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.
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07/27/06
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A Scanner Darkly (2006)
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Reviews Counted:34
Fresh:21
Rotten:13
Average Rating:6.6/10
Consensus: 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.
Theatrical Release:Jul 7, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $5,281,537
Synopsis: Richard Linklater's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's classic novel is a challenging, mind-bending experience that cautions about the dangers of excessive drug use as well as the government's capacity... [More]
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey, Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder
Director: Richard Linklater
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Reviews for A Scanner Darkly
Top CriticThe first film to capture the author's transience and his art.
07/14/06
Top CriticHere's a guy willing to take risks, willing to tackle challenging material, willing to assume his audience has a brain. Unfortunately, his audience's collective brain is going to be hurting mightily for the first hour of this film.
07/14/06
Top CriticAlthough the story is greatly enhanced by the mesmerizing visual design, it is also involving because of the duplicity and duality of the characters.
07/14/06
Top CriticThe movie doesn't so much involve you in a story as it invades your mind, creating a world ruled by anxiety and suspicion.
07/14/06
Top CriticThe artiness gets in the way of thrilling plot twists; we're still trying to sort out images when we should be sorting out facts.
07/14/06
Top CriticMuch like someone who doesn't realize how high he is, A Scanner Darkly talks too much and doesn't say enough.
07/13/06
Top CriticAs Dick's vision matches up with our times, so does director Richard Linklater's animation technique match the story's material. A Scanner Darkly is a joyful wedding of medium and message.
07/13/06
Top CriticOne of the most disturbing antidrug public service announcements ever produced.
07/13/06
Top CriticThe characters look as though they have been flattened inside a glass slide, a perfect visual reflection of their political and psychological binds.
07/13/06
Top CriticA very talky and curiously uninvolving film.
07/13/06
Top CriticThe film as a whole may be lacking in coherence and emotional punch, but there are some marvelous sequences.
07/13/06
Top CriticA Scanner Darkly is a visually riveting mind-bender inspired by drug-induced experiences.
07/07/06
Top CriticAs fascinating and intelligent as the movie is, A Scanner Darkly leaves you wishing it might have actually been less faithful in word, and more in spirit, to Philip K. Dick's universe of bugged-out paranoid weirdness.
07/07/06
Top CriticFor science fiction fans who prefer ideas over laser battles, this is the most meticulous and faithful movie adaptation of Dick's work -- and one of the most thoughtful.
07/07/06
Top CriticAesthetically interesting as it is, the film leaves you feeling somewhat blank and detached, sort of like the main character.
07/07/06
Top CriticA Scanner Darkly doesn't quite live up to the promise of its opening sequence, but it's still an audacious offering during a season of brain-dead blockbusters.
07/07/06
Top CriticFans of the late sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick may rejoice at the news that Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly is the most faithful adaptation of one of his stories to reach the screen. Unfortunately, the story is one of Dick's least cinematic.
07/07/06
Top CriticRichard Linklater's squiggly new film, A Scanner Darkly, is an ambitious attempt to find the right visual style to render the experience of drug addiction and the paranoid vision of novelist Philip K. Dick, into a distinctive visual form.
07/07/06
Top CriticAn ambitious animated adaptation of one of the most personal novels by sci-fi visionary Philip K. Dick.
07/07/06
Top CriticLatest News for A Scanner Darkly
January 09, 2007:
Online Film Critics Name Their Year-End Favorites
Hosted right here at the illustrious Rotten Tomatoes is the official website of the Online Film Critics Society, an international group of flick analyzers who put their heads... More...
August 31, 2006:
A Taste of What's "Next" for Nicolas Cage
Any time I hear the phrase "movie based on a Philip K. Dick story," I know I have to do a little more research. The next PKD adaptation is Lee Tamahori's... More...
August 08, 2006:
Paul Giamatti to Star as Philip K. Dick
He night not be as famous as H.G. Wells or Isaac Asimov, but ask a sci-fi enthusiast what they think of Philip K. Dick, and get ready for a lengthy conversation. The late and... More...
July 24, 2006:
Box Office Wrapup: "Pirates" Passes $300M; "Lady" Stumbles
Johnny Depp made this weekend's four new releases walk the plank as his megablockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest became the first film of the year to spend... More...
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