Review of A Scanner Darkly (2006) by Tim B — 19 Jan 2010

I'm a big fan of Richard Linklater's movies. A Scanner Darkly didn't seem like the type of movie I would drool over but I like Linklater enough to give it a try. The main problem I had with this movie were the characterizations.

With similar movies of this type (Requiem for a Dream, Trainspotting) I was able to get attached to the characters so the story would hit me harder. Here, I was very annoyed with their self-indulging monologues and constant yapping.

I'm not even sure what reaction the movie was supposed to get from me. Intrigue? Laughter? Not knowing was pretty bad. The only character I gave half a hoot about (Reeves) was hardly emphasized on enough.

It felt more of the need to make us listen to his druggie friends with speeches that made no sense or were more boring than a lecture. However, I did enjoy the main character's plight when it was given the time and the direction and style in which it was shot was pretty cool.

Linklater gave cool angles, and had a lot to play with consdiering how it's shot. The movie LOOKS good. Keanu Reeves wasn't asked a lot on his acting abilities but it worked for his part. Robert Downey annoyed the crap out of me with his yapping.

Not entirely the actor's fault, though. Woody Harrelson also annoyed me and again, not entirely his fault. The two former roles were horribly written. Winona Ryder played a boring coke head. How is that even possible? Maybe I just didn't get it as this film is highly regarded from most other people I know.

In the future, I would give this a second try. But I found it boring, pretentious and more interested in giving us stoner lectures than having the main storyline at play. You can do that by sitting in a circle and smoking a joint with your buddies!