A Scanner Darkly (Review)
What does a Scanner see?
Adapted from Sci-Fi writer Filip K. Dick's book of the same name, A Scanner Darkly was truly a trip to watch. Most likely, this movie will become a cult-classic and sorely misinterpreted as a generic 'drug movie' (no pun intended) to those who go watch the utter shit that comes out of Hollywood 86.001 percent of the time and expect not to think after handing over their $10 at the box office. However, that would be sorely offensive to a movie that forces one to look at the underlying theme, which is not only the impact of drug use on the user, but whether as a society we have free-will. Having seen it with a friend, both of us came up with very different perspectives of what we thought this movie was about, which was half the fun.
The movie did a very good job with pulling the viewer into the lives of these character's whose minds slowly disintegrate from the use of a drug called 'D' (possibly yet another metaphor feeding into the underlying theme of this story) and lead one to experience the paranoid ravings and experiences of these individuals, which very often bordered on the hysterical (unless they were piping something through the vent system at the theater cause sometimes you were wondering why you found that particular thing funny).
Personally speaking, I think that aside from the Matrix movies, which really were the only roles Reeves was born to play; Keanu Reeves is not a superb actor. However, this is one of those movies that really 'fit' his acting personality and his broodiness. Although he continues to be slightly wooden, lost and dark, to have it any other way would have surely done his character a great disservice. Woody Harrison, Rory Cochrane and Robert Downey Junior were hilarious and did overshadow the more seriously portrayed Reeves, although that seemed to be the intention. Wynona Rider was rather nondescript, she was not bad but I could see almost any other actor in her role.
Initially, I had thought that I would have a problem with the fact that the whole movie was animated but honestly, after a minute into the film I did not even notice it anymore. Actually, I think that it being animated added to that kind of trippy perspective they were trying to pull the audience into. At times, the style of animation changed to differentiate between the character's state of mind. Unlike some reviews which I had just read, I did not find the film's message to be dense. Actually, I'd say that it was fairly easy to follow (compared to V for Vendetta, in which once you got a grasp on one particular dialogue the rest of the film was over) ,or disregard, if you so choosed to watch it for it's entertainment value. I would see it again to futher understand and dissect the film's meaning, not because it was dense intellectually, but because one was wrapped up with taking everything in at once.
If you enjoyed the Matrix trilogy for it's philosophical underpinnings, V for Vendetta for it's political message you will most likely love this movie too. If you can care less about having to think and search for the underlying meaning in these types of films, then this movie is still fun to see and is *somewhat* reminiscent of Train Spotting. Surely, you will get a dark giggle out of it. I will be getting it for my movie collection for sure. Apparently the book is worth a read as well afterwards since it ‘fills-in’ many of the details in the movie which were not thoroughly explained or portrayed (apparently, certain things like the bike scene that went over my head actually has a explanation which, when I found out, made that scene even funnier).
Adapted from Sci-Fi writer Filip K. Dick's book of the same name, A Scanner Darkly was truly a trip to watch. Most likely, this movie will become a cult-classic and sorely misinterpreted as a generic 'drug movie' (no pun intended) to those who go watch the utter shit that comes out of Hollywood 86.001 percent of the time and expect not to think after handing over their $10 at the box office. However, that would be sorely offensive to a movie that forces one to look at the underlying theme, which is not only the impact of drug use on the user, but whether as a society we have free-will. Having seen it with a friend, both of us came up with very different perspectives of what we thought this movie was about, which was half the fun.
The movie did a very good job with pulling the viewer into the lives of these character's whose minds slowly disintegrate from the use of a drug called 'D' (possibly yet another metaphor feeding into the underlying theme of this story) and lead one to experience the paranoid ravings and experiences of these individuals, which very often bordered on the hysterical (unless they were piping something through the vent system at the theater cause sometimes you were wondering why you found that particular thing funny).
Personally speaking, I think that aside from the Matrix movies, which really were the only roles Reeves was born to play; Keanu Reeves is not a superb actor. However, this is one of those movies that really 'fit' his acting personality and his broodiness. Although he continues to be slightly wooden, lost and dark, to have it any other way would have surely done his character a great disservice. Woody Harrison, Rory Cochrane and Robert Downey Junior were hilarious and did overshadow the more seriously portrayed Reeves, although that seemed to be the intention. Wynona Rider was rather nondescript, she was not bad but I could see almost any other actor in her role.
Initially, I had thought that I would have a problem with the fact that the whole movie was animated but honestly, after a minute into the film I did not even notice it anymore. Actually, I think that it being animated added to that kind of trippy perspective they were trying to pull the audience into. At times, the style of animation changed to differentiate between the character's state of mind. Unlike some reviews which I had just read, I did not find the film's message to be dense. Actually, I'd say that it was fairly easy to follow (compared to V for Vendetta, in which once you got a grasp on one particular dialogue the rest of the film was over) ,or disregard, if you so choosed to watch it for it's entertainment value. I would see it again to futher understand and dissect the film's meaning, not because it was dense intellectually, but because one was wrapped up with taking everything in at once.
If you enjoyed the Matrix trilogy for it's philosophical underpinnings, V for Vendetta for it's political message you will most likely love this movie too. If you can care less about having to think and search for the underlying meaning in these types of films, then this movie is still fun to see and is *somewhat* reminiscent of Train Spotting. Surely, you will get a dark giggle out of it. I will be getting it for my movie collection for sure. Apparently the book is worth a read as well afterwards since it ‘fills-in’ many of the details in the movie which were not thoroughly explained or portrayed (apparently, certain things like the bike scene that went over my head actually has a explanation which, when I found out, made that scene even funnier).