A Scanner Darkly

2006 Directed by Richard Linklater

Everything is not going to be OK

An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result.

Keanu Reeves Winona Ryder Woody Harrelson Robert Downey Jr. Mitch Baker Steven Chester Prince Natasha Valdez Angela Rawna Chamblee Ferguson Melody Chase Rory Cochrane Turk Pipkin Dameon Clarke Jason Douglas Marco Perella Alex Jones Wilbur Penn Ken Webster

Alternative Titles

盲区行者, A Scanner Darkly - Un Oscuro Scrutatore, Una mirada a la oscuridad, Karanligi taramak, Камера помътняла, 스캐너 다클리, O Homem Duplo, Scanner Darkly, A

thriller science fiction animation

100 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by maria ★★★½ 19

not to be that thirsty bitch but i want to liquify rotoscope gta looking keanu reeves and inject him into my veins heroin-style
Review by brat pitt ★★★ 11

my first linklater movie ever & uh probably my last
EDIT: THAT'S A LIE I FORGOT ABOUT SCHOOL OF ROCK
EDIT 2: I WATCHED THE BEFORE TRILOGY & NOW WHOLEHEARTEDLY FORGIVE HIM FOR THIS MESS I'M SORRY RICHARD
Review by iana ★★★★ 1

the latin for “make” is “facere” which always reminds me of “fuckere” which is latin for “to fuck”. and i haven’t been getting SHIT in that department lately.
Review by DirkH ★★★½

Film #10 of 'It's June Jim, but not as we know it.'
A Scanner Darkly is perhaps the most faithful Philip K. Dick adaptation I've ever seen. It is my favourite novel of his, a mind bending, deeply emotional and autobiographical Science Fiction novel and I guess that's why I never bothered with this adaptation. I truly respect Linklater's attempts to stay as close to the original even though he unfortunately favours form over content.
Linklater's rotoscopic technique is a bit of a double edged sword for me here. I loved how the animation made me share in how all the druggies in the film view the world. It is a kaleidoscopic experience, sometimes with a surreal world, sometimes with…
Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★★½ 14

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Film #15 of the February Movie Challenge : Keanu Reeves or Bust!
letterboxd.com/naughty/list/february-movie-challenge-keanu-reeves-or/
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According to a quote from Asher's Review Anyone whom didn't like or can't appreciate this film are nothing but a bunch of shape shifting albino lizard bitches!
So I'm here to confess I AM nothing but a shape shifting albino lizard bitch! And shape shifting albino lizard bitches cannot live on style alone! We need things like flies, insects, grubs and other things of substance like CONTENT! Which in my opinion there was very little of as the film progressed!
It is amusing, dark and trippy! It simply didn't ring my chimes!

Review by Ethan Ethan ★★★ 3

Honestly don't know what to feel about this. I know I enjoyed it. I also know I probably won't remember this movie that much.
Review by Ruben ★★★★ 4

This movie intoxicating and wacky
That’s my review
Review by Josiah Morgan ★★★★½

Perhaps the most indescribably evocative film ever made, functioning on both an emotive and formal level, it's a comedy until it stops being funny. Linklater's achievement is essentially unmatched in the medium of animation.
Review by Sam “H” ★★★★ 3

Scanner? I barely know her!
And don't call me Darkly!

kill me
Review by Tay 16

i had every intention to say something about martyrs and scapegoats and victims of (supposedly) architectonic goals & ideologies, but then the film concluded with an excerpt from Philip K. Dick's afterword, which made me cry in a very sad & helpless way. i found the entirety of the afterword after finishing the movie, which i'll paste below when i finish rambling. but i'd like to first pull some snippets both adapted for the film & not included:
"This has been a novel about some people who were punished entirely too much for what they did. They wanted to have a good time, but they were like children playing in the street; they could see one after another of them being killed—run over,…
Review by alex todd 🧟‍♂️ ★★★★

scavenger hunt #56
animated keanu is perhaps my new favourite thing
Review by Asher ★★★★★ 6

People who don't like - or can't appreciate - this film are nothing but a bunch of shape-shifting-albino-lizard-bitches!

