Looker
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Movie Reviews of Looker
Movie Review: Forget Jurassic 4 Stars
I used to watch Looker all the time when I was a little kid. It was one of those that could be seen on HBO frequently, so it was hard to avoid. I even had it taped on Beta(yes, BETA!!). As a child I never completely understood the plot details as they were a bit over my head at that age. I did know a plastic surgeon was investigating deaths of women and it somehow lead to a sinister looking guy with a mustache and some goofy fake tv commercials with no actors in them. Two things really attracted me to this movie as a kid. First, there was a brief naked shot of an attractive woman early in the film(since R rated films were shown after my bed time, I didn't see this often), and for reasons unknown to me at the time, I found this brief sequence terribly exciting. Secondly, the Looker Gun. In this film, the killer uses a gun that shoots a beam of light and freezes people in a hypnotic state for varying periods of time. I thought this was fascinating.Until recently I hadn't seen this movie since probably 1988. Now I understand it, and it remains quite interesting. In the film, Albert Finney is a plastic surgeon who realizes that the television commercial actresses he has operated on are ending up dead. He plays detective and finds that the deaths are linked to a shady corporation headed by James Coburn, and that this company is dabbling in a new technology. The technology involves making tv commercials with computer generated actors that put the viewer in a hypnotic state and become engrossed with the product. You will WANT that perfume!! You will WANT that kitchen cleaner!! Damn it, you WILL WANT that box of Oaties cereal!! Along with the commercials, the corporation also designs the aforementioned freeze gun. So, it's up to Finney to stop the killing and bring the corporation down before we start seeing these commercials in our homes.
It's a really cool movie! As a kid, the name Michael Crichton meant nothing to me, but now it all makes sense. In 1981 this was science fiction. Computer generated actors selling a product on a tv commercial?? How absurd!!! A lot of the things in this film have become science fact. Not all of them, but the scary thing about it is just how damn close we are to seeing some of these things in the near future(if not already and we don't know it)
Looker's not a very poular film, more of a cult deal, but a lot of folks do seem to remember that freeze gun. Check it out, it deserves to be seen by a few more people. Snazzy theme song too.
Movie Review: LOOKER -- Crichton's future is once again too plausible
Summary: 4 Stars
Though it doesn't stand up as well as I hoped it would after 20+ years, it still retains some of the fun elements that captivated me when I saw it as a teenager. And I'm not just talking about Laurie Partridge in the altogether....
Many of Crichton's novels and movies seem to be close kin to each other -- "Jurassic Park" isn't too far removed from "Westworld", and "Looker" even has a shade or two in common with "Runaway". Despite the overlapping premises, Crichton has a compellingly interesting way of portraying developing technologies as a weapon best left out of the hands of Corporate America, and Criminal America too, for that matter.
The developing technology in "Looker" might have seemed a bit absurdly fantastical in the film's day, but it sure looks reasonable now given the nature of the corporate segment the ill-used technology appeals to. Or perhaps I am just more cynical now than I was when the film came out.
As thrillers go this film is tame by today's standards but was sufficiently intruiguing back in the early 1980s. But everyone should have a few Michael Crichton films in their DVD libraries, and at the low price offered here I recommend you add this one.
Also get:
"Westworld"
"The Great Train Robbery"
"Coma" (from the Robin Cook novel but directed by Crichton)
"Runaway"
"Jurassic Park" (from Crichton's novel)
and "The Andromeda Strain" (also from a Crichton novel)
Movie Review: I'M HERE TO SELL FOR YOU.
Summary: 4 Stars
It appears I share a not-quite-guilty nostalgia for this creepy/campy/scarily prescient sci-fi/horror flick with most of the reviewers here. Like me, their psyches were indelibly impressed by Susan Dey's collarbone after repeated viewings on HBO as 13-year olds. This was one of my absolute all-time favorite early-80's cable movies. It's about a hot-shot L.A. plastic surgeon (Albert Finney!?) who finds himself beset with models carrying lists of millimeter-precise changes they want in their faces/bodies so they can be Perfect. After two of these models are murdered post-op, he becomes a suspect, and starts to investigate the origin of the computer-mandated quest for Perfection -- a corporation with the rather sinister-sounding name of DIGITAL MATRIX. This movie is VERY 80's in music (great shimmery horror-synth combined with femmy power-pop) and art direction (lots of pastels) so it's fine to go a little MST-3K with it. At the same time, there are some really great scenes (Susan Dey re-shooting the suntan lotion commercial over and over to please The Computer is one that haunts me) and the general concept is not absurd AT ALL... "Hi! I'm Cindy! I'm the Perfect Female Type, 18 to 25. I'M HERE TO SELL FOR YOU!" I'll admit, things do get a little silly in the end, but it's still fun. And, oh yeah, there's a subplot about a political candidate getting the same kind of subliminally appealing surgery/compu-jiggery in order to appeal to more voters. Whoa, now THAT'S scary!!Movie Review: I really like the "eccentric" choices Mr. finney selected when he retuned to films
Summary: 4 Stars
Every time i read about LOOKER and WOLFEN (both of which i like and own) , a critic has written that actor Albert Finney chose eccentric rolls with which to resume his film career . This particular picture seems like a smart choice to me . With Michael Crichton both writing and directing , how can you go wrong ? the cast is swell . Yes , sometimes the protagonist takes too many risks . And yes , sometimes the films is stilted . It puts me in mind of some of the better aspects of WESTWORLD though and is fairly smart . If you prefer older movies (there again , pre 1979 or so) , for so many reasons , not the least of which is that you're older now and remember when films were not crafted from video games and repleat with fast edits , C.G.I. , one liners and countless other modern concessions to target audiences of college age and younger , you're apt to like Finny's "eccentric" choices .Movie Review: Still a good movie!
Summary: 4 Stars
I really loved this movie as a kid, however never really understood the concept of the freeze frame/light images. 20yrs laters, I finally get it, amazing what college can do, huh? The music is so 80s, and it makes me think of a carefree time, with stange synthesizers, off-beat fashion, and sausage roll fair styles.