The 1998 science-fiction film featuring a man discovering that his city is controlled by alien Strangers is Dark City.
Alex Proyas directed and co-wrote this neo-noir science-fiction film, which stars Rufus Sewell as John Murdoch. Murdoch awakens with amnesia and finds himself suspected of murder while a mysterious group called the Strangers rearranges the city and manipulates its residents’ memories.
The Strangers are extraterrestrials inhabiting human corpses. They conduct experiments on humanity because they are trying to understand individuality and discover what may help their species survive. Their ability to reshape buildings and alter memories creates the film’s perpetually changing urban nightmare.
Dark City is sometimes mixed up with The Matrix because both involve characters discovering that reality is controlled by an unseen power. The films differ substantially: Dark City focuses on memory, identity, and artificial human experience, while The Matrix centers on a simulated reality created by machines. Dark City was released in 1998 and is also notable for its distinctive production design and shadowy noir style.