Some sci-fi fans have claimed that The Matrix ripped off the obscure science fiction movie Dark City.
The Matrix made a significant cultural influence after its 1999 debut, inspiring two official sequels.
Just to refresh our minds, the movie depicts a future in which mankind is inadvertently imprisoned in The Matrix—a virtual world that sentient robots have constructed to divert people while utilising humans as a source of energy.
It was evident that the first movie, which had a budget of $63 million, elevated brought the cyberpunk subgenre into the forefront after earning a staggering $467.2 million at the box office.
Yet Dark City traveled in a similar direction a year before The Matrix entered our collective psyche.
The central theme is humanity’s unconscious slavery within a complex illusion made by non-humans. The movie also shares themes of love, identity, and reality with The Matrix.
Surprisingly, The Matrix uses the exact same sets as Dark City used, but the parallels don’t end there. Both were filmed in Australia and comparing the exteriors of the two films reveals some similarities. The rooftops John Murdoch’s character jumps across in Dark City are the same ones Trinity runs through at the beginning of The Matrix.
With a compelling story, challenging topics, and a fully realised imagined universe, Dark City is a significant and influential film in and of itself. Together with Sewell, the cast also includes Kiefer Sutherland, William Hurt, and Jennifer Connelly. The renowned film reviewer Roger Ebert named it the greatest movie of 1998 after it was nominated for and eventually won several awards in the year of release. Others could argue that it merited a separate sequel.
One user wrote: “Dark City is a fantastic film, whose cast includes Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, and William Hurt. I could see parts of Matrix being derivative of DC, but the two films have enough uniqueness about them that they shouldn’t be considered copies.”
Another added: “One of the most iconic things of the original Matrix was realizing that the whole thing was a blatant rip-off of Dark City.
While a third person agreed: “Both lifted from the book Necromancer (as well as any other sci-fi since the books release). All good art borrows from what has come before. The best does it in a way that you don’t realize.”
“Dark City is an awesome flick. I remember going to the theater to see it with my older brother. Aside from scenes where harness cables are visible, it’s awesome. Great concept.” a fourth added.
Another argued: “Proyas finished the screenplay in 1994, the Wachowskis finished their in 1996. Both screenplays were finished before either of the movies were out.
It hard to say people were copying from each other, it was a period of time when everyone believed computers are gonna get so advanced or they will take over the world, and the whole 1984 control.
These issues were popular several movies were made around them like these two, the Terminator movies, Johnny Mnemonic, Equilibrium, Jonny Quest, and many others.”
What do you think, are they just eerily similar, or did The Matrix copy Dark City?
