Review of A Scanner Darkly (2006) by Stuart K — 10 Aug 2010

An adaptation of Philip K. Dick's famous 1977 novel had been going from director to director for years with the likes of Terry Gilliam and Steven Soderbergh all attached at one point or another, then Richard Linklater signed up to do it, he had a vision of how it should be made, and he was going to do it the same way he'd done his trippy film Waking Life (2001), and it works a lot better and is a great adaptation of a great book.

Set 7 years into the future, it has undercover cop Fred (Keanu Reeves) who monitors the activities of drug users under the alias of Bob Arctor, these fellow users are James Barris (Robert Downey Jr.), Ernie Luckman (Woody Harrelson), Charles Freck (Rory Cochrane) and Donna Hawthrone (Winona Ryder).

They all take a drug known as Substance D, which is illegal. Fred/Bob's job is to find out where this drug comes from. Then, Fred is asked to monitor his own movements when Barris comes in to report Arctor's drug dealings, soon Fred starts losing his identity, and left wondering who he really is.

Is he Fred or is he Bob Arctor?? It's a sci-fi film without any of the futuristic stuff, this is set in a very real world. Monitoring other people is coming true now, and Dick was onto something with his book, which he based on his own drug experiences.

Linklater does well with the material, and gives Reeves one of his best performances, and the support from Downey Jr. Harrelson and Ryder is compelling. Rotoscoping is a very novel way of making a film, it should be used more often, and it looks more interesting than mo-cap will ever be.