Dark City (Blu-ray) (1998)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Audio Commentary-Alex Proyas (Director) Audio Commentary-Roger Ebert (Journalist) Audio Commentary-Lem Dobbs (Writer), David S. Goyer (Writer) Audio Commentary-Alex Proyas (Director), David S. Goyer (Writer), et al Audio Commentary-Roger Ebert (Journalist) Theatrical Trailer Production Notes-Neil Gaiman On Dark City Production Notes-The Metropolis Comparison Gallery-Photo Featurette-Introduction by Alex Proyas Featurette-Memories Of Shell Beach Featurette-Architecture Of Dreams Trivia-Director's Cut Fact Track
Rating
Year Of Production	1998
Running Time	111:43
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Version Select Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Alex Proyas
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Rufus Sewell Jennifer Connelly Keifer Sutherland Richard O'Brien Ian Richardson William Hurt
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Trevor Jones

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 7.1 English Audio Commentary dts 2.0 English Audio Commentary dts 2.0 English Audio Commentary dts 2.0 English Audio Commentary dts 2.0 English Audio Commentary dts 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    In both cuts, the basics of the story are the same. John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) wakes up one morning in a bathtub, with blood oozing out of the space between his eyebrows. Making matters worse is the dead body on the floor with strange circular patterns carved into it. Murdoch is about to leave the room when he gets a telephone call from a man called Paul Schreber (Keifer Sutherland), who claims to be his psychiatrist. Leaving the room and the hotel it is part of in a hurry, Murdoch finds himself pursued by a number of policemen and some mysterious figures in trenchcoats. As he goes from place to place, trying to sort out who he is and why so many people are interested in him, he finds he is able to alter the physical world around him simply through force of will.

    At the same time, a number of women who work the streets of the city around these characters are turning up dead, each with spiral patterns carved into their bodies. Leading the investigation into these murders is Inspector Frank Bumstead (William Hurt). The previous detective in charge of the case, Eddie Walenski (Colin Friels), seems to have lost his mind. Meanwhile, John's wife, Emma Murdoch (Jennifer Connelly), is concerned because she has not seen him in weeks, and their marriage is in great trouble. And more to the point, why can nobody who tries to make their way to Shell Beach remember how to get there? Why does there seem to be no world outside of the few city blocks that most of the film takes place in? And why on Earth are these baldies in the trenchcoats able to make obscene gestures at the laws of physics?

    Truth be told, Dark City is an inaccessible piece that even the bare description above takes a lot of effort to derive. I could simply recite what happens on screen word for word, but the director's cut was specifically designed to keep the important points a bit of a surprise, and I want to respect that. Neither version is particularly great, but the director's cut has the virtue of not having had vital pieces of storytelling excised, and pitiful attempts made to patch the holes using a narrative prologue. The biggest problem, I think, lies in the fact that the story takes place in a world where the physical world can be altered to suit the needs of characters (and the plot), with not a great deal being done to help anchor the audience in the story. The characters are as deep as a puddle, and it is very fair to accuse the film of being more about arranging cool visual effects or shots than telling a story.

    Truthfully, the director's cut does go a long way to alleviate that accusation, but one still gets a feeling that the director's first question when planning the film was "hey, wouldn't it be cool if we could make a building change shape in accelerated real-time whilst our hero climbs up it?". Hence, if you have never seen Dark City before, a rental is advised before committing the money necessary to own this release.

    If you have seen Dark City in either form and like it, then this basically is the release you should own. If you disliked the theatrical version, the director's cut will probably not make you change your mind. If you are simply looking for a demonstration disc, then read on.

Video

    Dark City was a first-generation release on DVD-Video, and while it never won any awards for its quality, it did make a whole generation who grew up with VHS excited for what home video could become in a digital medium. I say this to provide some context to my next statement. This BD-Video release of Dark City blows the equivalent DVD-Video away in every conceivable way.

    The transfer is presented in the aspect ratio of 2.35:1 within a 1920 by 1080 progressive window.

    The transfer is sharp. It is the little things that make the biggest difference, I find, between different resolutions, and Dark City is no exception. Little things like the details in actors' eyes or the readability of texts in signs have always held the greatest appeal to me, and this transfer delivers such small detail in spades. It is not quite as rich in detail as transfers of later-generation films such as Underworld: Evolution, but it is close.

    This is a dark film. No, let me repeat that with the proper emphasis: this is a dark film. The entire story, with the exception of some "memories" and shots at the end of the film, takes place at night. Lighting on the set is minimal, and the costumes of the aliens in particular are barely discernable from the pitch black of the background a lot of the time. It is therefore amazing that so much detail is visible in the image. Little folds and cosmetic details in the costumes are more visible than ever, and a subtle delineation exists between the black parts of the image and the really black parts of the image. No low-level noise was noted.

