A Scanner Darkly
Set in the future, the film follows a group of drug addled, low-life friends in suburban California. "Reeves is the brooding special agent in a shape-shifter suit, assigned to spy on his own friends; Downey Jr is the sinister alpha male; Harrelson is the Lebowski-esque goofball. On one hand, it's a paranoid futuristic thriller, but on the other it's a portrait of life in deadbeat slackerdom." [Andrew O'Hehir].
- Director:
- Richard Linklater ('Slacker', 'Dazed & Confused', 'Waking Life', 'Bad News Bears')
- Writer:
- Richard Linklater
- Cast:
- Keanu ReevesRobert Downey JrWoody HarrelsonWinona RyderRory Cochrane
Reviews & comments
Rolling Stone
pressThis gifted writer-director isn't out to dull the masses with cinematic opium. Embedded in the visionary headtrip of A Scanner Darkly is a hotly political call to arms...
Premiere Magazine
pressThe most impressive thing about the film's technical wizardry is, finally, how unimpressive it is. One doesn't leave the movie with a mind blown by visual bedazzlement but with a soul shattered by the profound sense of tragedy Linklater and company so beautifully put across...
Los Angeles Times
pressThe brilliance of A Scanner Darkly is how it suggests, without bombast or fanfare, the ways in which the real world has come to resemble the dark world of comic books...
Hollywood Reporter
pressAudiences will have to seek out their own peculiar diversions in order to last the whole course of this demi-dud...
Film Threat
pressIsn't as dark or sinister as its source material, but it comes closer than any other filmed attempts to this point. It may only be a decent movie, but it's a pretty fine PKD adaptation...
BBC
pressNo matter how startling its visuals, A Scanner Darkly is inescapably a film about stoners lazing around and talking nonsense. Keanu is fine, in his usual bewildered way, but he has a hard time competing with Robert Downey Jr, on brilliant form as a paranoid motormouth loon. The film eventually makes a queasy kind of sense, but Linklater's predilection for long takes and improvisation can transform Keanu's nightmare into a bit of a trudge. Still, it's never less than incredibly beautiful to watch...
Rolling Stone
pressThis gifted writer-director isn't out to dull the masses with cinematic opium. Embedded in the visionary headtrip of A Scanner Darkly is a hotly political call to arms...
Premiere Magazine
pressThe most impressive thing about the film's technical wizardry is, finally, how unimpressive it is. One doesn't leave the movie with a mind blown by visual bedazzlement but with a soul shattered by the profound sense of tragedy Linklater and company so beautifully put across...
Los Angeles Times
pressThe brilliance of A Scanner Darkly is how it suggests, without bombast or fanfare, the ways in which the real world has come to resemble the dark world of comic books...
Hollywood Reporter
pressAudiences will have to seek out their own peculiar diversions in order to last the whole course of this demi-dud...
Film Threat
pressIsn't as dark or sinister as its source material, but it comes closer than any other filmed attempts to this point. It may only be a decent movie, but it's a pretty fine PKD adaptation...
BBC
pressNo matter how startling its visuals, A Scanner Darkly is inescapably a film about stoners lazing around and talking nonsense. Keanu is fine, in his usual bewildered way, but he has a hard time competing with Robert Downey Jr, on brilliant form as a paranoid motormouth loon. The film eventually makes a queasy kind of sense, but Linklater's predilection for long takes and improvisation can transform Keanu's nightmare into a bit of a trudge. Still, it's never less than incredibly beautiful to watch...
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