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Movies / On DVD / A Scanner Darkly
A Scanner Darkly

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A Scanner Darkly (2006)

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Reviews Counted:166

Fresh:112

Rotten:54

Average Rating:6.5/10

Consensus: A faithful adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel, A Scanner Darkly takes the viewer on a visual and mind-blowing journey into the author's conception of a drug-addled and politically unstable world.

Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for drug and sexual content, language and a brief violent image

Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Theatrical Release:18-08-2006

Synopsis: Richard Linklater's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's classic novel is a challenging, mind-bending experience that cautions about the dangers of excessive drug use as well as the government's capacity... Richard Linklater's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's classic novel is a challenging, mind-bending experience that cautions about the dangers of excessive drug use as well as the government's capacity to abuse and manipulate power. Using the same interpolated rotoscoping technique that Linklater employed in 2001's WAKING LIFE, the film is an animated, trippy descent into one man's unraveling mind. Set in the not-too-distant future where a new drug, substance D, has created an epidemic, A SCANNER DARKLY charts the mental unraveling of Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves). Arctor is an undercover cop who has been assigned to track a group of individuals who include the druggily verbose Barris (Robert Downey Jr.), the hyper-intense Luckman (Woody Harrelson), the ultra-paranoid Freck (Rory Cochrane), and the beautiful Donna (Winona Ryder). As the film unfolds and Arctor finds himself abusing substance D in order to maintain his façade, his mind begins to spin out of control, to the point where he doesn't know what's real and what isn't. Eventually, the truth comes out, leaving Arctor even more numbed. Linklater's surprisingly faithful adaptation of Dick's novel blends humor, drama, and Bob Sabiston's striking animation to deliver a thought-provoking film that will leave viewers as dazed as the film's protagonist. [More]

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey, Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey, Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder, Rory Cochrane

Director: Richard Linklater

Director: Richard Linklater
Screenwriter: Richard Linklater
Composer: Graham Reynolds
Studio: Warner Independent

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1 - 4 of 7

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Reviews for A Scanner Darkly

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101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
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There's always something eye-catching on view.

Full Review Source: Creative Loafing | comment Comment
07/12/06
Matt Brunson
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing

A handsome and mindwarping movie that has cult hit written all over it.

Full Review Source: About.com | comment Comment
07/11/06
Jurgen Fauth
Jurgen Fauth
About.com

While it's a mundane cautionary cult tale about the perils of drug abuse, a curious visual appeal is what distinguishes this film.

Full Review Source: Modamag.com | comment Comment
07/10/06
Susan Granger
Susan Granger
Modamag.com

While it's a mundane cautionary cult tale about the perils of drug abuse, a curious visual appeal is what distinguishes this film.

Full Review Source: Modamag.com | comment Comment
07/10/06
Susan Granger
Susan Granger
Modamag.com

The stars [Reeves, Downey Jr., Harrelson, Ryder and Cochrane] are at one with Linklater and his vision of a future, screwed up world (like this one isn't screwed up!).

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
07/08/06
Robin Clifford
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews

The film is quite entertaining in a bent sort of way, and if you like weird, you should definitely see this.

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
07/08/06
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

Simultaneously strange and familiar, not himself, Bob lives inside an ooky, unsolvable world that mirrors our own ongoing fears, of surveillance, loss, and forgetting.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
07/08/06
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

[O]h, yes, the evil cleverness, the deep and seriously profound wit of casting... Keanu Reeves... with his melancholy insolence that everyone mistakes for lethargy, with his irony so deadpan it goes all the way back around to something like calculated sel

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
07/07/06
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

A Scanner Darkly is a visually riveting mind-bender inspired by drug-induced experiences.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
07/07/06
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today

Richard Linklater wraps novelist Philip K. Dick's paranoid, prescient nightmare of addiction and identity lost down the rabbit hole in the same rotoscoped animation that helped produce the blissed-out groove of his Waking Life.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
07/07/06
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

As fascinating and intelligent as the movie is, A Scanner Darkly leaves you wishing it might have actually been less faithful in word, and more in spirit, to Philip K. Dick's universe of bugged-out paranoid weirdness.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
07/07/06
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star

Like its protagonist, Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly suffers from a schizoid identity crisis.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
07/07/06
Jeff Shannon
Jeff Shannon
Seattle Times

For science fiction fans who prefer ideas over laser battles, this is the most meticulous and faithful movie adaptation of Dick's work -- and one of the most thoughtful.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
07/07/06
Peter Hartlaub
Peter Hartlaub
San Francisco Chronicle

It's a grand and elegant portrait of paranoia and malfeasance set amongst society's seedy underbelly.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
07/07/06
Pam Grady
Pam Grady
Reel.com

Aesthetically interesting as it is, the film leaves you feeling somewhat blank and detached, sort of like the main character.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
07/07/06
Lisa Rose
Lisa Rose
Newark Star-Ledger

A Scanner Darkly doesn't quite live up to the promise of its opening sequence, but it's still an audacious offering during a season of brain-dead blockbusters.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
07/07/06
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post

Fans of the late sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick may rejoice at the news that Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly is the most faithful adaptation of one of his stories to reach the screen. Unfortunately, the story is one of Dick's least cinematic.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
07/07/06
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News

Hilarious digressions like these are bound to induce chuckles even among viewers who, as Bill Clinton would say, have never inhaled.

Full Review Source: FilmStew.com | comment Comment
07/07/06
Brett Buckalew
Brett Buckalew
FilmStew.com

An impressive work of art, A Scanner Darkly, but you might need drugs to sit through it.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment 1 Comment
07/07/06
Bob Strauss
Bob Strauss
Los Angeles Daily News

It’s a trip.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
07/07/06
Bruce Kirkland
Bruce Kirkland
Jam! Movies
 
 
101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
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Latest News for A Scanner Darkly

January 09, 2007: Online Film Critics Name Their Year-End Favorites
Hosted right here at the illustrious Rotten Tomatoes is the official website of the Online Film Critics Society, an international group of flick analyzers who put their heads... More...

August 31, 2006: A Taste of What's "Next" for Nicolas Cage
Any time I hear the phrase "movie based on a Philip K. Dick story," I know I have to do a little more research. The next PKD adaptation is Lee Tamahori's... More...

August 08, 2006: Paul Giamatti to Star as Philip K. Dick
He night not be as famous as H.G. Wells or Isaac Asimov, but ask a sci-fi enthusiast what they think of Philip K. Dick, and get ready for a lengthy conversation. The late and... More...

July 24, 2006: Box Office Wrapup: "Pirates" Passes $300M; "Lady" Stumbles
Johnny Depp made this weekend's four new releases walk the plank as his megablockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest became the first film of the year to spend... More...

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