    What little colour, in the sense of other than black, white, or flesh, exists in the film is either in such briefly-seen locations as Shell Beach, a few set designs, or a handful of costumes. The transfer renders all of these bursts of colour quite accurately, with no bleeds or misregistration noted. Flesh tones are accurate and consistent.

    Compression artefacts do not appear in this transfer. Film-to-video artefacts consist of what looks like minor wobble at occasional points in the film proper, as well as in the end credits. I have to admit this might have been intended in the credits, but the slight up-and-down wobble during the aliens' conference at 22:14 is a bit distracting once one notices it. A minor moiré effect also occurs on the windows of Walenski's office. If I had to guess, given the quality of the rest of the transfer, I would say this effect occurred in principal photography. Film artefacts were few in number, and usually were unnoticable due to the very dark nature of the image. The occasional black mark would appear over a colour other than black, but you really need to be looking for such artefacts to notice them.

    If New Line has used the same video transfer on this disc as they did on the Region A equivalent, and there is no reason to think otherwise at this stage, digital noise reduction has been applied. It has been applied judiciously rather than indiscriminately, but sometimes things do take on that waxy appearance that is characteristic of noise-reduced transfers. Disappointing, yes, but given the rest of the presentation, it is perfectly acceptable.

    I watched the film with the sole subtitle option, English for the Hearing Impaired, enabled. These subtitles are quite accurate to the spoken dialogue and the sung songs.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    I made a comment in a long-ago posted review to the effect that VHS was dead, and it was all due to the soundtrack that the disc I was reviewing at the time offered. Well, I sometimes find comfort in repeating myself, so here it is: DVD-Video is dead. Long live Blu-ray Disc.

    A total of six soundtracks are offered on this BD. The first, and default, is the original English dialogue in DTS HD Master Audio 7.1, which I will describe in loving detail shortly. Note that the other soundtracks cannot be accessed by pressing the Audio button on your remote, and must be specifically accessed from the menu. It is also worth mentioning that some can only be accessed from the director's cut whilst others can only be accessed from the theatrical cut. These are a collection of five audio commentaries, all of which are presented in DTS Stereo. More on those in due course, too.

    The dialogue is very clear and well-separated from the rest of the soundtrack at all times. Understanding it can be another matter, but that is the nature of the plot involved. That old saying about how we know what the words mean but the sentence they form makes no sense to us can frequently be applied to Dark City's dialogue. Audio sync was occasionally very slightly out, but in contrast to the DVD as I remember it, only when we heard the teeth-clicking effects from a couple of characters. This is also one of those subtle problems one has to specifically seek out in order to fully notice.

    The music in this film consists of a score by Trevor Jones, and some renditions of previously existing numbers performed by Jennifer Connelly's singing double, Anita Kelsey. The score is one of the best elements of the film, and much like a John Williams score in the Star Wars franchise, it helps set the mood. Heavy use of flanged strings and percussion is the consistent motif here. The director's cut adds another musical performance of Connelly syncing to Kelsey's voice. Both of these performances are quite peculiar, with Connelly looking like she is fighting barbituates to stay upright and singing whilst Kelsey sounds like she is singing to a love interest. In either case, a lot of music that was not in the original theatrical edition adds something to the score.

    The surround channels are utilised with some frequency to support the score music and environmental effects. It is easy to forget that they are active, simply because they are outputting a signal at virtually all times. Not having the full 7.1 channels to play with, I can only guess at how the extra channels are used. If they are used anything like the rears in a 5.1 channel configuration, then they would be quite pleasant to listen to. At my reference listening level, the sound field is quite overwhelming, with moments that do not have split-surround, directional, or other such effects being the exception. In addition, the separation between dialogue, effects, and music that is offered by the lossless compression makes this a great point of interest where Blu-ray Disc is concerned. Can film soundtracks be made to sound richer, warmer, or simply more spacious than this in future Blu-ray releases? I sort of hope not, as these discs already give me a serious sensory overload at times. But on the same token, I am dying to hear BD-Video with the sound pushed to its absolute limits. If this is it, then I am already well-satisfied.

    The subwoofer is used with some frequency, but is also generally silent during the extensive dialogue sequences. It usually accompanies uses of the so-called tuning ability, and the redesigns of the city that occur at several points. It is integrated well with the rest of the soundtrack despite the somewhat sporadic nature of its use.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    A substantial number of extras are present. Some of them are of great quality, to boot. All audio commentaries are presented in DTS Stereo.

