From Dark City to The Matrix

Was Alex Proyas� 1998 film Dark City a forerunner to the Warchowski brothers�1999 hit The Matrix? For me, the connections never clicked until seeing Dark City on DVD. In Proyas� movie spinning blades (not bullets) are stopped in mid flight by mental force. Our hero is menaced by a seemingly endless legion of virtually identical foes�not Agent Smith replicants but beings called the Strangers, pal...