IMDb 7.5 1998 HD

Dark City

Dark City

1998
Mystery Science Fiction
101 min R Australia
7.334 / 10
7.5 IMDB

A man struggles with memories of his past, including a wife he cannot remember, in a nightmarish world with no sun and run by beings with telekinetic powers…

Personnel // Cast & Crew

Director Alex Proyas / Topher Dow / Emma Schofield / Martin Hallman / Julian Ryan / Deborah Antoniou / Steve E. Andrews / Rory Kilalea / Andrew Mason / Mojgan Khadem / Sophie Fabbri-Jackson / James McTeigue
Starring
Rufus Sewell / William Hurt / Kiefer Sutherland / Jennifer Connelly / Richard O'Brien / Ian Richardson / Bruce Spence / Colin Friels

How Viewers Describe This Film

Common themes and sentiments

atmospheric mysterious thought-provoking dark intriguing complex visually striking unsettling cult philosophical noir sci-fi

Reviews

P
Penelope Croft
May 13, 2026
4.5 / 5
4.5

From its opening moments, Dark City ensnares the viewer in its palpable atmosphere of mystery and dread. The film’s brilliance lies in its meticulous creation of a world without sun, a character in itself, populated by beings with…

A
Arthur Finch
May 13, 2026
4.0 / 5
4.0

Dark City is a rare gem, a wholly original vision that marries the grit of film noir with the cerebral complexities of science fiction. The perpetual night and the city's uncanny architecture create an immersive, dreamlike state. Rufus…

G
Genevieve Dubois
May 13, 2026
3.5 / 5
3.5

A visually striking, if sometimes convoluted, journey into memory and identity, Dark City presents a fascinating premise. Rufus Sewell navigates the bewildering narrative with a performance that effectively conveys his character’s disorientation. The film’s aesthetic, a dark, expressionistic…

M
Marcus Bellwether
May 13, 2026
4.0 / 5
4.0

Alex Proyas’s Dark City remains a triumph of imaginative filmmaking, a visually arresting neo-noir science fiction that dives deep into the human psyche. Sewell’s portrayal of a man unmoored from his own identity is compelling, matched by the…

E
Eleanor Vance
May 13, 2026
4.5 / 5
4.5

Dark City is a masterclass in atmosphere, a labyrinthine descent into a world where reality is a malleable construct. Rufus Sewell anchors the film with a performance of profound bewilderment and burgeoning defiance, grappling with a past he…

FAQs

The 'Strangers' are the enigmatic, telekinetic beings who control the city and its inhabitants in Dark City. Their purpose is to manipulate human memories and emotions, conducting experiments to understand the human soul. They operate in the perpetual darkness, altering the city's landscape and people's lives nightly. Their presence creates the film's central conflict, as they seek to maintain their control and understand human nature through their disturbing experiments.