Dark City Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		5.0

Dark City Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 31, 2025

There are perhaps surprisingly few films that I'd say I don't "merely" love but also (as odd as this may sound) respect, and in that regard, Dark City would certainly make any short list I might be required to compile. This is a film that absolutely blew my mind when I first saw it theatrically years ago, and which has continued to impress with (many) repeated viewings through the years as it has been re-released in various home media formats (see my closing comments below in that regard). Alex Proyas' vision was a kind of crazy quilt pastiche with obvious tips o' bizarre oversized fedoras to Fritz Lang and Metropolis, while also being completely sui generis, even if it can be quite convincingly argued that subsequent entries like The Matrix co-opted large swaths of both content and style from Dark City, perhaps at least partially eclipsing it in the process.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given its visual virtuosity, Dark City had a very early release on 1080 Blu-ray at the veritable dawn of the format way back in 2008. Dustin Somner's Dark City Blu-ray review provides a wealth of plot information, a list of supplements and Dustin's reaction to the technical presentation. I will say Dustin's review was obviously written before the release of The Matrix, and I would only suggest that those who haven't seen this film yet and who have seen the Wachowski efforts just keep a running tab of the similarities between the two properties.

Dark City Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dark City is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. As of the writing of this review, I've only received the retail final of Arrow's 4K release, but I'm assuming the 1080 release has the same booklet, as tends to be Arrow's standard operating procedure. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the presentation(s):

Dark City has been restored by Arrow Films and is presented in tis original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 with 5.1, 2.0 stereo, and a new Dolby Atmos audio mix (downmixed to 7.1 on the Blu-ray edition). ,br>
Both the Theatrical Version and the Director's Cut are presented in 4K resolution in HDR10 and Dolby Vision.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K / 16 bit resolution at Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging. A 2K master was sourced for the sections unique to the Director's Cut version.

The film was restored in 4K resolution and coulour graded at Duplitech.

This new restored master of Dark City has been approved by Director of Photography Darlusz Wolski.

All materials sourced for this new master were made available by Warner Bros.

The Atmos mix was produced by Arrow Films and completed at Deluxe Audio, London.

QC review was completed by Pixelogic.

While I will once again cut directly to the chase and highly recommend fans of this film with the appropriate equipment opt for Arrow's 4K UHD release (which also offers an Atmos mix), those with "only" standard 1080 setups are in for a hugely enjoyable viewing experience of their own. This is an absolutely stunning account of one of the most visually splendiferous films of its (or perhaps any) era. Perhaps counter intuitively, or at least ironically given the film's title, I'd argue that both Arrow's 1080 and 4K version are noticeably brighter than the old New Line Cinema 1080 release from ages ago, but that is not a problem in any way, shape, or form. Instead, with a palette virtually bursting with bizarre grading choices and equally evocative lighting throughout any number of scenes, while again the 4K's HDR / Dolby Vision inevitably outshines this presentation, even this 1080 version provides a robust reproduction of an almost deliriously variant palette. Both the sickly greens and teals and warmer browns and golds of the film are offered here with gorgeous saturation and (even without the blandishments of HDR / Dolby Vision) appealing nuance. Both Arrow's 1080 and 4K presentations have a slightly more yellow grading than the old New Line 1080 release, something that actually may help give a semblance of naturalness to flesh tones even in oddly graded moments. Shadow detail is also noticeably improved when stacked up against the New Line release, Some of the vintage effects can't help but show their age.

Dark City Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This is actually one of the few releases from Arrow that I recall that follows what I might jokingly refer to as the "Disney strategy" of offering folddowns of Atmos mixes on 4K discs for their 1080 counterparts. That said, the DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 tracks on both versions of the film offered in this 1080 release provide an absolutely superb listening experience, with consistent immersion. While some of the overhead activity is obviously not rendered in the same way, there's still really impressive layering from the get go, with the bizarre washes of sound that open the movie. Over and over again this track delivers really superb surround activity, and the increasingly nightmarish events that John encounters have sonic counterparts sprinkled throughout the side and rear channels, especially as John starts to "see" the overnight transformations. Even cloistered interior scenes can offer nicely discrete channelization of ambient environmental effects (listen to the some of the background clamor in the police station, for one example). Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Dark City Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One - Director's Cut (1:51:49)

• Introduction by Alex Proyas (HD*; 4:51) actually features Roger Ebert first, and is from 2008.


• Commentaries

Director Alex Proyas (2025)




Film Critics Craig Anderson, Bruce Isaacs and Herschel Isaacs (2025)




Director Alex Proyas (2008)




Screenwriters Lem Dobbs & David S. Goyer (2008)




Film Critic Roger Ebert

• Return to Dark City (HD; 58:55) is beautifully produced new piece with a ton of fantastic interviews with key crew and cast personnel.


• I'm as Much in the Dark as You Are (HD; 19:50) is a whimsical visual essay by Josh Nelson, who offers a laundry list of noir and noir adjacent titles that may be of interest.


• Rats in a Maze (HD; 14:33) is a somewhat more sober visual essay looking at the use of mazes in the film.


• Design & Storyboards (HD; 14:08) features some amazing artwork.

*720

Disc Two - Theatrical Cut (1:40:32)

• Commentaries

Filmmakers Commentary (2008)




Film Critic Roger Ebert (2008)

• Memories of Shell Beach (HD; 43:26) is an archival making of featurette from 2008.


• The Architecture of Dreams (HD; 33:41) is a fascinating 2008 piece offering a quintet of perspectives about the film's meaning. Contributors include Alex Proyas, Lem Dobbs, Roger Ebert, Vivian Sobchak, Dana Polan and Rosemary Dinnage.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:23)


• Image Gallery (HD)

Dark City Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Though I haven't been able to find it online as of the writing of this review (and would absolutely love it if some enterprising collector has it in their archive), I am absolutely positive I saw an old Siskel & Ebert episode where they were touting the amazingness of that newfangled technology DVD and how Ebert had contributed a commentary track to a newly released DVD of Dark City, a film that if I recall correctly Ebert perhaps understandably given his involvement in the bonus items singled out as particularly apt for this "exciting new" home entertainment medium, as it provided access to all sorts of background and other supplemental content, not to mention at the time at least generally speaking relatively better video and audio presentations. Unless the world ends in the meantime and/or I manage to find my own Shell Beach and disappear into the ether, this release is going to pretty easily make my Top 10 for this year. This is an unbelievably prescient film that has even more power and I daresay ingenuity for contemporary eyes than it did even back in the, well, Dark Ages when it was originally released. Technical merits are first rate and once again Arrow has aggregated both an impressive array of on disc supplements as well as fantastic writing and other non disc swag presented in some nicely designed packaging. Highly recommended.