I felt the same way leaving this as I did after I saw Oldboy in theaters, like something had been twisted in me and a little shellshocked. This is just great cinema.

Shot in Rotoscope animation, which included shooting live footage and then cel-shading the entire film, the film's visuals definitely help accentuate the drug-filled haze the main characters are wading through. The story, inspired by author Philip K. Dick's (Minority Report, Total Recall, Blade Runner) own experiences with drugs, is depressing and thought-provoking, focusing not only on anti-drug messages but with personal choices and even totalitarian government paranoia.

The acting is great. Robert Downey, Jr. has a lot of fun with the offbeat, self righteous Barris, while Keanu portrays a burned out junkie surprisingly well. The dude held his own, and I'm wondering if he is on this sci-fi kick now because of the Matrix...I mean Constantine, Lake House, Scanner Darkly...though it looks like after this he's going to try some other stuff. Ah, well.

It's definitely not a feel-good movie by any means. Everyone in the movie is using each other, and there can't be any happy endings in this world. In fact, the 'afterword' to the movie has a list of all of Philip Dick's real-life friends that were either left dead or literally insane because of their experiences with drugs. I could see a lot of the 'twists' of the movie coming from a while away, but the movie is more about the characters and emotions. That being said, the movie is also incredibly funny, mainly due to the odd conversations that spring up from time to time.

Movies like this help reinvigorate someone like me that sees way too many movies. Out of all the crap that spews forth a lot of the times, seeing something that is so refreshingly different such as this helps me realize there are possibilities for greatness still left out there.

The only reason for the 9 instead of a 10 is the second time around made me realize that this won't be for everyone, as it can be a bit slow at times and a little meandering, plus it's just plain odd, which won't suit everyone's palate. For the rest of us, buy the hell out of this thing!

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