A Scanner Darkly (2006)
Average Rating: 6.6/10
Reviews Counted: 178
Fresh: 123 | Rotten: 55
A faithful adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel, A Scanner Darkly takes the viewer on a visual and mind-blowing journey into the author's conception of a drug-addled and politically unstable world.
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Critic Reviews: 41
Fresh: 25 | Rotten: 16
A faithful adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel, A Scanner Darkly takes the viewer on a visual and mind-blowing journey into the author's conception of a drug-addled and politically unstable world.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 130,253
My Rating
Movie Info
The war on drugs has been lost, and when a reluctant undercover cop is ordered to spy on those he is closest to, the toll that the mission takes on his sanity is too great to comprehend in director Richard Linklater's rotoscoped take on Philip K. Dick's classic novel. With stratospheric concern over national security prompting paranoid government officials to begin spying on citizens, trust is a luxury and everyone is a suspected criminal until proven otherwise. Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves) is a
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Keanu Reeves
Bob Arctor -
Winona Ryder
Donna Hawthorn -
Robert Downey Jr.
James 'Jim' Barris -
Woody Harrelson
Ernie Luckman -
Rory Cochrane
Charles Freck -
Mitch Baker
Brown Bear Lodge Host -
Sean Allen
Additional Fred Scrambl... -
Cliff Haby
Voice From Headquarters -
-
Natasha Valdez
Waitress -
Mark Turner
Additional Hank Scrambl... -
Chamblee Ferguson
Medical Deputy 2 -
Angela Rawna
Medical Deputy 1 -
Eliza Stevens
Arctor's Daughter -
Sarah Menchaca
Arctor's Daughter -
Melody Chase
Arctor's Wife -
Leif Anders
Freck Suicide Narrator -
Turk Pipkin
Creature -
Alexander Jones
Street Prophet -
Lisa Marie Newmyer
Connie -
Wilbur Penn
Medical Officer -
Ken Webster
Medical Officer -
Hugo Perez
New Path Staff Member -
Dameon Clarke
Mike -
Christopher Ryan
New Path Residents -
Leila Plummer
New Path Resident -
Jackson Douglas
New Path Farm Manager -
Marco Perella
Donald -
-
ADVERTISEMENT
A Scanner Darkly Trailer & Photos
All Critics (180) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (129) | Rotten (56) | DVD (29)
The coolest thing about the movie version of A Scanner Darkly is how very literally it takes the scanner part of that title.
Top CriticAs A Scanner Darkly proves, Keanu is the Coolness -- passive blankness, leaden line delivery, and all. Let's hear it for the vague blur.
Wondrously attractive, all the more so for the avoidance (with one or two exceptions) of extrovert Waking Life-style set-pieces.
Mr. Linklater emerges once again as the Austin auteur par excellence, even if A Scanner Darkly is set in a ratty precinct of Orange County.
Linklater's willingness to experiment ... is laudable. But I'm not sure he's reinventing animation here, or even adequately serving that older-than-children animation audience.
The first film to capture the author's transience and his art.
A Scanner Darkly is the most faithful Dick adaptation to date. Like Dick's writing, Richard Linklater's movie doesn't sweat at immersing itself in the trappings of sci-fi; it's concerned with ideas.
...not for everyone. It's a complicated film that requires patience and, most likely, subsequent viewings to appreciate the jigsaw view of control and paranoia.
In the end, it offers only the slightest of answers and the slimmest of hopes, because that is often all life offers as well. Whether anyone grasps that hope it leaves open for the audience to determine.
Trippy rotoscoping is the perfect aqueous aesthetic. Unlike many Philip K. Dick adapters exchanging existentialism for explosions, Richard Linklater focuses on Dick's apprehensions about the trust, joy and freedoms at risk for the sake of progress.
Not nearly as coherent, cinematic or fulfilling as it should have been.
The message is clear and the animation creates a world unlike any other in film, making A Scanner Darkly an easy addition to the must-see list of 2006.
Ponders the inherent doom of Slacker transgressors
Such a brutally gut wrenching disappointment...
Like many of Dick's parallel-mirror scenarios, this one is air-tight and diabolical. More fresh air in the form of Linklater's humor would be welcome.
A Scanner Darkly is capable of inducing euphoria if viewers focus on one element of splendor--the acting, concept, dialogue or animation--per viewing.
The painted, slightly disorienting look is a good match for the sinister, seriocomic, drug-addled world of the book.
Provocative animated sci-fi. Not for kids.
Too talkie to be legitimately entertaining, too dark to be wholly enjoyable and too muddled to be entirely comprehensible, A Scanner Darkly stands as a creative, if unengaging interpretation of its source materia
Linklater may have admired the novel -- I do, too -- but that doesn't necessarily make him the ideal director for this material.
a trippy movie that doesn't make it easy for the audience to follow. The story is complex and confusing and theanimation keeps the viewer from entering the tale emotionally or intellectually.
