Dark City - Nothing Is Real.

(1998) ★★★★★

Dark City, what the title implies is that a city where people can never get to see the daylight. They always kinda live in the dark and don't feel weird about that, coz they, when it reaches midnight, will fall asleep and be imprinted some new memories that will make them become someone else mentally. So if you're one of them in Dark City, you basically don't know who you really are.

Alright, who's got the power to control the city then? What do you think? Aliens of course. They live underground and use corpses as their hosts. That's not the secret though. It reveals right at the beginning of the film, telling you it's not a crime thriller but a sci-fi movie. Then what's the biggest surprise there? I think you wouldn't be able to guess it if you first see it. It'd totally blow you out of your mind.

There're lots of puzzles in the film. And you'll be picking up pieces of a big puzzle as the story goes. When the big secret unveils in the end, you'd be flabbergasted and probably throw in some WTHs like you've been kept in the dark for ages and all of a sudden you see the light that would kinda blind you. Frankly, I don't know how to talk about this film coz it's too deep and philosophical to be talked about. Image we're all sleeping and dreaming that we've got this one life. We don't wake up till we die. But this man named John Murdoch happens to have the willpower to wake up while he's still alive and see that we're all sleeping slaves. That this whole world, this city is nothing but an illusion. Then he goes back to sleep and tell his fellas the truth. What do you think his fellas would respond? Would they believe him anyway? That is, however, not what exactly happens in the film, but the philosophy of it is pretty much like that I guess.

Compared with The Matrix, Dark City is nothing visually special, but what it tries to say is very deep and not easy to comprehend. That's why I've seemingly said a lot, but actually I don't know exactly what I was trying to say. It's like studying philosophy that would only help you wonder but wouldn't do you any good if you wanna know what life's all about. Dark City is really a must-see sci-fi spectacular in terms of imagination and inspiration.