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Topic: The Lookout (2007) - Review

Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 03-08-2008 12:48 PM

No one posted a review of The Lookout in the Film Handler's Movie Reviews forum. Since the movie has been available on DVD and Blu-ray for several months, this review thread is getting started in The Afterlife forum.

This is a pretty decent movie -at least worth the rental. 3 stars out of 4.

The Lookout is not an action movie filled with car chases, gun fights and explosions. I remember the marketing of this movie seeming to imply that. And that marketing spin may have been one reason why the movie had such a short, uneventful stay at movie theaters. This is really more of a character driven drama type movie. It's a little slow at times, but it's good if you give it a chance.

The story centers around Chris Pratt (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a former high school hockey team star player who suffers a terrible head injury as a result of a tragically stupid car accident. Years later he's barely able to lead a functional, independent life. Ironically, he has a blind room mate played by Jeff Daniels who helps look after him. Pratt's memory doesn't work well. He's forced to label objects around the house and write reminder notes to himself on performing basic living tasks we take for granted.

Some might feel this character device is ripping off Memento. But it's a more realistic portrayal of how some people have to live with the effects of serious brain trauma.

Chris Pratt is only able to work as a janitor at a local bank. He's befriended by a group of people who have really come to town to rob the local bank. Gary Spargo is the leader of the group (played by Matthew Goode) and manipulates Chris into helping them rob the bank.

The 1080p video quality on the Blu-ray disc is pretty good, but not "reference quality" material. Details like the weave in clothing, hair and other small details are good, but not as sharp as some other movies on Blu-ray I've watched.

The movie was shot electronically using the Panavision Genesis system (which records in 1080p HD). The commentary track discusses the Genesis system and tests of other formats. They liked 35mm anamorphic the most, but said it wasn't practical for their smaller sets and cramped shooting environments. I thought that was pretty odd, since they cropped the movie to 2.39:1 anyway.

For the most part the movie has a very film-like look it. The imagery has a fair amount of grain in it, some of which may have been added in post production. Some of the grain looked like noise from ISO gain being cranked up. Little bits of red and green noise popping up in the blacks. Real film grain tends to have a monochromatic look to it.

The only time where the video-sourcing revealed itself to an obvious degree was during the bank heist shootout (1:14:30 into the movie). Some fast movement action in low light had the imagery showing the same video-ish problem I noticed throughout much of Collateral and Miami Vice. Without that issue I might not have realized this movie had been shot on video.

The movie's audio mix is good and clean, but not aggressive. It's mostly a dialog driven movie. The scenes with gun fire and action have the appropriate level of thump.

The Lookout is supposed to take place in Kansas, but was really produced in Manitoba. The terrain is similar (very flat). But I suppose Canada was more dependable in offering snowy scenery (along with lower production costs). At least they used a proper looking Kansas state highway sign.

The Lookout was written and directed by Scott Frank, who wrote the screenplays for Get Shorty, Out of Sight and Minority Report. The Lookout is his first directorial effort.

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