Of all the movie adaptations of the works of legendary sci-fi author Philip K. Dick (“Blade Runner”, “Total Recall”, “Minority Report”, to name a few), “A Scanner Darkly”, based on his 1977 novel, is by far the most faithful to the source material. But don’t rush out to rent it just yet—that’s not necessarily a good thing.
In “A Scanner Darkly”, Keanu Reeves is “Fred”, a narcotics agent operating in Anaheim, California sometime in the near future. “Fred” has been assigned to locate the source of a new street drug called “Substance D”, a potent pill that leads to extreme brain damage in its users. As part of his assignment, he goes undercover as Bob Arctor, a druggie living with two druggie friends (Robert Downey Jr. and Woody Harrelson) while trying to make time with a druggie chick (Winona Ryder).
At the start of the movie, all four addicts are already living with the unpleasant side effects of Substance D, like hallucinations and massive paranoia. Eventually, the drug causes a schism in Fred’s brain and he develops a split personality: as he diligently studies video surveillance of Bob Arctor, he slowly starts to forget that he is in fact Bob Arctor. In essence, he ends up narcing on himself.
The novel was adapted by Richard Linklater, and just like Linklater’s “Waking Life”, “A Scanner Darkly” consists entirely of rotoscoped animation. Live action footage of the cast was painstakingly traced over by a team of animators over the course of 18 months. The movie certainly looks fantastic, right down to the stylized animated version of Keanu’s patchy beard, but in the end, the technique doesn’t prove to be all that necessary to the story.
But I will say this for the rotoscoping: it allows the filmmakers to realize one of Philip K. Dick’s most unfilmable inventions from the book: The “scramble suit”, which all undercover operatives wear to protect their identities. When looking at someone wearing a scramble suit, all you see is a constant shuffling of facial features: one person’s eye here, another person’s mouth there, and so on. It’s a disorienting, trippy visual, and who needs hallucinogens when you can just watch the scramble suit?
Linklater probably seemed like a natural fit for this movie, given that it’s a film about drugheads, or rather, a film about drugheads having endless drughead conversations. Starting with his very first film “Slacker”, and continuing through “Before Sunrise”/“Before Sunset” and “Tape”, Linklater has shown a penchant for filming ordinary people having lengthy, and usually philosophical, conversations. But going by “A Scanner Darkly”, it doesn’t appear he’s ever figured out how to make these kinds of conversations exciting or compelling.
I give him kudos for hiring actors with their own real life drug problems: Woody Harrelson (busted for pot), Winona Ryder (arrested for shoplifting and found carrying illegal prescription drugs), and Robert Downey Jr. (no explanation necessary). And when good actors are onscreen together doing a script that speaks a lot to their own personal troubles, you expect sparks to fly. Unfortunately, every scene sort of meanders around, with most of the dialogue delivered without much intensity.
This is odd, considering a lot of the script is taken verbatim from the book, and the book is often very funny. I can only conclude that the cast didn’t have a whole lot of chemistry. I would guess this is due to one particular weak link, but I won’t say who, other than to note that not even rotoscoping can make Keanu Reeves all that expressive.
Those who know Philip K. Dick’s rep will come to this movie looking for serious sci-fi, but they’re bound to be disappointed. Other than the scramble suit and few other futuristic doodads, the entire movie plays out realistically. It could just as easily take place in modern-day California. In fact, watching it three years later, it already seems dated; when “Fred” spies on his own alter-ego, it’s clearly a riff on Bush-era warrantless wiretapping, which is about as quaint these days as anti-Soviet films of the 1980s.
People not familiar with the novel will probably have no clue what’s going on, because Linklater has taken a relatively straightforward story and left out key information, turning it into a self-indulgent puzzle. The concept of a drug agent narcing on himself was the selling point of the novel, and the DVD even features an interview with PKD flat-out telling everyone that’s what the thing is about. But the split-identity aspects are almost brushed aside in the film, and only given a few minutes of screen time.
Still, the movie is worthwhile viewing for fans of the book, because in the end it’s a faithful adaptation. And those interested in the works of Philip K. Dick may find this a good jumping off point to discovering some of his novels. Alas, the only other group I can recommend this movie to are stoners, who will trip out on the scramble suits, and then, as monotonous conversations drone on and on, drift off into a nice, peaceful nap.
Richard Linklater (director) / Philip K. Dick (novel), Richard Linklater (screenplay)
CAST: Rory Cochrane … Charles Freck
Robert Downey Jr. … James Barris
Keanu Reeves … Bob Arctor
Winona Ryder … Donna Hawthorne
Woody Harrelson … Ernie Luckman
