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Movie Review: "A Scanner Darkly"
Jan. 20th, 2007 04:31 pm****1/2 out of *****
Very edgy and paranoiac, disturbing without making your skin crawl, and the graphic novel-like effect created by the rotoscope animation only adds to the off-kilter feeling. I'll have to read the novel it was based on to decide how good an adaptation it was, but that's something I've been meaning to do (I discovered Philip K. Dick wrote it in 1977, the year I was born, which gives it some personal significance). It's a little bit of a challenge to follow, but that's the nature of the beast. We can also add this to the growing list of lower-tech, social science fiction movies that have started to make the genre more accessible to people who normally don't watch or even think much about science fiction. And the acting was so natural, you often forget you're watching a sci-fi movie: I particularly liked Robert Downey jr as the imperceptively malevolent know-it-all Barris and Woody Harrelson as the slightly hyperactive Luckman (who reminded me of my crazy friend Mark, at least in terms of personality and energy). Keanu Reeves as Officer Fred/Bob Arctor counterpoints these guys' scene-chewing antics very well: he may not be Laurence Olivier, but his ability as an understated actor brings balance to the film. I think if they'd cast someone who emoted more strongly, it would have unbalanced the film, plus, it would undercut the poignancy of Fred/Arctor's predicament and his descent into a self-created oblivion... or an oblivion that has been foisted on him...
Very edgy and paranoiac, disturbing without making your skin crawl, and the graphic novel-like effect created by the rotoscope animation only adds to the off-kilter feeling. I'll have to read the novel it was based on to decide how good an adaptation it was, but that's something I've been meaning to do (I discovered Philip K. Dick wrote it in 1977, the year I was born, which gives it some personal significance). It's a little bit of a challenge to follow, but that's the nature of the beast. We can also add this to the growing list of lower-tech, social science fiction movies that have started to make the genre more accessible to people who normally don't watch or even think much about science fiction. And the acting was so natural, you often forget you're watching a sci-fi movie: I particularly liked Robert Downey jr as the imperceptively malevolent know-it-all Barris and Woody Harrelson as the slightly hyperactive Luckman (who reminded me of my crazy friend Mark, at least in terms of personality and energy). Keanu Reeves as Officer Fred/Bob Arctor counterpoints these guys' scene-chewing antics very well: he may not be Laurence Olivier, but his ability as an understated actor brings balance to the film. I think if they'd cast someone who emoted more strongly, it would have unbalanced the film, plus, it would undercut the poignancy of Fred/Arctor's predicament and his descent into a self-created oblivion... or an oblivion that has been foisted on him...