Recent reviews

Review by NovaStudios ★★★★

Where to begin?
A Scanner Darkly is a 2006 fiA SCANNER DEEZ NUTS GOT EM HAHAHAHAHAHHA get #smartphOWNED 😂😂😂🤣🥲😂😅😅😅😅😅😅😸😹😹😸💯💯😸😺
I like the part where Woody Harrelson aims a bow at people despite not having any arrows in it
Review by Adri ★★★★

Keanu Reeves but on drugs and animated
Review by thelistislife42 ★★★½

7/10
There are aspects I don't love but this gets so intriguing as it goes along. The animation is both really great and really off-putting.
Added to:
Ranking: 2021, First Time Watches
Top 100 Animated Films
Ranking: Coronavirus Quarantine
Review by Andrew Bundy ★★★★ 2

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

"The living, he thought, should never be used to serve the purposes of the dead. But the dead—he glanced at Bruce, the empty shape beside him — should, if possible, serve the purposes of the living. That, he reasoned, is the law of life."
Finished the book today; easily my favorite Philip K. Dick that I've read - it's a masterpiece. Interestingly, Linklater's movie is about as straight forward of an adaptation as is likely possible but almost all of Arctor/Fred/Bruce's inner turmoil is lost in translation. The rotoscoping was a great choice, yet, while Donna/Connie's trippy alteration is a neat little animated optical, the emotional/psychological burden of of Arctor's literal uncertainty of what he is seeing isn't evoked in…
Review by Ross Holzschuh ★★★★½

One of the best sci-fi movies of the 21st century
Review by nikki ★★★★

this movie felt like I was part of GTA. Very interesting media choice to display, but again very very very cool.
Review by xker ★★★★

A Scanner Darkly is one distinguished movie, from its title to its plot, to how scenes are handled, and certainly its look. It's safe to say I have never seen something like this before. It's purposely convoluted, at least on the first watch, but within its context, it makes perfect sense to be handled that way.
Drugs are taking over the population. And we are seeing a world as if on some lucid drug ourselves. We become confused as the main character does, not seeing the bigger picture until the end. Once there I found myself asking questions that could not be so easily answered. Questions about morality, like, what lengths is it okay to go to for the greater…
Review by Arlis ★★½

Philip K. Dick (9/12)
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I didn't enjoy the novel and I'm mixed about this movie. I wished I cared about somebody in this movie. It was just watching a sequence of events for 100 minutes. There was occasionally funny stuff, but yeah. Weak Not Recommend.
Review by George ★★★★

A very clever and surreal animated movie which is nothing you’ll ever see again. Brilliant performances from everyone and a unique story. The only complaint really would be the pacing stays constant throughout, doesn’t slow down or speed up, other than that it’s great.
Review by Luke Swales ★★★★★

"I hope for everyone's sake the scanners do better, because if the scanners see only darkly the way I do, then we're cursed, and cursed again. And we'll only wind up dead this way, knowing very little, and getting that little fragment wrong too."
I can't explain why this is my favourite movie, it just is, something about it gets to me deep inside in the way that no other movie can, it may not be flawless but the genius of this is irreplaceable
Review by Lucy Richards ★★★★

Keanu-a-thon: Film 20
A highly evocative and wacky film that completely draws you into the world. Every frame makes you feel what the characters are feeling, the animation style ties perfectly with its themes and the overall look of the film is so stunning and distinctive. I always feel like Richard Linklater takes on these weird projects and commits to them 100% and A Scanner Darkly is no exception. The film is hilarious until it really isn't anymore and it really takes you on a spin along with its drug infused characters. A very intelligent and weird movie and I'm really tempted to go and pick up the novel now to see how it compares.
Review by Matty G

yes!! Linklater's best ensemble since WAKING LIFE, notable not only for the genre but for the different stylistic territory the actors are allowed to inhabit. Roller coaster-on-the-highway performances. Love this. Wasn't dreaming about Kaufman's original adaptation for even a minute of it. Can't wait to watch it again : )