An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result.
In a totalitarian society in a near future, the undercover detective Bob Arctor is working with a small time group of drug users trying to reach the big distributors of a brain-damaging drug called Substance D. His assignment is promoted by the recovery center New Path Corporation, and when Bob begins to lose his own identity and have schizophrenic behavior, he is submitted to tests to check his mental conditions.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Bob Arctor (Reeves), an undercover policeman, is on a mission to investigate a group distributing a brain-damaging drug called Substance D. In the process, he becomes addicted to the drug himself and begins to lose his own identity. Based on the novel by Philip K. Dick, the film matches its hallucinatory story with the use of the 'rotoscoping' animation technique (live action footage altered frame-by-frame with animation) seen also in director Richard Linklater's 2001 feature Waking Life.
In the not too distant future in Orange County California, an undercover narcotics agent is known internally in the force only by his code name, Fred. His identity within can be kept secret as the scanning suit he dons hides his true identity. In reality, he is Bob Arctor. His assignment is to infiltrate a drug ring dealing in a hallucinogen known as Substance D, the ultimate goal to find the source of the drug. Arctor's own use of Substance D and moving within this drug world is making him lose his true identity, which includes a family life with two young daughters. As Fred, he is also assigned to monitor his own movements since one of Arctor's drug colleagues, James Barris, has come to the authorities to report Arctor's drug dealings, although Fred's superior, code named Hank, knows that Fred in his true identity is one of the people in the drug ring being monitored. But Hank and Hank's colleagues will do anything, even sacrifice Fred/Arctor, to achieve the ultimate goal of finding the source of Substance D.—Huggo
The United States has lost the war on drugs. Substance D, a powerful drug that causes bizarre hallucinations, has swept the country. Approximately 20% of the total population is addicted. In response, the government has developed an invasive, high-tech surveillance system and a network of undercover officers and informants.Substance D is manufactured from components of a blue flower that can be grown in select climates. New-path is the only company that help addicts overcome this devastating addiction.
Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves) is one of these undercover agents, assigned to immerse himself in the drug's underworld and infiltrate up the supply chain. Arctor has a vision of being in his house with a wife and two children in Anaheim, California (he remembers a sense of dread as he feels trapped in his family and thinks that nothing new could happen with his life); today he has two drug-addicted, lay about housemates: Luckman (Woody Harrelson) and Barris (Robert Downey Jr.). The three spend time taking D and having complex, possibly paranoiac examinations of their experiences. At the police station, Arctor maintains privacy by wearing a "scramble suit" that constantly changes every aspect of his appearance and voice (making the wearer undetectable by any facial or voice recognition systems); he is known only by the code name "Fred." Arctor's senior officer, "Hank" (Winona Ryder), and all other undercover officers, also wear scramble suits, protecting their identities even from each other.
Since going undercover, Arctor himself has become addicted to Substance D, and buys from Donna, who Arctor hopes to purchase large enough quantities of D from so that she is forced to introduce him to her own supplier. They have a tense, at times caring romantic relationship, but she rebuffs his physical advances. Charles Freck (Rory Cochrane) is Barris's friend and hangs out with the gang.Barris wants Freck to register into rehab with New-Path, but Freck has heard stories of sexual abuse at that place.
At work, Hank orders "Fred" to increase surveillance on Arctor himself and his associates. Arctor's house is now at the center of his own investigation (with the police secretly installing cameras all over the house and live feed going back to the station), since this is where Donna and the other addicts spend time. Arctor is inexpertly negotiating a double life, and his prolonged use of D is damaging his brain (as determined by a series of cognitive tests administered by Medical Deputy 2 (Chamblee Ferguson) & Medical Deputy 1 (Angela Rawna)). Barris is informing on Arctor to Hank, arguing that Arctor is a terrorist, and angling to be hired as a cop himself. However, Barris unknowingly conveys this information in the presence of Arctor himself, whose identity at the time is hidden behind his scramble suit.
Looking at the surveillance tapes of his own home, Arctor sees that Luckman falls down due to the side effects of drugs. but Barris does not help Luckman even though he sees him falling down. Freck commits suicide when the hallucinations drive him towards insanity.Fred/Arctor undergoes additional tests and it is clear that his condition is getting worse by the day. The doctors confirm that substance D has caused damage to the left hemisphere of Arctor's brain. Arctor can't figure out why the police would be interested in him, and suspects that something big is going down.Hank reveals to "Fred" that he has long known that he is Arctor. Arctor seems legitimately surprised, and repeats his own name in a disoriented, unfamiliar tone. Hank informs him that the real purpose of the surveillance was to catch Barris, and that the police were deliberately increasing Barris's paranoia until he attempted to cover his tracks. Hank reprimands Arctor for becoming addicted to Substance D and warns him that he will be disciplined with a financial fine. Hank explains how seriously brain damaged Arctor has become from D, and Hank "phones" Donna, asking her to come pick up Arctor and take him to New-Path, a corporation that runs a series of rehabilitation clinics. Hank immediately leaves, and in private removes his scramble suit, revealing Donna. At the New-Path clinic, Arctor and other D addicts show serious cognitive deficiencies.
"Donna", now known as Audrey, meets with Mike (Dameon Clarke), a fellow police officer. They discuss how New-Path is secretly responsible for the manufacture and distribution of Substance D. Audrey expresses her growing ethical aversion to their police work, in which they deliberately recruited Arctor - without his knowledge - to become addicted to D; his health sacrificed so that he might eventually enter a New-Path rehabilitation center unnoticed as a genuine addict, and collect incriminating evidence of New-Path's D farms. Audrey and Mike debate whether Arctor's mind will recover enough to grasp the situation.
New-Path sends Arctor to a labor camp at an isolated farm, where he mindlessly repeats what others tells him. Tending to corn crops, Arctor discovers hidden rows of the blue flowers that produce D. He secretly hides one flower in his boot, to bring to his friends at his next holiday from the farm.
