A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Posted : 9 months, 2 weeks ago at Feb 6 15:41

Finally got it off my ‘to watch’ list and I’m perplexed, was it the subject matter that didn’t appeal to me, or was it just the movie as a whole. Have to say 50/50 at this point. I’m glad I watched it for Rory Cochrane’s performance alone as Charles Freck, which was both wonderful and surprising. I’m annoyed at the predictability of the movie as a whole - the set-up for the surprise discovery and conclusion were both right there at the start. The animation/rotoscope wasn’t bad when it was just posterised live footage, but when mixed media was used, perspectives went array and I began feeling nauseous. I like to see humanity evolve or some personal development at least. In the movie Blade Runner we were left pondering the humanity of the replicants, and even questioni...Read more

Rating : 6/10

Posted : 1 year ago at Nov 11 9:55

''What does a scanner see? Into the head? Into the heart? Does it see into me? Clearly? Or darkly?'' An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result. Keanu Reeves: Bob Arctor ''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.'' Thought it was a really interesting film, very clever and captures more of Philip K Dick's warped vision. Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly is a humanistic and undeniably h...Read more

Rating : 9/10

Posted : 2 years, 7 months ago at Apr 8 20:12

First off I never quite understood the meaning behind this films animated adaptation. The animation was awful, something any first design student could have pulled off with a hacked version of Adobe Flash Pro. How Keanu Reeves manages a career in the acting business I will never know. Although Robert Downey Jr. poured in a decent performance, I hardly think it was a stretch from his normal life. That being said, what the hell was this movie about? I fell asleep half way through.

Rating : 2/10

Posted : 2 years, 9 months ago at Feb 12 8:14

Grand Assault's review is spot on in this case. I too wanted this movie to be so much more, and was fascinated by the trippy animation, but overrall it was a dissapointment. This film had a great theme and animation, and the 'concept' of the plot was decent, but through most of the movie, the dialogue was just too distracting and off-topic that I just got lost and stopped caring about what happens to any of the characters.

And i think Keanu once again proves that he's just a hack of an actor. The only good performance in this film was from Downey Jr, as well as a few scenes from Harrelson.

Rating : 6/10

Posted : 2 years, 9 months ago at Feb 12 4:53

This film had so much potential. Philip K. Dick as the basis of the script? Yes please. When I watched the trailer I was literally salivating at the prospect of watching this at the cinema. However, it seemed to come and go quicker than a passing day and it had a very poor release in the UK, so I had to wait.

When I finally saw it I was fairly disappointed. It was not what I expected at all. The animation was quite fantastic and something different that I'm not used to seeing, but the plot was anything but. Some of the dialogue in the film was just painfully dull. It seemed to jump about a bit too much too. Nothing but the animation was really worth seeing, I'm glad I didn't shell out for a cinema ticket now.

Rating : 6/10