A Scanner Darkly

A Scanner Darkly ****

I'll admit, Richard Linklater isn't my favorite guy in the world. I often find his films, which usually contain rambling monologue and theories from people in their early twenties who believe that they have all the answers, dull and pretentious. Even some of his most wonderful films, for example Before Sunset, was a victim of the Rambling Monologue Syndrome, and after a while enough is enough. After "Slacker" and "Waking Life," he started to go a different route, with the brilliant "School of Rock," and the not so brilliant remake of "Bad News Bears," which was pretty horrible save Billy Bob Thorton. So, given his mixed track record, I approached "A Scanner Darkly" with caution. Sure, the adverts looked promising, but you can never tell with those. In the end, it was one of the strangest, wackiest, hilarious, head trip that I've seen in recent time. And it does have a case of the Rambling Monologue Syndrome, but in this case, it's Robert Downy Jr, trippin' on drugs, done in such a fashion where you hang onto his every word, taking it all in, and at the same time slapping the arm rests.

And I'm making the film sound hilarious, which it is, but at the same time it is a grim and uncompromising look at the future, which is a method seen often in many many films. It takes place seven years from now, in California, where there are only two types of people in the world-those who are addicted and always on a drug known as Substance D, and those who never even bothered touching it. It seems that America has lost the war on drugs, and now those who take it spend their days paranoid, scratching invisible bugs from their bodies, and just slacking off wherever they want to. Those include James Barris, Ernie Luckman, and Charles Freck. Little do they know that the friend that allows them to stay in his house, Bob Arctor, is an undercover narcotics cops. Like his friends, Arctor's mind is constantly melting as a result of the drug. It's also causing problems by creating damage to his brain, as one side of his brain is slacking off, and the other side is working double to try and compensate. At his job he wears a suit all day, which scrambles up images of people continuously. Nobody will ever know who he is, which makes this all the more strange when he is ordered to spy on his friends, and also himself. Everything that we do is recorded in this future, and Bob spends his work hours watching videos of his house, scanning and watching the things that him and his friends did. But like him, not many people can be trusted, especially when Barris ends up squealing to the cops about the actions of Arctor, when he is in fact squealing to Arctor about the bad things that Arctor has done. Arctor begins to question the drug of Substance D, and its effects.

"A Scanner Darkly" does not promote drugs at all. Author Phillip K Dick of the original novel has a message at the end of the film, which is sort of a good bye note to all his friends who have died, or have come close to death as a result of drugs. It's a warning to us. Sure, the films funniest scenes involve the four men paranoid, running around town thinking that people are spying on them, and breaking into their house, but in the end it's also just plain sad. Robert Downy Jr has the best lines, and steals every single scene that he is in, with his half-assed theories, and crazy ideas. Woody Harrelson by his side also makes for a great comedy pair. Keanu Reeves is perfect here, in the fact that he is able to just play the part he always does. In this case, the stale acting, and "Whoa's" actually fit, and make some sense.

"A Scanner Darkly" is animated, but not in the normal fashion. It was shot using a digital camera, using all of the actors, and then every single frame was animated over, giving a very realistic look to the actors. All the principal characters look like the actors that are playing them. It's a surreal look, and one that is hard to get used to at first, but it really does fit this confused, and blurry world that these characters inhabit. "A Scanner Darkly" is haunting, fresh, hilarious, and one of the year's best. It's ending is chilling, and bleak, but there is still a glimmer of hope.