When the book on Robert Downey Jr’s comeback is written, much will be said about his ascension from a leading man crippled with addiction problems to the A-list with a stunning performance in the massively successful Iron Man and an Oscar nomination for Tropic Thunder within six months of one another. Throw in another franchise role with Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes and Downey’s comeback is complete. His rise back to fame was much more spectacular than given credit for, but it didn’t come overnight.
It took nearly a dozen roles in films of varying quality to establish himself on the indie scene to reach that potential he showed when he became the first cast member of Saturday Night Live to garner an Oscar nomination for Chaplin. One of those films was in A Scanner Darkly, based off the Philip K. Dick novel of the same name and rotoscoped in the same manner as Waking Life with the same director, Richard Linklater. While not a leading part, Downey’s presence nearly steals the film from headliner Keanu Reeves in a stellar supporting turn.
Bob (Reeves) is an undercover narcotics officer several years in the future tasked with helping to bring down Donna (Winona Ryder), a drug dealer who also happens to double as his girlfriend. Jim (Downey Jr), Freck (Rory Cochrane) and Ernie (Woody Harrelson) live with Bob and all four are addicted to Substance D. Their lives involve bouncing between drug use and quasi-philosophical discussions to indiscriminate scheming all the while they have a police officer in their midst.
As Bob tries to go up the drug chain Donna seems to be connected to, the film follows the group as they mainly use drugs and have drug-addled conversations while Bob’s psyche disintegrates due to drug abuse. As he continues his task in a world where seemingly everything and everyone is monitored, he finds that keeping it all together is significantly more difficult than advertised.
Genuflections on a world gone mad aside, the key that stands out about A Scanner Darkly is Linklater’s use of rotoscoping as a means of telling his story as opposed to merely using it to make it stand out. Linklater is no stranger to the medium and uses it to be able to animate things such as the “scramble suit” that Bob wears in the office and occasionally on the job. The visual aspect of the film is what in part helps drive the actors; given free reign to act without needing makeup, et al, and knowing that their appearance will be changed radically once the film’s 23 day shoot was completed, this is a character actor’s dream film.
Eclectic actors like Downey and Harrelson are given nearly free reign to chew scenery, it seems, as Linklater allows his cast a significant amount of freedom that allows them to improvise and give significantly more animated performances than usual (no pun intended). Downey stands out in particular because he turns up the wattage on his usual bombastic self but he is by no means alone. This is a film where Linklater has a lot of room to experiment, given the film’s low budget and decision to use an animated style, but he doesn’t skimp on story at the expense of the story-telling manner.
Linklater, who also scripted the film, has a grand story about sacrifice to tell and uses the medium to tell it. He has an ability to tap into leading men with distinct acting strengths and weaknesses, such as his ability to coax several great performances out of Ethan Hawke, and it’s in that where he brings out a story with a similarly talented Reeves. This isn’t Reeves the action star from Speed and The Matrix; this is closer to his early days of My Private Idaho and it’s refreshing to see out of an actor easily dismissed from his days as a surfing FBI agent and former Heisman trophy winner in Point Break.
A Scanner Darkly may have disappeared from the few theatres that carried the film quickly but developed a cult following for a specific reason: it has an interesting story to tell and an interesting way to tell it.
In a widescreen format with a Dolby surround sound, A Scanner Darkly is an absolutely stunning transfer in the format. This is a film that has a lot of colors and ambient sound that comes through cleanly, clearly and spectacularly.
A Commentary Track featuring Reeves, Linklater, Philip K Dick’s daughter Isa Hassett Dick, Producer Tommy Pallotta and Philip K Dick historian Jonathan Lethem
The Weight of the Line: Animation Tales is a piece looking at the film’s production, specifically the rotoscoping that went in to creating the film’s unique look. Taking 18 months to craft in post production after 23 days of camerawork, filmed during the same time that Robert Rodriguez was filming Sin City in the same general area, it’s focus is on how they made the film knowing they were going to animate after. It allowed for the actors to change up their performances and allowed the animators to have a visual representation of their characters and how they said things, as opposed to having to guess. Twenty people worked on the “scramble suits” that weigh prominently in the film.
The film’s Theatrical Trailer is included.
A Scanner Darkly from the get go seemed to be destined for status as a cult film as opposed to a mainstream film due to its look at the world of the drug addict. It’s a brilliant film, though, and well worth the viewing.
Warner Home Video presents A Scanner Darkly. Written and Directed by Richard Linklater based off the novel “A Scanner Darkly” by Philip K Dick. Starring Keanu Reeves, Winona Rider, Robert Downey Jr, Rory Cochrane, Woody Harrelson. Running time: 100 minutes. Rated R. Released on Blu-ray: September 7, 2010.
