A Scanner Darkly [HD DVD] | ![A Scanner Darkly [HD DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Vp4MipeZL._SL500_.jpg) | Director: Richard Linklater
Actors: Rory Cochrane, Robert Downey Jr., Mitch Baker, Keanu Reeves, Sean Allen (II)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $28.99
Buy New: $4.76
as of 2/9/2010 14:58 EST details
You Save: $24.23 (84%)
New (8) Used (5) from $2.39
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Rating:  157 reviews
Sales Rank: 33876
Format: Anamorphic, Animated, Color, Dolby, Subtitled
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: HD DVD
Region: 0
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 6.5 x 5.3 x 0.5
MPN: HD81031
UPC: 012569810310
EAN: 0012569810310
ASIN: B000NOKJFO
Theatrical Release Date: July 28, 2006
Release Date: April 10, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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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
Description
Set in a not-too-distant future where America has lost its "war" on drugs, Fred, an undercover cop, is one of many people hooked on the popular drug, Substance D, which causes its users to develop split personalities. Fred is obsessed with taking down Bob, a notorious drug dealer, but due to his Substance D addiction, he does not know that he is also Bob. Based on a classic novel by Philip K. Dick. Starring Keanu Reeves ("Constantine," "The Matrix" trilogy), Academy Award-nominee and Golden Globe-winner Winona Ryder ("Girl, Interupted," "Mr. Deeds"), Academy Award and Emmy-nominee and Golden Globe-winner Robert Downey Jr. ("Good Night, And Good Luck" "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang"), and Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominee and Emmy-winner Woody Harrelson ("North Country," "The People vs. Larry Flynt"). Directed by Academy Award-nominee Richard Linklater ("Before Sunset," "Dazed and Confused"). Filmed in live-action, and then animated using the same critically acclaimed process that Linklater used in his previous film, "Waking Life."
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 157
 A Scanner Crappily January 18, 2010
Surferofromantica (Singapore)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I watched Richard Linklater's "Waking Life" ages ago; I don't remember much, since I kept falling asleep. "A Scanner Darkly" didn't have that effect on me, I was somehow engrossed in the story, watching along as Keanu Reeves went through some mind-tripping counter agent narc activities. It wasn't quite as intense as "Rush", but the mind-trippiness was engaging for a while. Ultimately, however, the plotline was a bit too jerky for me to be really satisfied; the onscreen chemistry between Robert Downey Jr and Woody Harrelson was decent, but I don't think I've ever seen Keanu Reeves as wooden. Wynona Ryder, however, was hotter than ever as a digital chick who does too much coke. Robert Downey Jr may be famous now as Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes, but in those days he was still a bit in the hinterlands, and his quirky acting here is quite reminiscent of his work in "Too Much Sun," a bizarre "comedy" directed by his dad, Robert Downey Sr.
More interesting to me was to read the background of the book, and what Philip K. Dick was going through when it was written and why it was written, and how it was basically an autobiographical work. A story about people engaged in massive drug use by someone who had been engaged in massive drug use would make you think of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," but this is another, alternate creation.
The film is dedicated to those who either didn't make it, and to those who were permanently scarred, such as Dick himself.
 Once again attempt BACK to the FUTURE December 13, 2009
Michael Kerjman (The Earth)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
A futuristic animation of the USA future where drugs and sex are supposed being even much mixed than recently.
I am not amused with story at all also it is funny produce on technical merits.
 It appealed to my tastes but I am probably in the minority on this one. September 13, 2009
Wayne Pollock (Australia)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Great Blu Ray transfer and a cool movie. Unfortunately I had to watch this alone because no one else was able to get through the first ten minutes. Therefore this is obviously not to everyones tastes and despite the impressive cast this is my no means a mainstream film. If you haven't seen this then try renting it first.
If you have seen this before and would like to buy it then the blu ray transfer is great, extras are minimal and probably just ported over from the DVD, the sound is only DD5.1. There are no lossless audio tracks but this a dialogue driven film and its probably not a major issue.
 Loved it! September 9, 2009
Nana Huang
I loved this movie and wanted to buy one, so I got it new and the shipment was super speedy! Great packaging and no problem with the dvd whatsoever. I just bought a book and hope to get it soon, can't wait to start reading it, since it's only sold online and it's not checkable in libraries yet.
Get this movie if you love the actors in the movie like I do. I'm a Keanu fan. And love to see in Animated format. This movie was very interesting b/c they used actors and CG ontop, to create this movie. It's facinating how so much work goes into making a movie.
Their prices here are a lot cheaper than other places, so buying has been very nice. I hope to continue shopping here in the future.
Dick put to good Use May 26, 2009
Rodney J. Moss
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 157
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