This one really got slept on back in '98. While it's admittedly a bit rough around the edges, it has a great and interesting concept and a lot of heart behind it that makes me love it.
I feel that Kiefer Sutherland's choices for Dr. Schreber were very well thought out. Not bumbling, as you believed, but brilliant and misunderstood. Socially inept, having had no real human interaction in who knows how long, and the sole human being burdened with the knowledge of what the city really is. A haunted, broken man, and terribly lonely. It's a wonderful thing watching him become more self-assured as he realizes he's no longer alone, having found in John someone he can at last confide in.
Before the Matrix, there was Dark City. The Thirteenth Floor and Existenz also came out within a month or two of the Matrix, and have extremely compatible vibes.
This is one of my favorites! Alex Proyas made two cult masterpieces with THE CROW and DARK CITY. After he has repeatedly disappointed me. Glad you went with the Directors Cut first. The voice over of the theatrical gives away the mystery in the first 30 seconds.
Oh good. You watched the Director's cut. The theatrical version has an annoying narration by Sutherland that spoils bits of the movie. I saw this in the the theater and loved it. It was also the first DVD that I ever bought before I even had a player for it, just in anticipation of when I would eventually own a DVD player. I now own the Director's cut too. Love it so much. Though the effects in the end when they start flying around don't quite work. Still a great movie. Also, the beginning of The Matrix was filmed on the same sets to save money. They showed that footage to their producers and got more money to film all over Sydney Australia.
This is an underrated film. I've always caught bits of it on TV, but enough to make me interested, so I got the DVD. No, Jennifer Connelly didn't sing in the original version of the 1998 film Dark City, but she did lip-sync to Anita Kelsey's singing voice. However, Connelly did sing in the director's cut of the film.
Coby, you've been watching some bangers lately. First Titane and now Dark City. Bravo! Could you do a David Lynch movie in memoriam? My heart broke when I heard he passed 😢
One of my all time favorites. My reading is that the "aliens" are artists, and their medium is not music, or dance, or poetry but the human mind. Their goal is the same as art, to get a greater understanding of human nature. Alex Proyas, the director, is a bit of a two-hit wonder. The Crow is pretty good, and Dark City is great, but his other films are just so-so. I think with Dark City that Proyas and the other screenwriters each had a slightly different idea of the story and the meaning, but the tension between their different visions combined to make something much greater than the individual views.
Coby!! You watched DARK CITY!! The amazingly obscure film that was The Matrix before The Matrix. It was soooo cool, and nobody watched it. It was never promoted. It was barely released. And you watched it! Fantastic.
Once again Coby you hit it out of the park. I love watching your reactions, and this time you caught a pothole that I missed in one of my favorite movies. The alien squid monsters never should have allowed anyone to have a gun that works against them. Big plot hole there. But yeah you can see the influence this movie had on inception in The matrix. And as far as I remember all the effects of practical. So when the buildings are mashing together those are models. Sometimes they filmed it in reverse. This is a little hidden gem it's a great movie. Had a good piece of science fiction in the grand tradition of somewhat pulpy sci-fi going back to the 1930s. I can't wait to see what movie you react to next.
Another very slept on 90s action movie... "The 13th Warrior" with Antonio Banderas. Fantastic movie who's plot you might get if you're a fan of epic medieval poetry.
Great movie. What a suprise another movie that came out the same time as this movie and the matrix is the 13th floor as far as I know no one reacted to it. Also the lead actor in this movie is a great actor you should see him in The Knight Tale and The Illusionist
I AM SHOCKED that people are requesting that movie. So many people have no clue it exists. It's crazy that they had three movies about being in a VR world that feels real in 1999 (with eXistenZ being the third)
@@shect1 the 13th Floor got lost in the wake of The Matrix phenomenon even though it predates The Matrix. The Matrix will always hold a place for me because it was my last date night with me & my pregnant wife with our first kid...and I remember feeling sorry for the 13th floor because it got lost behind the "bullet time" popularity of the Matrix.
A big shoutout to the Strugatsky brothers (Soviet/Russian sci-fi writers) is long overdue. The premise of this film is based on their novel Doomed City.
I KNOW I saw this at some point... probably stumbled across it on cable. but I do NOT remember anything about it. so... sure! I'll check it out with Coby!
Hopefully this is the director's cut. The monologue at the beginning of the normal version destroys the mystery and reveals the secret of the entire movie. The movie is art and philosophy. In the late 90s, the movie industry was at its peak with intelligent and good movies like Matrix, The Thirteenth Floor and eXistenZ etc. Definitely a very good choice.