Menu

Audio Commentary - Alex Proyas (Director)

Audio Commentary - Roger Ebert (Journalist)

    Easily the most interesting commentary on the disc, Ebert talks about his impressions of the film and of the director's cut compared to the original release. He does heap a lot of praise on the film that I feel is not justified by the content, but he is quite interesting to hear.

Audio Commentary - Lem Dobbs (Writer), David S. Goyer (Writer)

    This audio commentary begins with David S. Goyer introducing himself and explaining some of the decisions made in the film. Lem Dobbs is rather less engaging. This is easily the least of the five audio commentaries on offer, mostly because the participants are, to varying degrees, as boring as hell. And I speak as a person who has five complete manuscripts sitting on his hard drive, so I cannot imagine anyone who is not into the writing trade being able to sit through more than five minutes of this.

Audio Commentary - Alex Proyas (Director), David S. Goyer (Writer), Lem Dobbs (Writer), Dariusz Wolski (Director Of Photography), and Patrick Tatopoulos (Production Designer)

    This audio commentary can only be accessed from the theatrical edition of the film. It seems to have been cut together from multiple recordings, rather than all of the participants being recorded in the same session. This is not the most engaging audio commentary, but it does impart the occasional piece of information that justifies the investment of time.

Audio Commentary - Roger Ebert (Journalist)

    This audio commentary is all Ebert talking at some length about film theory and how it applies to interpreting the film, among other subjects. This is the kind of commentary track Steven Soderbergh meant when he said that it is possible to learn more from an audio commentary than a year of film school. It takes some effort to absorb all the information that he shares, but few audio commentaries are this rewarding.

Theatrical Trailer

    Only accessible from the theatrical cut menu, this two minute, seventeen second trailer is a very strong indication that that the studio just had no idea how to sell the film. It is presented in the aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with DTS 5.1 audio, and seems more like a short music video than a trailer. The standard definition also makes it come across as a lot less professional-looking than it otherwise would have.

Notes - Neil Gaiman On Dark City

    This page of text is basically two paragraphs of Neil Gaiman offering his opinion regarding the content of Dark City. It is only accessible from the theatrical cut menu.

Notes - The Metropolis Comparison

    This eleven-page set of production notes tries to draw a comparison between Fritz Lang's masterpiece and Dark City. It is not entirely successful due to falling into merely quoting reviews of the former. It can only be accessed from the theatrical cut extras menu.

Photo Gallery

    I have never had the patience for these still galleries, and this is a good example of why. The content is merely a series of stills presented against a 1080P 1.78:1 still of a set, with numbering in the lower right corner. No audio accompaniment or notes regarding what we are actually looking at are offered. You know, things that might actually make this interesting. This extra can only be accessed from the director's cut extras menu.

Featuerette - Introduction by Alex Proyas

    This five minute featurette begins with a statement by Roger Ebert before Proyas explains in part why this director's cut exists. The featurette cuts back and forth between these two men, who substantiate the reasons why a director's cut was made, and certain stylistic choices. It is presented in the aspect ratios of 1.78:1 and 2.35:1, with DTS Stereo audio. Whilst it is in standard definition, the 16:9 Enhancement allows for a degree of sharpness that makes the low resolution somewhat more tolerable in light of the quality of the content. This extra can only be accessed from the director's cut extras menu.

Featurette - Memories Of Shell Beach

    This forty-three minute and twenty-five second featurette is presented in the aspect ratios of 1.78:1 and 2.35:1 with DTS Stereo audio. This standard-def documentary concerns the process of writing the script, convincing a studio to fund the production, and filming. Again, the 16:9 Enhancement makes it somewhat more tolerable in this low resolution, but the excerpts from the film made me gently weep for the possibility of more resolution. This extra can only be accessed from the director's cut extras menu.

Featurette - Architecture Of Dreams

    Thirty-three minutes and fifty seconds, in the aspect ratios of 1.78:1 and 2.35:1 with DTS Stereo audio. This is a bit of an extension of the previous featurette, or at least comes across that way. This extra can only be accessed from the director's cut extras menu.

Director's Cut Fact Track

    This is a subtitle stream that points out differences between this cut of the film and the original theatrical cut, among other interesting tidbits. For some reason, the audio commentaries cannot be played back whilst this stream is active.

    The video transfer is excellent, with only a small collection of issues holding it back from reference quality.

    The audio transfer is of reference quality where films of this age are concerned.

    The extras are somewhat numerous, and the video extras are all in SD, but the package does score a few points for quality of presentation.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall