Member review

Once again, Keanu Reeves takes a red pill. And once again, his life is turning upside down. A Scanner Darkly, based on the book of the same name, stars Reeves as Bob Arctor aka "Fred", who has successfully immersed himself (as Arctor) with a group of drug addicts, including Robert Downey Jr. (two years before his role as the cool Tony Stark, aka "Iron Man"), as James Barris, Woody Harrelson as Ernie Luckman and Rory Cochrane and Charles Freck, whilst his alter-ego "Fred" spies on his housemates, reporting to his senior officer, Hank, who both wear scramble suits, a full body cloak of sorts that constantly changes the wearer's appearances, maintaining privacy for undercover police officers. The whole film has a feel of drug culture about it. From the powerful and popular (and fictitious) Substance D, to the whole cinematographic feel: the entire film is Rotoscoped, in essence, the live action footage is traced over and animated (the same technique was used in director Richard Linklater's previous film, the deeply philosophic "Waking Life"). Though a rather strange film, the theme of drug seems to have a slight passive effect to the audience, as it is initially very confusing, before becoming highly addictive. A thoroughly enjoyable film nonetheless, though it does seem to include very generic characters when it comes to the theme of drug addiction (Bob/"Fred"'s split personality, Barris' manipulative selfishness, Luckman's passive docility, and Freck's formication (he constantly hallucinates insects crawling on his skin). Though every character in the film is generic and unimaginative, the film still provides a thought-provoking and slight headache-inducing entertainment, and is, all around, a nice way to spend an hour and a half