Scanner Darkly

Pros: Interesting visual style, fascinating concept...
Cons: ... but this film doesn't seem to do much with the premise.

A Scanner Darkly is based on Philip K Dick’s novel, which was inspired by his own battle with drug addiction. It follows an undercover narcotics cop (Keanu Reeves) and his strange friends including James Barris (Robert Downey Jr.), a ...

Pros: makes me laugh and think; acting; presentation
Cons: pretty chaotic

NOTE - Dr. Freudine is a fictitious psychiatrist and my alter ego who sometimes helps me to review books, movies and music. Last time she became intrigued by Walter Dean Myers' banned book, Fallen Angels.*****************After leaving the library ...

Pros: Interesting new look to film
Cons: Lacks appeal, confusing

A Scanner Darkly is a science fiction film about drug addicts, set seven years into the future. It is based on the novel by Philip K. Dick, and is based on his personal drug experiences. Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, and Winona ...

Pros: unique in both presentation and animation, interesting tale
Cons: too slow at times, too reliant on messing with your mind

What does a scanner see? In a film that will surely become a cult classic, Director Richard Linklater (who also wrote the screenplay) presents an animated film with a twist. Using a unique form of animation, he takes real-life scenes, and ...

Pros: Linklater's Direction, Look, Animation, Music, & Cast.
Cons: Plot & Source Material Might Confuse Some Viewers

Novelist Phillip K. Dick was a writer who transformed the sci-fi genre with several novels that would eventually become films. Films like Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and Steven Spielberg's Minority Report revealed Dick's world of a ...

Pros: Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., the Sins of Freck, rotoscoping
Cons: Plot holes, paranoia, “graphic content”

What does a scanner see? Most people are familiar with the concept of an earworm—a song that so firmly embeds itself in your brain that it becomes almost parasitic. But what about a movie that has the same effect? It’s a ...

Pros: A successful dystopia -- chilling and exhausting.
Cons: If you want "uplifting," go rent "My Left Foot" or something.

As is the case with so many films, I wanted to see A Scanner Darkly on the big screen, but didn't manage it. This is a review of the DVD version (not including the special features" -- I seldom find those worth messing with on any DVD; if you're ...

Pros: An amazing look into the psyche of an addict
Cons: The animation may draw viewers' attention away from the plot

Director Richard Linklater seems to have a knack for making films with rich, believable characters in memorable situations, firmly on the horns of their personal dilemmas. In Linklater’s most recent film, A Scanner Darkly, the protagonist’s dilemma ...

Pros: Interesting story and decent interpretation
Cons: Predictable and the acting was only so-so

A Scanner Darkly a Philip K. Dick novel adapted for the screen by Richard Linklater is oddly alluring if you can make it past the first ten minutes or so. The setting is “seven years from now” when one in five people are addicted to ...

Pros: Excellent performances, clever script, unique vision; the first faithful Dick adaptation
Cons: Slightly uneven pacing; some excellent and important parts of the book left out

Wavering between the comic and the bleak, _A Scanner Darkly_ is a slice-of-life film set in a familiar, yet artfully disturbing near-future America awash with drug abuse. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick, it centers around a ...

Pros: Interesting animation concept
Cons: Visuals can't make up for a poor screenplay and flat acting

I went to this movie prepared to really enjoy it. I have always enjoyed the works of PKD and many of the movies derived from them. I was really interested in the animation technique and how it would look.

How did it look? Well, it looked cheap and like a bad cartoon. I couldn't believe just how poor the effect was.

Surprisingly, the biggest disappointment was the story. Arguably one of the better PKD books, it wasn't translated well at all. Add in the flat acting of some of the leads- sorry Keanu, this means you, and there is relatively little to recommend this movie.