Dark City Blu-ray

Dark City

 (1998)

Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller



Upon awakening with a start in an icy bathtub in a strange room — with a woman's dead body inconveniently nearby — John Murdoch can't remember how he got there. With a police detective hot on his trail and a psychiatrist skulking around, Murdoch discovers that the key to his mystery is the presence of strange extraterrestrial creatures, the Strangers, who are experimenting with the memories of the humans in his city — from which there may be no escape. Ambitious sci-fi noir, with rich production design and a dense, Kafkaesque concept.

For more details about Dark City on Blu-ray, see the Dark City Blu-ray Review

Starring: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt, Richard O'Brien
Director: Alex Proyas

Dark City Blu-ray, Video Quality

 


Presented in 1080p utilizing the VC-1 codec (at an average bitrate of 23Mbps), Dark City is destined to remain one of the most controversial Blu-ray transfers on the market. Given the number of times I revisited the film on DVD, this newly-minted high-definition offering delivers a tremendous upgrade in coloring, black levels, and contrast, but the most profound improvement arrives in the form of increased clarity. I know I’m facing a hoard of videophiles preparing to decry any mention of exceptional clarity on this release, so before I go any further I should make light of New Line’s continued employment of digital noise reduction to remove film grain. Similar to the release of Pan’s Labyrinth (another exceptional film), the overall nature of the transfer appears plenty sharp, but upon closer inspection reveals a subtle drop in texturing across medium-distanced facial close-ups and intricacies on the fine stitching of clothing. Furthermore, slight halos occasionally surface around sharp transitions between dark and light aspects of the transfer, but their presence will only become noticeable if you’re studying the transfer with the intention of finding flaws. If we get down to specifics, I noticed one scene where aliasing became noticeable within the parallel lines of the drawn shades over a brightly lit window (1:16:10).

Despite my opinion of the transfer’s highly-competent visual experience, I’m aware the application of DNR will be a deal-breaker to some Blu-ray enthusiasts. As such, I’ve attempted to incorporate a wide variety of screenshots to give each viewer the opportunity to decide for themselves.

Dark City Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 


Regardless of your opinion regarding New Line’s remastering of the transfer, there’s little reason to complain when given a lossless 7.1 audio mix. The primary strength of the track lies in the musical score by composer Trevor Jones, who effectively builds a subtle base of tension, before beating us down with thunderous overtones. As the film initially opens, viewers are intimately aware of John’s Murdock’s state of despair and confusion, but those emotions are twice as powerful with the dichotomy of fast moving stringed instruments and ominous brass-horned crescendo’s. The roar of the orchestra usually accompanies the appearance of the mysterious “Strangers” as they glide into view, building the sense of foreboding with every step. A perfect example of this effect is the opening scene when the black-clothed figures emerge from the elevator of John’s apartment building. If you already own Dark City or have access to a copy, watch that scene and either mute the volume or imagine the effectiveness of the visuals if the musical score didn’t play a role.

As much as I enjoyed the arrangements throughout Dark City, there are certain stretches where the score becomes repetitive. The two jazzy numbers performed by Jennifer Connelly certainly help, but the film could use a bit more variety to spice things up. Additionally, there’s a tendency for dialog to become lost at times, since most characters speak at low volume levels and compete with the musical numbers that dominate the background during all but a handful of scenes. I wouldn’t consider it a deficiency of the audio track (since I found it easy to make out every word spoken), but in an ideal world the dialog would possess a richness that matches the proficiency of other elements in the mix.

Dark City Blu-ray, News and Updates

• Today on Blu-ray - July 29th - July 29, 2008


• New Line Announces Dark City Blu-ray Specs - May 15, 2008


• Dark City Gets Blu-ray Treatment - April 29, 2008


• Dark City Re-release May Be Coming to Blu-ray - April 3, 2008

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