Films based on the works of Phillip K Dick

I’ve been wanting to collate these together and write about them for quite some time. Films based on the literary works of Phillip K Dick invariably make my favourite movies list. For those of you who’ve never heard of him – PKD was a prolific science fiction writer and penned 44 novels and 121 short stories during his lifetime. Although up to now I’ve only read two of his books – Do androids dream of electric sheep and The man in the high castle – I expect I’ll work my way through a fair chunk of his work over the next few years and if I ever attain my dream of being a director I’ll probably adapt a few myself.

As an amateur writer of science fiction – many of my own short stories are similar in vain to the themes that run throughout the man’s works such as an interest in the metaphysical, theology, monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered states. Thus I guess it’s only natural that this man is one of my idols. But onto the films based on his work – I’ve never seen one I didn’t love.

Blade Runner (1982) – Directed by Ridley Scott

People who know me well know one simple fact about me – that Blade Runner is my undisputed favourite film of all time. I don’t give PKD the credit for this though because the source material for it – Do androids dream of electric sheep is nowhere near as good as the film it spawned making it one of the rare exceptions to the rule of the book always being better than the film. I suspect it’s the brilliance of Ridley Scott that deserves more credit for this film being what it is – over the years he’s directed some amazing films including Alien (1979), Thelma & Louise (1991) and Gladiator (2000). Initially it was a flop at the box office because the production company compromised Scott’s vision and fearing that audiences wouldn’t understand the film included an annoying voiceover. In 1992 a directors cut was released that included the omission of the voiceover and the removal of the uplifting ending and Scott stated at the time that this version was closer to his original vision but the final cut of the film which is now regarded as the definitive version wasn’t released until 2007. Blade Runner: The Final Cut tweaks the film slightly and removes some of the inconsistencies as well as reinserting some of the deleted footage that was left on the cutting room floor. But why is this film my all time favourite – for about 100 reasons really. It takes place in a darkly dystopian future Los Angeles – a city of 106 million people. It features scientific visions such as the existence of arcologies, the future ability of mankind to adeptly manipulate genetics and biology to suit its needs. It features the monopolistic practices of mega-corporations, the future results of globalisation. The film offers subtle themes throughout that aren’t even that obvious to a casual viewer of the film such as a commentary on the disastrous results of overpopulation, environmental catastrophes severely affecting the world’s ecosystems, the emigration of humanity into space. The list of subtle science fiction themes goes on and on and on. Principally the film is about none of these things – all this takes place in the background. The film is principally about the definition of life, what it means to be human, the qualities of empathy and sentience. In this respect it follows a bounty hunter tasked to execute four rogue androids who have returned to Earth in a futile quest to find their maker and request more life. And so all the while this is going on the film is at the same time offering a background commentary on racism and slavery. I didn’t want to write too much more about this film because it really deserves its own article but what makes it so great is its tremendous depth. The atmosphere is beautifully bleak and the soundtrack by Vangelis is one of the most haunting film scores ever composed. For these reasons – this is the best Phillip K Dick adaption of them all and I doubt if there are many Sci-Fi fans out there who would disagree with me.

Total Recall (1990) – Directed by Paul Verhoeven

I absolutely love this film. Many would say it’s just a gorefest and they’d be right. It’s definitely similar in some respects to other works by Verhoeven such as Starship Troopers and Robocop but at the same time the Dickensian streak of questioning the true nature of reality is unambiguously there. The film is based on the short story ‘We can remember it for you wholesale’ and involves a construction worker – Douglas Quaid (played by the awesome Arnold Schwarzenegger) visiting a company called Rekall who sell memories of the ideal vacation. Arnie opts for something called the ego trip and chooses a vacation as a Martian secret agent and from the moment the trip begins the film cleverly twists the idea of Arnold’s presence on Earth as being a result of him having his memories erased. In this respect it’s not totally obvious whether Arnie genuinely is a secret agent or if everything he’s experiencing is a result of the vacation he was sold at Rekall. The film keeps this fairly ambiguous so as to offer a dual interpretation of the film’s events. As well as being a good Sci-Fi yarn, it’s also an excellent action film and offers plenty of gratuitous violence. Another solid film based on PKD’s work with this one.

Screamers (1995) – Directed by Christian Duguay

Not many people regard this as a good film but I certainly do. In fact I think it’s absolutely brilliant so I guess appreciation of art really is a truly individual quality. The film is based on the short story Second Variety and strays pretty far from the source material in quite a lot of ways. For a start Second Variety is set on Earth and features a war between the United Nations and Soviet Union whilst Screamers is set on the distant world of Sirius 6B and features a war between two mega-corporations – The New Economic Block and the Alliance (a miners union). The planet Sirius has been devastated by war and a new weapon was introduced into the mix – the autonomous mobile sword or screamer – a self replicating mechanical weapon. The weapon has no way of distinguishing friend from foe and so attacks anything with a heartbeat forcing all soldiers to wear a device that flatlines their heartbeat rendering them sort of invisible to the screamers. The film centres on Colonel Hendricksson (played by Peter Weller) who feeling betrayed by his superiors sets out to make a peace treaty with the NEB. Along the way they find that the screamers have found a way to evolve into more sophisticated forms and have become sentient life forms in their own right. The film is pretty bleak and I find the soundtrack to be quite haunting as well. Peter Weller as usual just oozes coolness and kind of makes the film what it is. Not the best adaption out there but a must see for fans of Sci-Fi.

