Director Richard Linklater goes back to the animated rotoscope effect, where animated graphics are applied over live-action performances, which he used on his film, WAKING LIFE. The choice seems both stylistically geared toward the drug-fueled material and also practical in that it was a cheaper way to do the sci-fi tale rather than in live-action with visual effects. The result is a hit or miss affair, which is more a story problem than a stylistic one.
Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves, THE MATRIX) is an undercover drug cop who is trying to find the top supplier of the deadly and highly addictive drug called Substance D. Two druggies named James Barris (Robert Downey Jr., CHAPLIN) and Ernie Luckman (Woody Harrelson, NATURAL BORN KILLERS) live with him and ramble on and on about their paranoid theories. Donna Hawthorne (Winona Ryder, DRACULA) is Arctor's supplier, but he has fallen for her, yet she refuses to sleep with him. Their friend Charles Freck (Rory Cochrane, DAZED AND CONFUSED) is completely gone on Substance D, suffering from delusions. When Arctor is at the police headquarters, he wears what is called a scramble suit, which covers this body with shifting images of various humans thus covering his identity. Outside of the police doctors, no one else on the force knows what he looks like. So when Barris turns Arctor in, how will they know that he's really a cop?
Though there is a sci-fi, near future element to the film, Linklater seems more interested in dealing with the drug issue as Arctor slowly becomes addicted to Substance D. The paranoid ramblings of the characters were very tiresome after awhile. Because my attention drifted during these moments, I can't say whether the key plot points were laid out poorly or I just didn't care. The government seems to be watching every move of its citizens, but that didn't seem to be a concrete issue, because the outside world of the addicts was very rarely covered. I never felt the oppression of the government, because it was only briefly addressed in lieu of a deranged debate on whether Barris' new bike is really a nine-speed and if so where did the other nine gears go. So if the drug story is the focus, I never felt Arctor's decline. It seemed abrupt. It sure ain't no LEAVING LAS VEGAS or HALF NELSON.
So we're left with the high philosophies of the characters and a weak drug tragedy until the end brings out the sci-fi conspiracy twist, which is effective and thought-provoking. One thing I've felt about all of Linklater's indie work was that it was made by a really smart guy who may be too smart for his own filmmaking good. He has so many ideas that his films come off unfocused.
Fans of the director will probably enjoy this trippy sci-fi tale and Downey and Harrelson provide some nice laughs. As a whole, the film seems to have stretched the original Philip K. Dick story out to a length it wasn't meant to be. The interesting ending doesn't completely save the meandering path towards it. As for the style, the look adds an otherworldly feel that suits the material, but at times the scramble suit got really annoying. There are a lot of good ideas — and a few silly ones too — that pepper the story, but ultimately the film works better in moments than as a whole.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
