A Scanner Darkly (2006) - best PKD movie ever?

• July 18, 2006
• James Skemp
• dvd / movie

This last weekend I watched A Scanner Darkly, which had just hit a local Madison theatre on Friday. I'd been looking forward to the film since I'd heard about it, and since it promised to showcase a look like Waking Life.

After watching the film, I was certainly impressed. I was afraid that Linklater was going to add his own spin to it, but he actually did quite well. Of the various movies based on pieces by Philip K. Dick, I'd say that A Scanner Darkly plays very close to the work.

However, when compared with Blade Runner, Scanner just doesn't have the same stunning imagery. Of course, it's hard to compare any science fiction movie to Blade Runner, and especially difficult to compare a Dick-based movie to it (since PKD had some impact on Blade Runner - he was still alive for some of the shooting).

Once Scanner hits DVD, perhaps it will become memorable, and I dare say it's the second-best PKD movie thus far, and certainly one that mimics the novel the most (although a quick reading will show that it's certainly not that close - less than 20 pages in will show one semi-major difference).

Great acting, and great imagery which was the best way this film could have been done (how else could they really do the suit?).

Definitely looking forward to purchasing the DVD - that's what I'll leave it at for now.

• philip k. dick