What does a scanner see? Into the head? Down into the heart? Does it see into me, into us? Clearly or darkly? I hope it sees clearly, because I can't any longer see into myself. I see only murk. I hope for everyone's sake the scanners do better. Because if the scanner sees only darkly, the way I do, then I'm cursed and cursed again. I'll only wind up dead this way, knowing very little, and getting that little fragment wrong too.
Philip K. Dick's 1977 science fiction novel is about a near future where police narcotics agents in Anaheim, California, wear scramble suits that conceal their true identities by shifting through millions of partial images of other people. These narcs are devoted to finding the source of the new drug known as "D" or "Death", little red pills whose chemical origin is from little blue flowers that grow on other continents.
Keanu Reeves (The Matrix: Reloaded, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee) plays Robert Arctor who is one such agent, unbeknownst to his paranoid and drug using friends like James Barris (Robert Downey Jr – Iron Man, Tropic Thunder), Ernie Luckman (Woody Harrelson – Zombieland, 2012) and Donna Hawthorne (Winona Ryder – Star Trek, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee).
A Scanner Darkly looks at the tragedy of drug addiction and shows the journey toward the sad end that awaits all who do not escape it. It shows the ugliness of the system from grower to end user and the authorities who try to stop it or perpetuate it.
The rotoscoped nature of A Scanner Darkly takes what could easily be technologically outstripped in a short amount of time and makes it immediately timeless. The art is more than a posterized filter and decades better than Lord of the Rings. The characters are still very much the actors, but the art is just off enough to keep up a feeling of unease and surreality. I really wish more films were created this way.
With animated nudity and constant drug use/references, A Scanner Darkly is not for kids or adults who might be offended by such things, but it is a film whose execution perfectly suits its source material. It is at once literate and scientific, but also bat-shit crazy. It looks at reality through the lenses of these drugged characters and questions not only their reality but our own. It asks us briefly what it is we want, the idyllic white picket fence life or one where things are dirty and surprising and new. It's a cautionary tragedy that also gives hope.
If I'd known it was harmless I would have killed it myself!
Extras:
There are only three extras on the disc, which is surprising for a Blu-ray release. They are an entertaining commentary with Director Richard Linklater, Keanu Reeves, Philip K. Dick's daughter and a PKD expert; the movie trailer; and a solid documentary featurette on the animation process. The documentary gives a little window into the world of the talented artists that brought this film to painted life while admitting that it took twice the nine months they had budgeted.
So there is no sheep here, is there?
A Scanner Darkly on Blu-ray really cemented my perception that Keanu really has a soothing speaking voice and needs to do more voice work. This film is not only for fans of the four principle actors though – even though they give appropriately animated performances, this work stands apart from star power and brings a solid old school sci-fi tale to our home theaters in 1080p and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.
ComicsOnline gives A Scanner Darkly on Blu-ray 4 out of 5 little blue flowers.
Pick up A Scanner Darkly on Blu-ray at Amazon now.
Keep visiting ComicsOnline for more Blu-ray reviews and everything geek pop culture!
