A Scanner Darkly – Review

Based on a Philip K. Dick novel, this film was shot as live-action and subsequently fully animated (cell-shaded) to produce a dreamlike affair. Taking place in the near future and in a totalitarian society, the story revolves around “Substance D,” a street drug that alters brain function, and impacts its users with hallucinations.

Agent Fred (Reeves) is a government agent who has the task of going deep undercover as Bob Arctor. He infiltrates a group of small-time users/dealers and settles into his role as a user. He is to discover more about the source of the Substance D and trace its production origins. However, Arctor instead fully descends into the drug fueled world, losing his sense of self and compromising his assignment due to Substance D usage.

The movie combines a lot of elements, and it gets a bit convoluted at times, but in the end the creativity and sensational acting won out for me personally. The odd world of science fiction and street drug usage created a natural reality, especially since a lot of the surveillance themes felt firmly based on our own reality.

The visual style allows for bizarre scenes, as well as a good use of a “scrambler suit” which hides its user’s identity, shifting facial features in nonstop waves. The direction is competent and the story is good enough to warrant at least one watch. This one’s story mileage will depend on the viewer, but don’t let the drug use turn you off from discovering the craziness of its world as seen through a Scanner’s eyes.