A Scanner Darkly | 
| Director: Richard Linklater
Actors: Rory Cochrane, Robert Downey Jr., Mitch Baker, Keanu Reeves, Sean Allen (ii)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy Used: $2.27
You Save: $17.71 (89%)
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Rating:  155 reviews
Sales Rank: 3860
Format: Ac-3, Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 59417
UPC: 012569594173
EAN: 0012569594173
ASIN: B000JMK6LW
Theatrical Release Date: July 28, 2006
Release Date: December 19, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Movie DVD
Amazon.com
How well you respond to Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly depends on how much you know about the life and work of celebrated science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. While it qualifies as a faithful adaptation of Dick's semiautobiographical 1977 novel about the perils of drug abuse, Big Brother-like surveillance and rampant paranoia in a very near future ("seven years from now"), this is still very much a Linklater film, and those two qualities don't always connect effectively. The creepy potency of Dick's premise remains: The drug war's been lost, citizens are kept under rigid surveillance by holographic scanning recorders, and a schizoid addict named Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves) is facing an identity crisis he's not even aware of: Due to his voluminous intake of the highly addictive psychotropic drug Substance D, Arctor's brain has been split in two, each hemisphere functioning separately. So he doesn't know that he's also Agent Fred, an undercover agent assigned to infiltrate Arctor's circle of friends (played by Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder, Rory Cochrane, and Robert Downey, Jr.) to track down the secret source of Substance D. As he wears a "scramble suit" that constantly shifts identities and renders Agent Fred/Arctor into "the ultimate everyman," Dick's drug-addled antihero must come to grips with a society where, as the movie's tag-line makes clear, "everything is not going to be OK." While it's virtually guaranteed to achieve some kind of cult status, A Scanner Darkly lacks the paranoid intensity of Dick's novel, and Linklater's established penchant for loose and loopy dialogue doesn't always work here, with an emphasis on drug-culture humor instead of the panicked anxiety that Dick's novel conveys. As for the use of "interpolated rotoscoping"--the technique used to apply shifting, highly stylized animation over conventional live-action footage--it's purely a matter of personal preference. The film's look is appropriate to Dick's dark, cautionary story about the high price of addiction, but it also robs performances of nuance and turns the seriousness of Dick's story into... well, a cartoon. Opinions will differ, but A Scanner Darkly is definitely worth a look--or two, if the mind-rattling plot doesn't sink in the first time around. --Jeff Shannon
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| Customer Reviews: Read 150 more reviews...
 Dick put to good Use May 26, 2009
Rodney J. Moss
I like Dick, having been lured by a 'Rollingstone' article on him in the 70s. By then, he was already a cult figure. I read Scanner and 'The 3 Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich' and was seriously disorientated. And this without recourse to anything but the written word; P K Dick's words. No other sci fi writer has touched me so. And here, Linklater has struck upon a perfect filmic technique to attempt to translate the altered states of consciousness that so obsessed Dick. This is a film brimming with info and insight. And it looks suave, and suitably deadpan simultaneously. Loved it! And definitely will give it a re-run.
 Form over substance March 9, 2009
Helen S. Lam
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Form over substance! Dialogue is monotonous and sleep-inducing. Plot is not terribly intriguing. The only cool aspect is the "cartoonization" of the actors. Overall, go watch something else.
 New Age Art ?? March 1, 2009
knightone525
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
OMG! The plot line might of been good I do not know as I could not stand to watch this form of animation.The way the artists drew the faces of these characters was terrible.The shadows of the faces were like they were moving all the time,it was madness to watch.It was like the shadows had a life of their own and it was very irritating to watch,so I quit after about ten minutes.I could not stand to watch it.It drove me nuts.
bummer September 25, 2008
Bob (Divided States)
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
The plot confused and depressed me. Keanu Reeves is perfect for this role. His poor character has been dazed and confused for so long it's not true. It's one twisted, nightmarish sci-fi tale about the horror of drug addiction. Much more effective than the guy who used to come on TV years ago with an egg and a frying pan.("This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs".) 'Just say no' to Substance D. I would because it causes a lobotomy and knowing that would be enough for me to not take it. Now the "interpolated rotoscoping" technique -- Been there done that. It's just not as cool the second time. WAKING LIFE, also directed by the same guy, was fantastic and fun to watch. This here, not so much. On top of that I saw this animation in TV commercials which pretty much did for this style of animation what TV commercials did for all those classic rock songs I used to sort of like.
Credit for staying respectful to the source material, but it didn't work for me. Not the worst PDK film adaptation though. I'm always waiting for the next BLADE RUNNER that will never come. If you dig the animation in this movie check out WAKING LIFE. The bonus stuff is pretty cool too. And drink a bottle of cough syrup.
 Looks even better in Blu-ray July 28, 2008
Ziren Hair
I have this on normal DVD format so I thought I get it in Blu-ray since I just bought a new player. I think this is a great DVD to have in your Blu-ray collection. The whole comic look to the movie is what I really enjoyed. It just looked awesome seeing all the colors in full detail.
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