Review of A Scanner Darkly

A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Director: Richard Linklater

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Wynona Ryder, Rory Cochrane

Time: 100 min.

Rating:

Like most sci-fi/fantasy films that star Keanu Reeves (Constantine, The Matrix trilogy, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure), A Scanner Darkly is something that could appeal only to pseudo-intellectual geeks, hipsters, and anyone else as intellectually evolved as the average 12-year-old. The title of this movie also contains the wrong adverb; it should read A Scanner Dully.

The plot of this not-much-of-a-sci-fi story, based on the Philip K. Dick novel of the same name, centers around an Orange County (California) detective, Bob Arctor (Reeves), who works undercover to investigate junkies and dealers involved in the trade of Substance D, a highly addictive drug that eventually fries its users’ brains. Arctor shares his house with two renters, the paranoid Barris (Downey Jr.) and brain-dead Luckman (Harrelson), who are terminally strung out on D. The trio receives an occasional visit from Freck (Cochrane), a buddy who has already lost his mind to D.

Arctor is also dating the ultra-frigid Donna (Ryder), a dealer who he is supposedly investigating because she might be able to lead him to some unknown big-time D suppliers. As part of the investigation, Arctor’s house is put under surveillance, and he is responsible for monitoring the tapes. But in addition to becoming hopelessly addicted to D, Arctor finds that his mind is slowly deteriorating from its effects.

The main focus of the plot is actually Arctor’s descent into madness. However, because director Linklater made two blatantly poor filmmaking choices, the movie fails to convey this descent and fails to have any life or interest for the viewer. The first bad choice was casting Keanu Reeves in the lead role. His inability to act with any emotional range is shocking, so how Linklater expected him to portray someone who is losing his mind is unfathomable.

The second terrible choice was using digital rotoscoping, a technique that turns live-action film into animation. Although rotoscoped movies look stylish (for the first ten minutes anyway), this stylishness strips the film of all substance because it masks an actor’s visual emotional responses. The art of acting is emoting realistically, which requires complex facial expressions, but how can actors display their art when the medium denies them opportunity.

Being so hampered before it begins, A Scanner Darkly has little hope of rising to any level of quality, and the monotonous script ensures that this film drags along at a tiring pace. Too much of the script is wasted watching Arctor and his stoner housemates abuse each other and utter “profound insights.” (Perhaps the MTV generation finds this inanity interesting, film-worthy, and philosophical.)

What adds to the tedium of the movie is the overly simplistic morality it conveys, despite the paranoia and conspiracy-theory mindset of its characters. We learn that corporations are bad and that the “good” guys really aren’t much better than the “bad” guys. The notion that one bears some personal responsibility for the condition of one’s life is oddly absent perhaps because it’s easier to blame the system than to delve into moral gray zones.

The plot “twists” that reveal the film’s moral message come during the final ten minutes (the first twist that sets the rest in motion is incredibly predictable). Aside from being rather contrived, the twists seem completely unconnected to the earlier action, which makes the ending more of a sermon than a cinematic climax. (The closing in memoriam from author Dick only re-enforces the sermonizing.)

But this preachy ending is fitting for Linklater because in his screenplay, he comes across as having a condescending perception of his viewers. At one point, he introduces a flashback of Arctor’s earlier life with a lame convention: Arctor says, “How did I get here?” Linklater thinks either he has crafted a narrative so complex his viewers will need an obvious cue or his viewers are so intellectually limited they need will help following the action.

Considering the hype this film has received, perhaps Linklater truly understood his target audience; he knew they would be intellectually disengaged and completely undiscriminating. For anyone else who prefers substance over style, I have one recommendation: simply scan A Scanner Darkly if you have absolutely nothing better to do one evening; otherwise, leave it on the rental shelf darkly.