Six years in the future a dangerous new drug called Substance D is causing mass addiction and hallucinations by those addicted. The police are now using covert ‘full body suits’ that keep their identity a secret even from each other.
‘Fred’ is assigned by his supervisor ‘Hank’ to spy on Bob Arctor, a known drug addict who might soon be about to make a big buy from his girlfriend Donna. But since Fred is Bob Arctor – he now must keep his personal and professional lives separate – despite now being addicted to Substance D himself.
Direction
Brilliant and unique direction from Richard Linklater – who first filmed this with standard principal photography with the actors in and around sets/houses etc. It was then edited to have a graphic novel look and feel to it – as well as the animated style that it finished up as.
George Clooney and Steven Soderberg co Executive Produced.
Cast/Characters
Keanu Reeves takes the lead role of Bob/Fred- and this is by far one of his better acted pre-John Wick films. He is in almost every scene, and his downfall from cop, to addict – to later getting clean at the rehab clinic New Path is well acted, and quite believable.
Robert Downey Jr plays against type in a pre-Iron Man role as Barris. He one of Bob’s friends who is also a big name in supplying Substance D to those around him – and one of the people the police want to bring down.
Winona Ryder gives a solid performance as Donna, Bob’s girlfriend and possible big player in the Substance D supply chain. She gets quite a substantial role throughout the film – and in the third act. I’ve seen more of her work recently and she does deliver in every role I’ve seen of hers.
Woody Harrelson gives a ‘trademark’ role in another of Bob’s drug addict friends. His line deliveries could be pulled out of any of his previously similar roles. He is a hoot every time he is on screen.
Rory Cochrane plays Charles Freck, another of Bob’s friends.
Screenplay/Setting/Themes
As mentioned earlier this was filmed live first, then edited to animate. The filming itself took just 23 days, and the editing took 18 months!
The film was an adaptation of the Philip K Dick novel of the same name. Dick himself lived through tumultuous drug addictions himself where he lost many friends to their addictions.
Because of the nature of the narrative, not many of the characters are overly likable. We enjoy watching them on screen, as they are almost comical in their time on screen. Downey Jr’s Barris is seen as the most antagonistic, as he goes against several of his friends during the course of events.
There is a third act reveal of who Hank is – that is fairly easy to figure out. If this had been revealed earlier, it would have given more time to the ‘other’ third act reveal… but since this was not part of the original source material (and the screenplay kept true to it) – this leaves an open ended ending.
Overall
Uniquely filmed and animated, this was a fun watch.
While some of the narrative is more mature in the material, it is complemented by some stellar performances by Reeve, Rider, Downey Jr and Harrelson.
3.5/5
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