These Movie Openings SUCK!

Goddam is Dark City a great film.

In fact, it's so great it's easy to see what sections of it were borrowed heavily in order to construct the backbone of The Matrix, not that anyone working on the project would admit to that of course. It's incredibly stylish, eery to the point where it verges on being a horror film, and always strings along the audience, teasing them with answers to the "what the !*$% hell is going on?" that permeates the film but never full delivering on it.

Well, that is unless you were unlucky enough to watch the original theatrical version of the film which completely revealed all the intricacies of the plot to you in the first five minutes. WHOOPS. WE GOT A WHOOPS OVER HERE GUYS.

Seriously there is a reason why fans of this film will insist you watch The Director's Cut because that smartly cuts out the narrated opener which explains in no small detail that the city itself is an experiment, controlled by The Strangers and that one man called Dr. Daniel Schreber is helping them in a move that betrays his own kind. I'm not joking, all of this is spelled out to you like you're a moron in the opening series of shots, rendering any suspense or intrigue lying in a roadside shallow grave.

I get that some of the events of the film are obtuse at best, but that's the entire enjoyment of a piece like this, so having the cliff notes before anything actually happens is like having your Dad talk to you about safe sex the first time you've got a romantic partner over in front of them, an absolute vibe-killer.