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Scanner moves darkly under the radar MOVIE: A Scanner Darkly DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater CAST: Keanu Reeves, Rory Cochrane, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder |
| THE QUICK HIT: |
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What are the chances of getting Robert Downey Jr, Keanu Reeves, Woody Harrelson, and Winona Ryder together in a movie that costs under $10 million? Just ask director Richard Linklater, as he was able to do just this in this animated adaptation of the Philip K. Dick story about a not-so-distant future filled with drug addicts and despair. GRADE: A- |
| THE BIG PICTURE: |
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Would you expect anything less from Philip
K. Dick whose writings have inspired movies such as Blade Runner,
Minority Report and Total Recall? Over course not. We
get a foreseeable future, a degraded sense of humanity, and a glint of
hope. Keanu Reeve's plays undercover Orange County detective Bob Arctor testing out the latest technology -- a scramble suit. The scramble suit makes him appear as an unidentifiable everyman, helping to conceal his undercover identity. Unfortunately, he is also testing out the latest, and highly addictive drug designer drug -- Substance D. As his paranoid roommate James Barris (Robert Downey Jr.) says, "Either you're on Substance D or you haven't tried it." As with all Philip K. Dick stories, the technology isn't the focus, but the erosion of society and the conflict within the characters. Which makes it even more appropriate that Scanner makes use of rotoscope animation, widely popular in the 70s, but rarely seen anymore with the onslaught of digital animation. As Arctor finds himself falling deeper into drug abuse, he finds himself more isolated as a police officer and as a human being. The plot twists and turns and the characters grow paranoid and confused. As a viewer, we really don't know what to expect ... until the very end. At which time, we realize that everything has happened just the way it had to. |
| TECHNICAL MUMBO JUMBO: |
| With an estimated budget of $8 million, Scanner makes great use of rotoscoping animation in an era overshadowed by digital art. The rotoscoping adds an artistic personality from the animators that is lacking in movies overly digitized. |
| Review by G.S. |