Note: Warner Brothers released A Scanner Darkly on Blu-ray in 2007. This 2010 reissue appears to be identical to that disc save for the fact that it inexplicably omits a featurette from the extras. If you have the older release, this new one doesn't give you any reason whatsoever to bother with this disc.

Based on the story of the same name by renowned author Philip K. Dick (probably best known for writing Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? on which Ridley Scott's Blade Runner was based), Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly was shot as a live action picture and then handed over to a team of animators who worked some rotoscoping magic over top of the film and gave it a very distinct and appropriately trippy visual look.

Based on Dick's own personal experimentation with narcotics, the story is set in the near future in Orange County California, where we meet up with an undercover narcotics agent known as Fred uses a scanning suit (which basically allows him to shift his appearance at will) to conceal his true identity from both those inside the force and in the outside world. Secretly, his real name is Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves) and his job is to go undercover and make his way into a tightly run drug peddling group who sell a hallucinogenic dubbed Substance D. He's to find out what the drug is made out of but the fact of the matter is that Arctor's using Substance D quite a bit and slowly his real identity is turning into 'Fred.' He's quickly losing sight of the real world and becoming the character he's been playing all this while, much to the dismay of his wife and kids (played by Melody Chase, Sarah Menchaca and Eliza Stevens respectively).

Fred is also required to record his own movements and activities because one of his co-workers, James Barris (Robert Downey Jr.), has reported Arctor for some fairly serious offenses. Fred's boss, Hank, is well aware of what Fred has been up to but is willing to overlook it as a necessary part of getting the job done. Hank and his cohorts don't care about Fred/Bob at all, rather, their singular concern is finding where the Substance D is coming from.

Not every cinematic adaptation of Dick's writing works well, but A Scanner Darkly, which Linklater also wrote the screenplay for based off of the late author's novel, really captures the paranoia and claustrophobia of its source material quite well. While the film is framed in the context of a science fiction film, there's definitely a personal slant to the drug scenes that could have only come from Dick's own use of hallucinogenic drugs in the seventies (something he'd discuss quite openly). The film doesn't have the most linear or structured of plots and serves more as an exploration of series of drug trips and their after effects, but it works quite well. Yes, at times it does get preachy, Dick's disdain for drug use after his own experimentation went wrong isn't much of a secret and this is reflected in the story but that doesn't take away from the work as a whole.

The cast do well with the material, never hidden under the animated visuals and truly making the characters their own, with supporting performances from the likes of Woody Harrelson, Rory Cochrane and Winona Ryder really filling out the cast nicely. Reeves is in fine form here, playing the type of role he excels at and showing some legitimate talent with his delivery, while Robert Downey Jr., not surprisingly, steals the show. The cast here are all in fine form, adding an air of believability to their roles and making the film all the better for it.

While some of the cinematic adaptations of Dick's work have been sanitized and downplayed some of their more antisocial aspects in order to appeal to a larger audience, Linklater's take on the source material feels very honest. The author's theme of technology usurping human characteristics (through the scanner suit, in this case) is key to the story and gives it the science fiction edge, but the drug induced paranoia grounds the picture in reality all too well. Stylishly directed, well written and quite well acted, A Scanner Darkly is still very much a Linklater movie, his style of dialogue is all over it and Graham Reynolds soundtrack work cements this, but so too is it a very authentic feeling take on some unusual source material from an author whose work is rarely treated as well as it is in this picture.

Video:

A Scanner Darkly is presented in a VC-1 encoded 1.85.1 1080p high definition widescreen transfer that look very good indeed. Colors are remarkably bold and well defined here and the film's interesting visual style is made all the more impressive thanks to the higher bit rate and lower compression that the Blu-ray format offers. Black levels are nice and strong while brighter hues are really distinct looking and never bleed over top of one another. There aren't any problems with compression artifacts and the fact that the film was made digitally means that there aren't any print damage, dirt or debris issues to note, nor is there any grain. What we're left with is a very clean, detailed transfer that beautifully replicates its source material. Contrast is set perfectly, the image is stable from start to finish, and the whole thing has a remarkable vibrancy to it that really works well within the context of the story.