Richard Linklater's screen version of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly is a noble effort, and whilst it is a little shaky in its execution, is highly enjoyable and original.

Scanner isn't the first movie to use rotoscoping (a...
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Richard Linklater's screen version of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly is a noble effort, and whilst it is a little shaky in its execution, is highly enjoyable and original.

Scanner isn't the first movie to use rotoscoping (a technique where animators trace live action movement, frame by frame), but Linklater is the first to bring a computer-assisted "interpolated rotoscoping" process to life on the big screen (in Waking Life).

The style, while visually striking, still has some work to be done. Cartooney in some parts and close to reality in others, Scanner seemed a little inconsistent in its style and the facial artwork seemed a bit unnatural (with textures, shadows and dimension out of whack in some scenes). Much like CGI has come closer to imitation real life in recent years, rotoscoping has some way to becoming both realistic and stylised at the same time.

While the sci-fi story is a bit hard to follow in parts, Keanu Reeves (Arctor) does a great job of keeping the story interesting. A colourful cast including Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson and Winona Ryder help to keep the dialogue interesting, the story moving and the setting of paranoia.

Scanner may not be to every filmgoer's taste, but it's certainly palatable to most and provides a fresh approach to film making.