Eh, there are plenty of films and stories that make "reality" out to be a sham, it's a well worn theme in fiction and cinema, and there are always novel ways to explore it.
Well this is spooky: I'd totally forgotten about Dark City until yesterday, when I found myself looknig at it because of a totally unrelated line of research, and now here you are reacting to it. It's almost like somebody's controlling things behind the scenes...
The other awesome sleeper from the same era was "The Thirteenth Floor". It was released almost simultaneously with The Matrix and I share the opinion of many other people who feel THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR is what the The Matrix probably wanted to be but it just got bloated by it's desire to be a Hollywood-style block buster with its tons of gratuitous violence and special effects. DARK CITY and THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR, on the other hand, are true works of art in the Sci-Fi genre.
Alex Proyas who directed this movie was very angry when he found out the studio executives had given the Wachowski brothers some ideas for their Matrix movie by talking about his movie "Dark City", which was already "in the can", so to speak, but it wasn't completely edited yet despite it was done before the Matrix. Not only did the studio give some of Proyas script ideas but the Matrix also used some of the studio sets from Dark City as well. I'm surprised Proyas didn't sue them over that because it took another year to get Dark City edited and out into Theaters but by that time the Matix was already out in theaters and people mistake Matrix as being made before Dark City which is false.
While I do not disagree with this, either [someone giving the Wachowskis 'access to' some of Proyas' ideas, etc.], I have long found 'the Matrix' movies to be much more derivative of (author) Grant Morrison's The Invisibles series (which has some tenets clearly derived from and expanded into a more 🤔🤔(let's go with) 'humanized' take on/"versionized" Lovecraftian mythology, itself.🤷). [If you haven't read the Invisibles [published as a comic book series] I can recommend it with great confidence, to you. 👍 --I, also, have to say that Proyas, himself, has a very "Philip K. Dicki-ian" sensibility/sought style, in his work (and this film demonstrates that most, i.m.o.). Nothing I would say is "directly derived from"/referencing Philip K. Dick's works ...but 🤷🤷 ...well, 🤷 ...if you read/have read Dick, ...you know.
Hi Coby, your reactions are top tier! I’ve got a request for you. A movie called “Big Fish” by Tim Burton. In my opinion it’s his best film. It’s really under rated and there aren’t many reactions to it on RUclips but I swear it’s a great movie and everyone would really enjoy it. Anyways I’ll keep being a fan of your channel if you react to it or not. Dark City was a banger too, glad you watched it.
Boy, I REALLY hope this is the Director's Cut. The theatrical release is a good movie, but, like Blade Runner, idiotic studio notes caused some really stupid narration to spoil huge parts of the movie. Directo's Cut gives you the story beats at appropriate and effective times.
I saw this in the theater. We got there late. So we missed the scroll. I still think the theatrical cut is good minus the scroll. This came out before the matrix. Saw that in the theater also.
40:22 its easy to pretend stephen kings Hearts in Atlantis ( 2001 ) is a Dark City sequel with old man murdoch back on earth moving town to town trying to stay a step ahead of a group of strangers trying to track him down to inact revenge I looked it up to make sure i got the date correct and just saw its currently a free youtube movie
I don’t hear unnecessary narration, lucky you it’s the Directors Cut, a MUCH BETTER version of this movie. In fact, because the studio interference made the theatrical version the bomb that it was, it should be hidden away and this version the only available to watch.
You keep trying to name the vibe or aesthetic of this movie, you’re looking for Film Noir, a style of filmmaking prevalent from the late 1940’s through the mid-1950’s. Film Noir had a massive influence on the look, feel and cinematography of this movie.
I like Coby, she is very knowledgeable but I absolutely hate that she calls every single character by the actor's name. That is so f*****g annoying, just stop doing that!!!!
I'm one of the few who didn't think that Dr. Schreber's intro in the theatrical version spoiled the movie. It gave me some idea of what to expect. In fact, his last line ("I have betrayed my own kind.") I thought was absolutely chilling. Also, the Director's Cut, while being just as good, seems more leisurely by comparison.
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1998, same year as Blade, The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan. A nice year for movies.
This one really got slept on back in '98. While it's admittedly a bit rough around the edges, it has a great and interesting concept and a lot of heart behind it that makes me love it.
