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A SCANNER DARKLY Send This Review to a Friend
Animation has its place, but when you have competent actors why would you want to turn them into animated figures? Despite the technical fascination of an overlay process known as rotoscoping, the gambit doesn’t make sense. As a result, “A Scanner Darkly” written and directed by Richard Linklater based on the1977 novel by Philip K. Dick, comes across as pretentious and annoying. Any story value it has in venturing into the world of drug addition and efforts to bust drug dealers is obscured by not having the actors unadorned.
Set in the near future in Orange Country, California, the tale involves Keanu Reeves as an undercover cop, Bob Actor, who is assigned to spy on his friends, played by Robert Downey, Jr., Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder and Rory Cochrane. He also has to in effect monitor himself.
Linklater goes to town with various technical ideas, especially the concept of a scramble suit which can turn the wearer into an unrecognizable figure. The film is enough of a blur without such a garment.
Those who appreciate turning a dark but at times humorous story involving drugs and paranoia into what is in effect a long cartoon may enjoy the trip, and the talent of the cast members does peek out occasionally through the unnecessary processing. But I found it tough to sit through. A Warner Independent Pictures release.
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