Review: A Scanner Darkly

Director Richard Linklater ('Before Sunrise'/'Sunset', 'School Of Rock', 'Fast Food Nation') has tackled Philip K. Dick's famous novel of substance abuse and paranoia 'A Scanner Darkly' and, from what I can tell, has done a pretty good job.

I say from what I can tell for two reasons: first, I haven't read the book, and second because if his intention was to create the feeling of being drug-induced while watching a film, he's done a pretty good job.

Keanu Reeves plays Bob Arctor, a cop who is so undercover he wears a scramble suit, a cloaking device that constantly changes to disguise his appearance. But when Bob is assigned to investigate a suspected high-level dealer of an addictive drug called Substance 'D', he finds he's spying on himself. So far, so trippy.

But it's the rotscoping animation overlayed on all the actors that really messes with your mind, forever ebbing and shifting. Add to that the petty, confused babblings of the characters Bob lives with- played by Woody Harleson, Winona Ryder, Rory Cochrane and, best of all, Robert Downey Jr.- and you can feel both the film and your head going sideways very quickly.

Towards the end, the film shifts tone and alludes that the private company controlling the public's rehabilitation from Substance D may actually also be the ones making and peddling it. But this feels a little rushed given the rest of the film's stoned tone, like spending 15 minutes discusing how a second-hand bike seems to have had half of its 18 gears "stolen".

But overall, a trip worth taking.