It's hard to tack down exactly what A Scanner Darkly is about for a quick paragraph summary. Like most Phillip K. Dick stories, the underlying theme is a question of identity - who is the protagonist and how do we know that' Unlike Blade Runner's Deckard or Minority Report's John Anderton, that's a question not even the main character of A Scanner Darkly can really answer.
From the start our main character is living with a dual identity. Seven years in the future, drug use remains a major problem, leading Anaheim's police force to resort to using anonymous officers to investigate potential drug leads. Shrouded by "Scramble Suits," which hide the identity of the officers, not even supervisors know who their staff consists of. Fred is the anonymous moniker used by one officer in particular, who is assigned to the case of Bob Arctor. The police force plants holographic cameras around Arctor's ramshackle house and Fred is assigned to scan through the footage looking for potential leads. The trouble is underneath the scramble suit, Fred actually is Bob Arctor who, while using Substance "D," isn't the major player the police seem to think he is. The result is a drug addled study on perspective - how objective a person can be about life, whether living it first hand or watching it through cameras as a third party.
Adding to the trippy feeling of a story that uses drugs as a central plot device is director Richard Linklater's decision not to present the film as a live action picture, but to animate over the footage he shot to create an easily manipulated environment that feels removed from reality. Originally I thought the animation was just a gimmick, but shortly after the film starts the animation looses its flash and dazzle and truly becomes a tool for telling the story. Technology like the scramble suits are brilliantly created in the animated world but, even more important, drug induced hallucinations become commonplace and make the viewer question whether they actually are hallucinations or just part of this world of the future. It's an amazing accomplishment and I can't imagine any other way Linklater could have pulled it off. This was truly a genius way to visually create a world of confusion, fear, paranoia, and doubt.
A Scanner Darkly is more than just artistic animation however. By beginning with life action Linklater creates a strong foundation for the film resting on his actors. Keanu Reeves turns in one of the better performances of his career, and it's not just because his image is animated. His voice communicates a wealth of emotion and really establishes his character's identity crisis throughout the film - who is he really' How did he get here' Does he even have a future' These are all questions he directly posits throughout the film but the weight of the questions is present in most of his dialogue. Robert Downey Jr. and Rory Cochrane deserve the biggest credit for the film, however, breathing their constantly high characters to life without resorting to overused clichs. The subtle nuances of Downey's paranoia or Cochrane's burned out ticks really define the downside of Substance "D" and the world around Fred/Bob Arctor and create an incredibly strong drama.
Drama is exactly what A Scanner Darkly is. Despite a vaguely futuristic setting (seven years in the future really isn't that far, is it') and advertising that sometimes makes the film appear to be an animated Matrix tale, the film bears little resemblance to traditional science fiction (although you have to love the irony that Substance "D" is a red pill, continuing the science fiction idea that you should always question the consequences of swallowing any red pill). Although there is just enough combination of the mundane and mysterious for the film to qualify as sci-fi, at it's base the film really is about a quest for identity and a dramatic battle being waged inside one man - although he may be numb to the world after downing his drugs, can a man really ignore what he sees when he is scanning his own life' Like most good stories, the movie doesn't necessarily contain all the answers, but it will definitely leave the viewer thinking when the final credits role.
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A Scanner Darkly 
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