Review of A Scanner Darkly (2006) by Ross D — 21 Sep 2009

The sheer amount of work that went into making this is worth at LEAST 3 stars on its own. Having to shoot a movie like normal, and then go over EVERY SINGLE FRAME and render it the way it ends up like it does takes so much work. It looks GORGEOUS.

The concept is cool, and typical Philip K. Dick material. Performances are fairly good (which is something when you consider Keanu Reeves is the star). Woody Harrelson and Robert Downey, Jr. are loads of fun to watch, but I felt that Rory Cochrane had the best performance of them all (though unfortunately had the least amount of screen time).

I think this is the sort of movie that needs to be watched multiple times to have it really sink in, since it's mostly a talking-movie (well, it's actually completely a talking-movie). The first watch is really just admiring the visuals and soaking them all in. Once that "distraction" is out of the way, plot analysis should be fairly easy.

If you liked "Waking Life" (also by director Linklater), you'll dig "A Scanner Darkly". It's nowhere near as cerebral as the former which makes it a bit more accessible to most. Check it out!