A Scanner Darkly (2006)
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A Scanner Darkly Movie Review
A Scanner Darkly is a 2006 animated science fiction thriller film directed by Richard Linklater and starring Keanu Reeves and Robert Downey Jr. It’s a solid, but flawed flick.
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“What does a scanner see?
Into the head? Into the heart?
Does it see into me?
Clearly? Or darkly?“
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Bob Arctor, an undercover agent, is on a mission to investigate groups involved in the drug trade. In the process, he becomes a drug addict and tries to protect his secret identity. The story is based on the eponymous novel by Philip K. Dick. And maybe the book is better, but the film’s story really isn’t as sophisticated as it thinks it is.
Yes, it deals with surveillance, technology, scanning and in particular the drug addiction problem solidly, but at the end of the day the themes do not resonate as much as the film felt rushed in pace and decidedly cold in its approach, especially in its characters.
None of the characters I cared for whatsoever. I liked the performances of course as the film has some truly great actors in it, and they all look like their real counterparts interestingly enough because of the rotoscoping technique, but the characters themselves aren’t all that well developed, though the dialogue is good as some conversations are very strong, reliably so coming from Linklater.
So, A Scanner Darkly is pretty much in the similar boat with ‘Waking Life’ meaning that Linklater did not reach his usually great status with his animated films as his live-action features are much better, at least in my opinion. This film is solid, but far from great.
I liked the animation, I have to say. Though the rotoscoping obviously isn’t for everyone and even for me it felt odd at times, I would still say that the technique went well with the alienating aspect of the movie. In particular, the changing faces scenes are stunningly animated and very advanced in technology.
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Some scenes here are very dramatic and they explore the dangers of drug addiction so well, but more often than not, the film relied too heavily on exposition or on thriller elements which weren’t all that exciting. I wanted personally a slower pace and more meaningful dialogue.
A Scanner Darkly has very strong rotoscoping animation that goes well with the film’s alienating nature and the technology theme. Some conversations here are powerful and the issue of drug addiction is well handled. But other themes are glossed over, the film’s rushed in pace and its characters are flat and very poorly developed.