Imposter (2000) – Directed by Gary Fleder

I really can’t believe how many people this film has slipped past. Let me just say that never having seen Imposter is like never having seen Star Wars. The critics panned it and it flopped at the box office but I still think it’s a damn fine Sci-Fi movie. Based on PKD’s short story the Imposter, the film is set in the year 2079 where Earth has been attacked by a hostile alien race from Alpha Centuri. The remaining cities are protected from missile attacks by electromagnetic domes and democracies have been replaced by a one world authoritarian government desperately trying to ensure humanity’s survival. Gary Senise plays the part of a weapons engineer but it becomes suspected that he is an imposter – a near perfect human clone carrying a biological nuclear weapon in his chest. And so the film follows his desperate attempts to clear his name and prove that he’s not what the authorities suspect him to be. For a film as unknown as this the cast is pretty stellar – it stars Gary Sinise, Madeline Stowe and Vincent D’Onofrio. I can to an extent understand why this film is underrated – I mean the film’s title gives away the premise for a start but this is to a certain extent redeemed by the double twist ending which I don’t think it was really possible for anyone to see coming. There also doesn’t seem to be enough source material for a movie of this length so the film drags its heels and feels a bit slow at times. But the general feel of the film is very reminiscent of both Blade Runner and Total Recall. I guess the film is also guilty of something else but it’s a problem for most films based on PKD’s work. That problem being that he was also a philosopher and the films based on his work often arrive at the very opposite conclusion to the one PKD intended. Blade Runner and Imposter are both great examples of how PKD passionately believed in some intrinsic ethereal quality that separated man from machine but both films seem to arrive at precisely the opposite conclusion – that no such quality exists. I actually agree with the conclusions drawn from both films rather than PKD – that this intangible quality does not exist – the soul is a manifestation of consciousness but at the same time I think if you’re going to base movies on someone’s work you should remain faithful to the ideals of their original vision. Still if you like the other films on this list – this one is definitely worth a watch.

Minority Report (2002) – Directed by Stephen Spielberg

This is probably the most commercially successful adaption of all the PKD films – a massive budget blockbuster directed by a well renowned director. The film is based on the short story The Minority Report and is basically about a division of the Washington Police department that deals with crimes before they happen – specifically murders. So in true Dickensian style – the film is about free will versus determinism with plenty of drug abuse thrown into the mix – Dick was after all a massive connoisseur of illicit substances and they feature prominently throughout his work. The mechanism that makes it possible to see the future is children that were born with psychic abilities as a result of their mothers’ consuming a dangerous neurotoxin during pregnancy. Once they are grown up they are set up into a kind of hive mind which allows them to accurately predict the future but the futures they see are sometimes different – hence the term Minority report. The film not only deftly deals with the determinism theme – if our future is predictable then do we truly have freewill? This paradox dealt with spectacularly well at the end. The film also predicts an entirely believable future where advertisement and invasion of personal space has become so pervasive that people are targeted by advertisements on an individual level – a future we are currently hurtling toward with alarming speed. The film is clever in numerous ways – the future is neither dark nor perfect and films that predict a future which reflects our present are bound to be the most prescient predictions though not necessarily the most interesting. This film is slick, fast paced and looks polished. One of the best adaptions overall.

Paycheck (2003) – Directed by John Woo

Another one that got panned by the critics but I’ve long since stopped listening to them because they’re usually wrong. This film struck me as being really quite clever but unfortunately doesn’t lend itself to repeat viewings very well as the intrigue of the plot is lost once you know what’s coming. Ben Affleck plays a character called Jennings – a man who will reverse engineer any technology for a company but must have his memories erased afterwards to protect the company’s intellectual property. Normally the contracts he signs up for never last more than a couple of months because the memory erasing technology won’t erase any further back than that. In steps Rethrick (Aaron Eckhart), a billionaire who offers him a substantial amount of money for a contract lasting three years alongside some new memory erasing technology that will allow them to erase that time from his life. Jenning agrees to the contract and then the audience is thrust into the film three years later with a confused Jennings who has given away the 90 million dollars he earned during the contract. Not only this but the FBI is hunting him for espionage, treason and murder. All he seems to have in his possession is a bag of artefacts that are not his own and each individual item seems to come in really useful at fortuitously opportune moments. And so the fun begins as he tries to discover just why the hell he is wanted by the FBI and has seemingly given up his entire earnings for the contract. The conclusion of the film and the reason he gives everything away becomes more predictable as the plot progresses but doesn’t detract too much from the overall enjoyment of the film. It is based on PKD’s short story of the same name.

