Unaware that he is a scanner, a young social misfit is mentored by a police officer to use his psychic abilities to solve crimes in this belated sequel to David Cronenberg's 'Scanners'. While not a patch on the original, 'The New Order' is hardly worthless. Many plot elements are recycled from Part One, most notably the scanner oblivious to his powers and a battle between a 'good' and 'bad' one, however, the film also takes the concept in refreshing new directions. His detective work as a scanner is fascinating (even if we only ever really see it in action once); there is a great bit where he uses scanning to stop a store robbery; another scanner controls video arcade machines with his abilities; and at its most touching, our protagonist inadvertently uses his scanning powers to comfort and calm down pet store animals. The film is very well photographed too with lots of low camera angles and tracking shots courtesy of 'My Bloody Valentine' cinematographer Rodney Gibbons. The biggest minus here is the acting, which varies from non-charismatic to annoyingly over-the-top, with Raoul Max Trujillo the worst offender in the latter regard. The action sequences are solid, the special effects are almost as good as in the original, and while the atmosphere is never the same, the film at least manages to add a lot of extra ideas to the mythology of scanners.
Review of Scanners II: The New Order
