A Scanner Darkly

Substance abuse is usually a subject that can be used to get a message across to the audience, whether it's that the substance is good or bad for you. Here the issue is that a natural flower is being turned into an elicit drug that is slowly destroying the populace and the police are trying to determine how its being manufactured and distributed. From the get go this is a confusing and disjointed story that probably could have been left on the roadside. I've always liked Philip K. Dick's stories; with the imagination and skill that he put into his tales he has shown us different and enlightening versions of our possible futures, but this one is so incoherant that the message is lost and your left thinking what just happened. An undercover cop is on assignment as a person addicted to Substance D, but is the paranoia that he is feeling a byproduct of the act or is something going on beyond his control. The idea of the animation layered over the actors and scenery was an interesting to the point of being distracting. There are times during the film that you are hoping that what you are watching is just in the character's head and at some point the movie will go to live action but that never happens. There are some story concepts within the film that allows the animation to actually work, but its not enough to carry the film being shot in this manner. The acting is alright but the animation distrcats from the actors ability to flesh out the characters behavior and mannerisms.
Confusion and disorientation are the first two words that came to mind once I finished this film, I've enjoyed most of the movies that have been developed from Dick's works, but this one just doesn't do him justice. The one other thing that I did see here is that Keanu Reeves has got to get beyond doing science fiction based films before he becomes just another B movie actor, if its not to late already. So if you haven't seen this movie already don't bother, you'll walk away with a headache that feels like it'll explode, if you have seen it I'm sorry I didn't get to you in time, the room for lobotomies is on the right watch your step.