Sadly not available in 4K HDR yet but rather “only” full HD SDR Blu-ray, Dark City* stands as a textbook example of how to show off contrast. The very simple title of this 1998 movie belies a masterwork of cinematography by Dariusz Wolski, who previously worked with director Alex Proyas on the equally noir The Crow from 1994.
Dark City combines influences from Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and earlier sci fi noir movies with the late 1990s/early 2000s wave of “is it all real?” movies, which included The Matrix, The 13th Floor, The Game, Avalon, and Vanilla Sky among others. Don’t expect lots of mega corporations, androids, and flashy neon supercities, though. Dark City is a low-key, smaller budget production that achieves its goals by manipulating light, above all else.
Indeed, Dark City stands out for its highly focused obsession with contrast, and so you’ll need a good projector worthy of the challenge, whether watching the Blu-ray version or streaming from Netflix. Projectors capable of smart HDR will be able to enhance the default Blu-ray image and provide a more impressive rendition of Dark City, even if it’s not in actual HDR.
*Note: not to be confused with the 1950 movie Dark City starring Charlton Heston and Lizabeth Scott.