I feel that Kiefer Sutherland's choices for Dr. Schreber were very well thought out. Not bumbling, as you believed, but brilliant and misunderstood. Socially inept, having had no real human interaction in who knows how long, and the sole human being burdened with the knowledge of what the city really is. A haunted, broken man, and terribly lonely. It's a wonderful thing watching him become more self-assured as he realizes he's no longer alone, having found in John someone he can at last confide in.
Well put. I never looked at it that way.
The director had a streak of fun high-concept movies starting with The Crow. His follow-ups are I, Robot, Knowing...and probably stop there.
You're the first reactor I've seen who at least partly understands the fish scene!
Before the Matrix, there was Dark City. The Thirteenth Floor and Existenz also came out within a month or two of the Matrix, and have extremely compatible vibes.
Don't forget Altered states. That one is a mind bender
Love eXistenZ so much.
Excellent choice. I would also say that this movie is why Director's Cuts exist.
This is one of my favorites! Alex Proyas made two cult masterpieces with THE CROW and DARK CITY. After he has repeatedly disappointed me. Glad you went with the Directors Cut first. The voice over of the theatrical gives away the mystery in the first 30 seconds.
Oh good. You watched the Director's cut. The theatrical version has an annoying narration by Sutherland that spoils bits of the movie.
I saw this in the the theater and loved it. It was also the first DVD that I ever bought before I even had a player for it, just in anticipation of when I would eventually own a DVD player. I now own the Director's cut too. Love it so much. Though the effects in the end when they start flying around don't quite work. Still a great movie.
Also, the beginning of The Matrix was filmed on the same sets to save money. They showed that footage to their producers and got more money to film all over Sydney Australia.
I'm so glad you watched the directors cut, the other explains everything the movie is in the first 5 min.
Jennifer Connelly is gorgeous in this movie ... almost as gorgeous as Coby.
It's impossible to find a time when Jennifer Connelly wasn't gorgeous.
She's in my top 3 most gorgeous actress alive imo!
Nicely played.
Alex Proyas 2nd Magnum Opus,
A criminally underrated gem of fantasy Sci-Fi.
This is an underrated film. I've always caught bits of it on TV, but enough to make me interested, so I got the DVD. No, Jennifer Connelly didn't sing in the original version of the 1998 film Dark City, but she did lip-sync to Anita Kelsey's singing voice. However, Connelly did sing in the director's cut of the film.
Coby, you've been watching some bangers lately. First Titane and now Dark City. Bravo! Could you do a David Lynch movie in memoriam? My heart broke when I heard he passed 😢
One of my all time favorites. My reading is that the "aliens" are artists, and their medium is not music, or dance, or poetry but the human mind. Their goal is the same as art, to get a greater understanding of human nature.
Alex Proyas, the director, is a bit of a two-hit wonder. The Crow is pretty good, and Dark City is great, but his other films are just so-so. I think with Dark City that Proyas and the other screenwriters each had a slightly different idea of the story and the meaning, but the tension between their different visions combined to make something much greater than the individual views.
Coby!! You watched DARK CITY!! The amazingly obscure film that was The Matrix before The Matrix. It was soooo cool, and nobody watched it. It was never promoted. It was barely released. And you watched it! Fantastic.
My all-time favorite. And repeated viewings are rewarded. Glad you liked it, Coby!😁
One of my favorite lesser-known 90s movies, good choice!
Once again Coby you hit it out of the park. I love watching your reactions, and this time you caught a pothole that I missed in one of my favorite movies.
The alien squid monsters never should have allowed anyone to have a gun that works against them. Big plot hole there. But yeah you can see the influence this movie had on inception in The matrix. And as far as I remember all the effects of practical. So when the buildings are mashing together those are models. Sometimes they filmed it in reverse.
This is a little hidden gem it's a great movie. Had a good piece of science fiction in the grand tradition of somewhat pulpy sci-fi going back to the 1930s.
I can't wait to see what movie you react to next.
Woo, this was my suggestion! Thanks Coby.
Jennifer Connelly, so beautiful!
Another very slept on 90s action movie... "The 13th Warrior" with Antonio Banderas. Fantastic movie who's plot you might get if you're a fan of epic medieval poetry.
Super interesting choice Mr Personal Request!
If he could tune glass, tune a door. Do you think he could Tuna-Fish?
