DVD
REVIEW:
The Lookout
08/13/07
The Lookout marks the
directorial debut of Scott Frank who wrote the screenplay
for movies like Minority Report, Out of Sight and Get Shorty.
Scott Frank also wrote the screenplay for The Lookout and
while he got the tension down pack, the plot is a little too
predictable and a lot of the characters are just used and
then thrown away without a logical conclusion. Nevertheless
this movie still manages to engage and entertain.
In The Lookout, Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is the
star player of his high school's hockey team. He has it all,
including, the wealth parents, the nice car and the pretty
girlfriend. One night while driving down a road, to better
see the firebugs, Chris turns off the headlights. Chris, his
girlfriend and another couple, in the back seat, are
involved in a car accident. After the accident, the next
time we see Chris, he is a completely different person. That
damage to his brain has left him, to name a few, with
short-term memory lost and anger control problems. His life
is now made up of attending special classes where he learns
how to create and follow a sequence and working nights as a
janitor for a local bank. He lives with a blind man named
Lewis (Jeff Daniels) who helps Chris round the house. Hoping
to meet a girl, Chris hangs out at a local bar where he
meets Gary Spargo (Matthew Goode) and Gary introduces him to
Luvlee (Isla Fisher). Chris and Luvlee immediately hit it
off. Drawing Chris closer using Luvlee as bait, Gary tells
Chris he wants to rob his bank and fools Chris into
believing that the money from the robbery will restore some
remnants of the life he once had.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt likes to play challenging characters
(Mysterious Skin, Brick), and he does a pretty good job
accuracy portraying a person with a brain injury. Joseph
plays the character of Chris in a way that you don’t feel
sorry for him and that is hard to pull of with these type of
characters. Jeff Daniel is flawless as the quick witted
blind man who has be through a world of hurt, but has come
through the other side a better person. The movie, however,
was a little too predictable and since the movie is marketed
as having a twist, the third act was a big disappointment.
Also, the character of Luvlee either was not fully written
or was cut down from the movie, because she seems to
abruptly disappear. The most shocking thing of all, was that
Bone (Greg Dunham) one of the member’s of Gary’s gang was
dressed like someone from the Matrix, and his character is
even less developed than Luvlee’s. The only thing I know
about him was that he knew how to use a shot gun. So while
this movie has some shortcomings, it is still an interesting
and exciting thriller.
VIDEO:
Anamorphic Widescreen (2.40:1)
AUDIO:
Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround - French English
Subtitles - English
French Spanish - Optional
BONUS FEATURES:
Behind the Mind of Chris Pratt. A
9:25 minute
featurette with interviews by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff
Daniels and director Scott Frank about the character of
Chris Pratt.
Sequencing The Lookout. A
20 minute behind
the scenes featuring interviews with the cast and crew
Audio Commentary with
writer/director Scott Frank and director of photography Alar
Kivilo
Review
By Milton Brayson
milton@smartcine.com
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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VIDEO |
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AUDIO |
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