Watch A Scanner Darkly For Free

An Exercise In Nonsense

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Blistering performances.

I bought the DVD a few years ago and then it just sat there for a couple of years, but really I should have stuck it in the player straight away. I guess I was put off in a way by the idea that it was an animated film, but it isn't really, at least it didn't seem like it when I was watching. What really stands out is the humour and fear that only Philip K Dick can really blend so seamlessly, it's funny and disturbing, loads better than I expected. There are some great twists and the story is convincing, sad and scary. This is a really great film, I was very impressed; good work guys...

This is more of a 7.5 out of ten for me. It was a good drama but the plot could be at times just as confusing as Bob Arctor's life. It all however makes sense in the end but obviously throughout the movie you do not know that. In the end the characters and conversations were great, the twist at the end was great and the overall "D"-atmosphere (you'll get this reference when you watch it) was conveyed quite well and in which was complemented and even enhanced by the bold and daring visuals. As far as the visuals are concerned it is in my experience that people either love it or hate it. But don't let that discourage you! You will be pleasantly surprised even if the visuals aren't your thing. The only other issue I had was the lack of action. To compensate though this dark drama gives you rich and interesting characters and a mind-bending even disturbing plot. Enjoy!Dolan Brula

This film is based on a book by Philip K. Dick. Now I haven't read any of his books yet but from what I heard this is a solid adaptation. And this is a pretty darn good conspiracy film about a guy coping with his surroundings and a drug called Substance D. A drug that causes bizarre hallucination and makes them go all schizo and paranoid. It's basically a film that might be difficult to comprehend at first but you get use to it and it all makes clear to a degree. Keanu Reeves plays a guy named Bob Arctor who goes by other aliases. Now I don't think Keanu Reeves is a brilliant actor but he usually fits the roles he is given and in this case just perfectly. Keanu is really good at playing these confused and apathetic roles. Just about everyone is right for the roles they were given for this film. Robert Downey, Jr. is good at playing these pedantic and slightly weird characters and he nails it in this. Woody Harrelson is alright in this. But the guy that really nails it in this is Rory Cochrane, who is this jumpy, twitchy and overly paranoid character. And Rorly plays him flawlessly. Winona Ryder is also in this but felt that a bunch of other actresses could have played her role. When it comes down to it, it's the interactions between these characters that is the primary focus. And the conversations and the direction is clever and sometimes dumb(in a good way) but mostly amusing. This movie is shot with real actors but rendered into animation. Which adds to the weirdness of this film and bring out more of that trippy feel while it being cool and all. But wondered why they picked this subtle movie to do that in. Cause if they could have picked a story with explosions, car chases and other special effects and just used animation. It would have saved themselves a lot of budget and still could have gotten away with it in the audiences eyes. Although the animation rendering works in this film and doesn't seem like a gimmick. And even has couple of messages that can keep the audiences that watch this film thinking. And it's clever with it's execution, despite a twist when it hits I wondered how I could have missed that. Overall this is a good sci-fi conspiracy film that is well blended together. It's just a shame this film bombed at the box office.7.4/10

I must admit I was intrigued by the 7.5 rating on IMDb and since it was on HBO (which I already get) I figures why not. The whole "Cartoon" aspect of the movie I guess added to the whole drug aspect to it, but honestly I was bored through most of it, and sadly rather unfulfilled by the ending as well. So all in all a bomb for me and not in the good sense… I'm left thinking that if I might have been high on something (which I gave up years ago) or drunk off my ass (which I wasn't) I might have enjoyed this more, but sober I found this movie again rather dull and more or less uneventful. The thing is there wasn't really much that surprised me either and I was hoping for this "Ah ha" moment, which unfortunately never came, least not for me. I rate this as 3 stars, 1 obviously being the minimum. So the +1 was for it's originality of the whole psychedelic cartoon aspect which was fitting for the subject matter of the film, the other +1 was for that whole scene when the car broke down which reminded me of many years ago of getting wasted with friends and making up the weirdest and dumbest stuff, so that bit cracked me up.Other than those two aspects again I found the film drawn out, dull and worst of all non entertaining. And I've seen some druggie movies that I've liked, so it's not like the subject matter bored me, just the overall movie itself. Obviously others have gotten something more out of this than I have for it to have gotten such a decent rating, but if anything it proves to me that you cannot trust the ratings