Great movie. What a suprise another movie that came out the same time as this movie and the matrix is the 13th floor as far as I know no one reacted to it. Also the lead actor in this movie is a great actor you should see him in The Knight Tale and The Illusionist
I WHOLEHEARTEDLY...agree with all of the 13th Floor"...🙏 requests!!!👍🏾
I AM SHOCKED that people are requesting that movie. So many people have no clue it exists. It's crazy that they had three movies about being in a VR world that feels real in 1999 (with eXistenZ being the third)
@@shect1 the 13th Floor got lost in the wake of The Matrix phenomenon even though it predates The Matrix. The Matrix will always hold a place for me because it was my last date night with me & my pregnant wife with our first kid...and I remember feeling sorry for the 13th floor because it got lost behind the "bullet time" popularity of the Matrix.
Fun fact, the very creepy Mr.Hand who gets johns memories wrote the Rocky Horror Picture Show
A big shoutout to the Strugatsky brothers (Soviet/Russian sci-fi writers) is long overdue. The premise of this film is based on their novel Doomed City.
I KNOW I saw this at some point... probably stumbled across it on cable. but I do NOT remember anything about it. so... sure! I'll check it out with Coby!
Reality bending movies - The Butterfly Effect. Now that's a dark movie.
what a TRIPPY movie! 😳 thank you for a great reaction 👍☺
Hopefully this is the director's cut. The monologue at the beginning of the normal version destroys the mystery and reveals the secret of the entire movie.
The movie is art and philosophy.
In the late 90s, the movie industry was at its peak with intelligent and good movies like Matrix, The Thirteenth Floor and eXistenZ etc.
Definitely a very good choice.
It is the director’s cut! 🙌🏼
whoever said "like the matrix" spoiled the movie more than if it was the theatrical cut.
ooh, yeah, The Thirteenth Floor! So good.
Also, love eXistenz, up the Cronenberg fans!
Eh, there are plenty of films and stories that make "reality" out to be a sham, it's a well worn theme in fiction and cinema, and there are always novel ways to explore it.
Nice choice. I remember watching "13th floor" at the same time as this one, both were good.
Now she needs to see *The Thirteen Floor* imo. 🙂
Great reaction Coby! Thanks! I never saw this.
The Matrix before The Matrix, a really underrated and ignored film. The cast was pretty amazing as well.
Coby, you really need to watch Terry Gilliam's Brazil.
Alex Proyas also directed The Crow. He should have had a bigger career.
I had the biggest crush on Jennifer Connelly after seeing this movie.
If he wants dinner ask he had to do is "tune-a-casserole" pun intended
This is my favorite under rated movie of all time.
Well this is spooky: I'd totally forgotten about Dark City until yesterday, when I found myself looknig at it because of a totally unrelated line of research, and now here you are reacting to it. It's almost like somebody's controlling things behind the scenes...
The other awesome sleeper from the same era was "The Thirteenth Floor". It was released almost simultaneously with The Matrix and I share the opinion of many other people who feel THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR is what the The Matrix probably wanted to be but it just got bloated by it's desire to be a Hollywood-style block buster with its tons of gratuitous violence and special effects. DARK CITY and THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR, on the other hand, are true works of art in the Sci-Fi genre.
I love this movie, so much more thought provoking than The Matrix, IMO. Thanks for the video, Coby!👍
Alex Proyas who directed this movie was very angry when he found out the studio executives had given the Wachowski brothers some ideas for their Matrix movie by talking about his movie "Dark City", which was already "in the can", so to speak, but it wasn't completely edited yet despite it was done before the Matrix. Not only did the studio give some of Proyas script ideas but the Matrix also used some of the studio sets from Dark City as well. I'm surprised Proyas didn't sue them over that because it took another year to get Dark City edited and out into Theaters but by that time the Matix was already out in theaters and people mistake Matrix as being made before Dark City which is false.
While I do not disagree with this, either [someone giving the Wachowskis 'access to' some of Proyas' ideas, etc.], I have long found 'the Matrix' movies to be much more derivative of (author) Grant Morrison's The Invisibles series (which has some tenets clearly derived from and expanded into a more 🤔🤔(let's go with) 'humanized' take on/"versionized" Lovecraftian mythology, itself.🤷). [If you haven't read the Invisibles [published as a comic book series]
I can recommend it with great confidence, to you. 👍
--I, also, have to say that Proyas, himself, has a very "Philip K. Dicki-ian" sensibility/sought style, in his work (and this film demonstrates that most, i.m.o.). Nothing I would say is "directly derived from"/referencing Philip K. Dick's works ...but 🤷🤷 ...well, 🤷 ...if you read/have read Dick, ...you know.
