Aside from the utterly fascinating concept, Linklater re-visits the same wonderful animation he enlisted in the fantastic “Waking Life,” with this visceral piece of druggie science fiction that instead focuses on the mechanics of the mind rather than in machines and science. As usual, Linklater prefers to delve into the human psyche and he gives it his best effort with some brutally beautiful animation. I dare you to look away from the Scramble suit. I dare you. Beyond that, the stand out performance is by Robert Downey Jr. as a druggie scientist who is both brilliant and mad, which is not hard to believe for a man who has no screws.

“A Scanner Darkly” is not so much a commentary on the drug war, but more an indictment on both sides of the war, and what damage they’re inflicting on society, and Dick had the guts to create a story in that vein. You have to respect Linklater for paying the man homage in that regard. And Linklater further explores his own brilliance as well as Dick’s with a gut-wrenching finale that includes Dick’s list of friends and family who were killed and or utterly damaged by drugs, and as someone who grew up in a drug-ridden environment, and with many family members taken by the addiction it’s an awfully grueling sequence to view.

I really wanted to love “A Scanner Darkly,” mainly because I’m a huge fan of Richard Linklater. I think he’s one of the most underrated, and brilliant directors of the modern age, and with films like “Dazed and Confused,” and “Tape,” it’s not hard to see why he’d come across as a pure talent. Being a hardcore fan of the brilliant “Waking Life,” Linklater returns with the more cohesive, but equally trippy “A Scanner Darkly,” where he once again gives us the rotoscoping mind bending in the guise of Phillip K. Dick. Linklater adapts the short drug induced story from the author enlisting his animation to help convey the world of sheer surrealism, and coked up hysteria.

But it’s still an otherwise utterly disappointing venture in the end. Linklater’s adaptation is faithful, and utterly fascinating, but god is it ever underwhelming. You assume an animated film exploring the misadventures of three druggies being mentally destroyed by a new drug called Substance D would create some rather potent chemistry especially when you consider the wonderful cast behind this film, but Linklater is often half cocked throughout the course of the story. Gone is the usual human dialogue, gone is the engrossing exchanges between characters, gone is the vast insight and engaging characterization, and gone is any essence of Linklater’s usual trademark of brilliance.

I think Linklater is one of the best directors in the independent film circuit. He's a brilliant writer, a brilliant director, and a man of many facets, which is why "A Scanner Darkly" was such a brutally gut wrenching disappointment. All the anticipation and expectations down in bloody flames, all the waiting all for naught; I'm crushed.

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