 A Scanner Darkly (2006) – Directed by Richard Linklater

This is one of the stranger films on this list – starring Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson and Robert Downey Jr, it is based on PKD’s novel of the same name. Unlike many of the other films on the list, this one actually received favourable reviews from critics which probably means it’s the worst film presented in this article. Set in the near feature where America has lost the war on drugs, the film goes into detail about an epidemic of a drug called substance D which has swept across the country. In response to the epidemic the government has developed an ultra high-tech surveillance network as well as sending out hordes of undercover agents to infiltrate the supply chain. The drug substance D is highly addictive and massively debilitating to users permanently damaging their minds and ability to function normally. The protagonist Bob Arctor (played by Keanu Reeves) is one of the undercover agents however during the course of his investigation he has become addicted to substance D and his life begins to split in two as he slowly forgets where his true loyalties lie even becoming paranoid about the police himself. The plot is fairly complex and very absorbing making this one of the most superior films listed here. It is entirely rotoscoped from start to finish giving a surreal feel to the entire film. It is also obvious that PKD shares more than a few of his own painful experiences from the psychonaut culture within the novel and this comfortably makes the transition to the big screen. This is reflected in the sobering afterword to film which is actually an abridged version from the novel. At the start of the ending credits, the following text appears:
This has been a story about people who were punished entirely too much for what they did. I loved them all. Here is a list, to whom I dedicate my love:
To Gaylene, deceased
To Ray, deceased
To Francy, permanent psychosis
To Kathy, permanent brain damage
To Jim, deceased
To Val, massive permanent brain damage
To Nancy, permanent psychosis
To Joanne, permanent brain damage
To Maren, deceased
To Nick, deceased
To Terry, deceased
To Dennis, deceased
To Phil, permanent pancreatic damage
To Sue, permanent vascular damage
To Jerri, permanent psychosis and vascular damage
...and so forth
In memoriam. These were comrades whom I had; There are no better. They remain in my mind, and the enemy will never be forgiven. The "enemy" was their mistake in playing. Let them play again, in some other way, and let them be happy.

Next (2007) – Directed by Lee Tamahori

I’d forgotten this film was based on PKD’s work when I was reviewing it for the twin films list. The film is loosely based around PKD’s short story – the Golden Man and I’ve never read the book so I can’t comment on how far the film strays from the original premise. The film involves a man (Nicholas Cage) who has the ability to see two minutes into the future and can consequently influence events accordingly. Naturally with an ability like this, he spends much of his time in Vegas at the tables where he never fails to lose. Meanwhile there is a major terrorist threat against America and an agent of the FBI (Julianne Moore) attempts to recruit Cage to track down a nuclear device before it can be detonated. Cage naturally wants no part in this and using his ability is easily able to evade the FBI’s best attempts to capture him. The film also stars Jessica Biel as the love interest and Cage is far more interested in attempting to court her than he is in preventing a nuclear weapon from killing ten million people. His initial attempts to get to know her play out in an amusingly similar way to Groundhog Day and the way the film presents all the various different possible futures is to a large degree quite original. It’s not the best film on this list by far and the critics hated it (no surprise there really) but it’s a good enough action yarn with some interesting ideas about quantum theory subtly thrown in.

The Adjustment Bureau (2011) – Directed by George Nolfi

At the time of writing I haven’t yet seen this film since it isn’t due to be released for another week but I’m hopeful that the unknown director George Nolfi will have adapted a decent film from PKD’s short story the Adjustment Team. As this seems to be Nolfi’s first foray into directing, it’s difficult to say what the quality of this film will be like although he did write the screenplays for the Bourne Ultimatum, Timeline and Oceans 12 so perhaps it won’t be too bad. As I understand it the film stars Matt Damon as a politician who glimpses his future and meets the woman of his dreams only to be kept apart by agents of fate who have determined that it’s not his true path. Sounds like another play off between determinism and free will so it will be interesting to see how the film compares to Paycheck and Minority Report in the conclusions drawn. The initial reviews of this film seem mixed although fans of PKD seem to love it so I suspect it’ll be a winner from my point of view (I mean I honestly loved Screamers so it won’t be hard). Other reviews have dismissed it as too cliché but I don’t think cliché is necessarily bad, sometimes life is. I’ll post a more in depth review just as soon as I’ve seen the film.

Other works due to be adapted

At the time of writing it would seem that there are a number of other films in the works based on PKD novels. The Man in the High Castle – A BBC miniseries to be directed by Ridley Scott which could be very interesting given his last adaption. King of the Elves – A Walt Disney adaption to be released in 2012. The Halycon company who developed the Adjustment Bureau is also in the process of developing a film based on PKD’s novel Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said. It’s also rumoured that a film based on the novel Ubik is in the works. Watch this space.