Relentlessly interesting to watch if somewhat less than compelling as a film.
Audience Reviews for A Scanner Darkly
Super Reviewer
Based on the book by Philip K. Dick, his most personal work, examining drug abuse and the way society treats drug addicts, 'A Scanner Darkly' tells the story of undercover cop Keanu Reeves, (hold on hasn't he done this before), as he infiltrates a 'substance D' group, a new drug everyone is addicted to. However as Reeves does so he himself becomes addicted to the drug and begins developing a split personality, forgetting who he really is. Linklater has always and will always remain an indie filmmaker, so its no surprise that 'A Scanner Darkly' did not deliver the goods at the box office, picking up little over five million pounds.
But more people need to know about this film and dig it out at their local independent dvd shop, for it is the only place you'll find it, because it is deserving of a viewing for both its visual and storytelling capabilities.
Whilst Keanu Reeves plays himself again, this time he does it quite well, whilst Robert Downey Junior and Woody Harrelson bring on the best performances to the piece. The story is difficult to follow, not of course helped by mind bending rotoscoping and confusing sci-fi items such as the suits the undercover police officers wear. However it is a terrific story, like all K. Dick material, which shocks you into considering the big questions in a dystopian yet highly relatable setting.
The issues of powerful totalitarian states, drug abuse, drug treatment and general paranoia are examined, never in too much detail, but with the right balance of black humour and seriousness.
Whilst I would perhaps like to see this story adapted in real life motion, the rotoscoping does more to add than take away from the material and viewing experience, creating an enjoyable film which hits higher than the average indie drama flick.
Super Reviewer
-
- Charles Freck: What do you think about the New Path?
- James 'Jim' Barris: While it doesn't matter what I think, I kinda have to tip my hat to any entity that can bring so much integrity to evil.
-
- James 'Jim' Barris: In this day and age, the type of society we find ourselves living in, every person of worth needs to have a gun at all times to protect themselves.
-
- James 'Jim' Barris: This is a world getting progressively worse. Can we not agree on that?
-
- Ernie Luckman: Let's just go rescue the orphan gears, Dude!
-
- Bob Arctor: Everywhere else can be monitored, but no not at New Path.
- Donna Hawthorn: [in the scramble suit] Hey, that's their contract with the gonernment.
-
- James 'Jim' Barris: There's only one thing we can do to thwart the plot of these albino shape-shifting lizard BITCHES!
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for A Scanner Darkly yet.
Latest News on A Scanner Darkly
January 9, 2007:
Online Film Critics Name Their Year-End FavoritesHosted right here at the illustrious Rotten Tomatoes is the official website of the Online Film...
August 31, 2006:
A Taste of What's "Next" for Nicolas CageAny time I hear the phrase "movie based on a Philip K. Dick story," I know I have to do a...
August 8, 2006:
Paul Giamatti to Star as Philip K. DickHe night not be as famous as H.G. Wells or Isaac Asimov, but ask a sci-fi enthusiast what they think...
What's Hot On RT
Bradley Cooper's Best Movies
Fast & Furious 6 is Certified Fresh
Fast & Furious cars gallery
Blockbusters ranked!
Featured on RT
- Critics Consensus: Fast & Furious 6 is Certified Fresh 21
- Red Carpet Photos with Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Gina Carano and More 0
- Video: The Hangover Part III Cast Interviews 0
- Total Recall: Bradley Cooper's Best Movies 37
- Parental Guidance: Epic and Beautiful Creatures 2
- Comic Book Movies You Can Watch Online 9
- In Pictures: The Cars of Fast & Furious 0
Top Headlines
-
Evan Peters Joins X-Men: Days of Future Past
0
-
Toby Jones Talks Captain America: The Winter Soldier
0
-
The Poltergeist Reboot May Actually Be a Sequel
8
-
Will Forte Promises MacGruber 2
1
-
Universal Plans Timecop Reboot
2
-
Return of the Jedi Turns 30
1
-
Vin Diesel Says Fast & Furious 7 Will Take Place in L.A.
0
Fresh Links
Featured
Star Trek Movies Ranked
HitFix offers their own take on the worst-to-best of the Enterprise crew's cinematic adventures.
Top 10 Star Trek Villains
Rolling Stone unveils the Enterprise's most irksome adversaries.
Celebrity Yearkbook Flashback
We'll bet you never realized how many stars were cheerleaders and high school athletes!
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Weirdest Movie Siblings
From Twins to The Royal Tenenbaums, Moviefone explores cinema's oddest siblings.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Foreign Titles
- Der dunkle Schirm (DE)
- A Scanner Darkly (FR)
