Kingdom Hearts II Homage to the Film, Dark City

Dark City is a 1998 neo-noir science fiction film directed by Alex Proyas. I suggest you watch the film if you haven't already before reading on. Major plot details ahead. There will be a showing of Dark City on Starz Cinema on March 13th.

From Memory's Skyscraper in the distinctive wet and neon-lit Dark City, to Roxas' implanted memories of a life in the inescapable town controlled by mysterious overseers, and to the eternally unattainable but much desired visit to a beach; I believe that much of Roxas' story in Kingdom Hearts II has been inspired by the film Dark City.

Just something I noticed during my second time watching Dark City. The multiple mentions that characters from both the film and Kingdom Hearts II make of a remembered long-ago-visited beach made me realize the connection. It became obvious that the place called "Dark City" in The World That Never Was is purely in homage to Dark City.

It feels good to discover something new about a game that I've already played multiple times over the years. I greatly appreciate Square Enix's homage to a film that I now consider one of my favorites.

 

There' s also the buildings sprouting around during the fight against Xemnas.

 

I always did think that bit of the fight was a bit silly, but now I know the reason behind it.

 

Have you got any comparison images? I did a quick search and couldn't find any images that I could see being TWTNW skyscrapers, apart from maybe one or two images of a darkened Times Square.

But it sounds plausible, much of Square Enix properties are inspired by western culture, suppose a film like that isn't a giant leap for them to have watched.

 

It' s not so much about the town' s look as it is about its nature. The one from the movie never saw the light of day, technically it also "never was".

 

I have no images, but I agree with what Patman said about the city's nature. I rewatched the Another Side, Another Story secret movie from the original Kingdom Hearts, and found it ends on a beach, a sort of nostalgia, much like the film. A beach represents home for the characters, and the sunny, open exterior serves as a huge contrast with the dark, dense cityscape of the rest of the clip/film.

Edit: Also, in the scenes when the characters attempt to take a train to the beach (in the characters' minds, a beach exists beyond the town/city's edge), they're ultimately unable to go because in Kingdom Hearts II the party's money is stolen, and in Dark City the train to the beach never stops at the station. They're isolated from exploring their simulation's boundaries to keep the them in the dark.

Edit 2: Now I learn that the creators of Dark City first went to Disney to produce their movie. Maybe Square Enix came across Dark City when looking for Disney material to use for Kingdom Hearts.

On another note, Inception, directed by Christopher Nolan, also shares similarities to Dark City: The use of trains to take you out of a dream, and beaches reminiscent of a home. Reading the Wikipedia entry on Inception confirms Dark City as an influence.