Review of A Scanner Darkly (2006) by Jeff B — 19 May 2011

In the indie critical darling Waking Life, director Richard Linklater teased audiences with the pioneering prospects of roto-scoping, a process that layers animation over live action. Within moments of laying eyes on the super-cool A Skanner Darkly, Linklater's trippy and talky pseduo-futuristic treatise on drug abuse, movieogers will realize that this process is, very possibly, both the best and worst way to tell this tale. While the effect convincingly filters the audience through a virtual drug-induced haze, it also leaves them reeling from a possible overdose.

Culmed from the hallowed works of sci-fi master Phillip K. Dick, the R-rated A Scanner Darkly follows the exploits of a narcotics enforcement agent (Reeves), whose immersion into a drug culture (Downey, Ryder, Woody Harrelson) blurs the line between undercover work and addiction.

Between Dick's story and Linklater's script, A Scanner Darkly's words alone are an original enough take on the well-worn "Say No to Drugs" sermon. Having honed his masterful dialogue skills with the winning Before Sunrise/Before Sunset twofer and his drug culture acumen with the now-classic Dazed and Confused, Linklater seems to be the perfect choice to adapt this bleak short work. His choice to use roto-scoping also seems perfect...save for another well-worn sermon: "Too much of a good thing is not good for you." For the most part, the process works beautifully. At times, however, the comedown from the layering effect proves overbearingly heady-like Japanese kids having seizures from playing too much Nintendo.

Bottom line: Great high, heady come-down.