to become more like a human (just like Agent Smith became "like" Neo against his will).
Not only were some of the same sets used, but some of the same shots as well.
Anyway it's an awesome movie so shut it. :x
The plots are superficially similar (people A kidnap and use people B in an artificial environment). Beyond the superficial, though, the differences are so great that comparisons break down and claims that Matrix stole from Dark City really utterly fail.
Dark City really seems to be a film noir in which the protagonist follows an increasingly bizarre and upsetting path through a broken narrative toward semi-godhead. Neo follows a fairly straightforward narrative through cyberpunk mythos to semi-godhead.
DC is much more comic book, Matrix is much more movie.
DC has an accidental and unexplained messiah, Matrix has an intentional and, eventually, explained messiah.
The color scheme notwithstanding, the stories are so utterly different that calling one a theft of the other is ludicrous.