Review: A Scanner Darkly

You have to give it to Richard Linklater, he sure has a way with visuals.

Many will recognize the visual style of A Scanner Darkly from his earlier film, Waking Life. That film received much critical praise for its imaginative rotoscoping animation, whereby Linklater would film the movie normally and then animators would illustrate over each frame of film. This gave the movie a lifelike but also expressionist look. Waking Life dealt with existentialism and was set within a dream, so the animation style fit perfectly within context. A Scanner Darkly doesn’t quite fit in the same way, mainly due to story issues.

So, what is the plot of this film? Basically, we’re led to believe we are following the story of a man named Bob Arctor (played by Reeves at his stoic best) who is an undercover police officer tracking down the worst drug in the world, Substance D. His job as an agent has him contantly wearing a “scanner suit,” which changes facial images so fast that he can’t be recognized by visual identification systems. He is surrounded most of the movie by his three friends: Barris (played by a hilarious Robert Downey Jr.), Luckman (Woody Harrelson, also excellent), and Freck (played by Charles Cochrane). The story pretty much ends there. This film is based off a Philip K. Dick story, where Dick wrote about his battle with drug addiction. This is where the movie succeeds in using Linklater’s rotoscoping technology. The expressionist animation allows for a surreal experience and an overall drug trip throughout the film. The movie is dark, bleak, and leaves the viewer with a nasty taste in their mouth. Sure, you may have no idea what happened when the credits roll, but at least you’ll never do drugs again.

7 / 10