Hi Coby, your reactions are top tier! I’ve got a request for you. A movie called “Big Fish” by Tim Burton. In my opinion it’s his best film. It’s really under rated and there aren’t many reactions to it on RUclips but I swear it’s a great movie and everyone would really enjoy it. Anyways I’ll keep being a fan of your channel if you react to it or not. Dark City was a banger too, glad you watched it.
Another movie of this calibur is - The 13th Floor. If you do here or at home, I hope you enjoy it.
"chewning"
JenCon still had her baby fat during this time. What a beauty. This is Flat Earth!
If you liked this, you should check out Jacob's Ladder by Adrian Lyme, starring Tim Robbins. It's a bit darker but has a lot of the same vibes.
Boy, I REALLY hope this is the Director's Cut. The theatrical release is a good movie, but, like Blade Runner, idiotic studio notes caused some really stupid narration to spoil huge parts of the movie. Directo's Cut gives you the story beats at appropriate and effective times.
That's the theatrical poster, so probably not? 🤷🏼♂️
Oh yay, it actually is the director’s cut!
@@CobyShow Excellent! Really looking forward to this, one of my all time top movies.
The theatrical release has a voiceover at the beginning that basically spoils everything.
I saw this in the theater. I remember it was so good because we had no idea what was going on.
We came to the show late.
love ya coby x
I saw this in the theater. We got there late. So we missed the scroll.
I still think the theatrical cut is good minus the scroll.
This came out before the matrix. Saw that in the theater also.
Do YOU know the way to Shell Beach?
40:22 its easy to pretend stephen kings Hearts in Atlantis ( 2001 ) is a Dark City sequel with old man murdoch back on earth moving town to town trying to stay a step ahead of a group of strangers trying to track him down to inact revenge
I looked it up to make sure i got the date correct and just saw its currently a free youtube movie
"It is kindof matrixy", not The Matrix is very Dark Cityish. Especially when you view the entire Matrix Trilogy as a whole.
Coby please watch PLATOON , i love your reactions❤
Ever thought about doing some reactions to David Lynch's work?
City of Lost Children
I've only seen the Theatrical Cut. I like it, but have always wanted to see the Director's Cut. The Theatrical version feels rushed.
Nobody ever seems to recognise Riff Raff
Ok, so does Coby know *everyone* in Hollywood? :-)
And yet never watched any movies?!?
yeah! one of my suggestions!
Not sure if I can watch this. I love this movie and not sure if I can take criticism
Hi i'm new here and can you watch that animated feature film no one remembers.
"Eleanor's Secret" (2009)
I think the fans of you and your channel would enjoy your reaction to: Dead Zone 1983 Directed: David Cronenberg
what are you talking about. they only did that to save money on light bulbs.
Take the Matrix trilogy, make it into one movie, and you've got Dark City.
Good choice
I don't know if you've done Sin City and Sin City II.
I don’t hear unnecessary narration, lucky you it’s the Directors Cut, a MUCH BETTER version of this movie. In fact, because the studio interference made the theatrical version the bomb that it was, it should be hidden away and this version the only available to watch.
A spiritual sequel that takes place in the same universe, from Alex Proyas: ruclips.net/video/fRCRsTVshzY/видео.htmlsi=fCLnquAOQbjdtB5n
One of my favorite sci fi films. If you can find the time, also check out The Thirteenth Floor (1999).
You keep trying to name the vibe or aesthetic of this movie, you’re looking for Film Noir, a style of filmmaking prevalent from the late 1940’s through the mid-1950’s. Film Noir had a massive influence on the look, feel and cinematography of this movie.
Is it weird that this movie kind of gave me a man-crush on Richard O'Brien?
Why do they call it a dark city?
30:40
I like Coby, she is very knowledgeable but I absolutely hate that she calls every single character by the actor's name.
That is so f*****g annoying, just stop doing that!!!!
START asking what movies you should react to before you lose subscribers!!
Or She can react to things SHE chooses, because it's HER channel.
I know people hate the VO at the top of the theatrical cut, but I think the director's cut is way more uneven for a first watch.
I'm one of the few who didn't think that Dr. Schreber's intro in the theatrical version spoiled the movie. It gave me some idea of what to expect. In fact, his last line ("I have betrayed my own kind.") I thought was absolutely chilling. Also, the Director's Cut, while being just as good, seems more leisurely by comparison.
…but it was cool seeing Coby finally get clued in to what they're doing
Thank you.
If you are interested in another young Jennifer Connelly movie please take a look at "The Rocketeer" (1991).