Wow! Such a good movie.

Awesome Movie

A lot of fun.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

This must be the only movie ever produced in which the hero is a Beverley Hills plastic surgeon. Albert Finney has had a few of his recent patients return for more alterations taken from a list, down to the millimeter. Then two or three of them die in disfiguring accidents.Another of his patients, Susan Dey, who requires absolutely nothing in the way of renovation, sort of latches on to him as he tries to find out if there is some link to the recent deaths. The police are eyeing him as a suspect but his interests focus on some computer digitalizing outfit that, as it turns out, has discovered a way to replace human models in commercials with what we now call computer-generated images, or CGIs. It was a novel idea at the time.Well -- "So what?", asks the sophisticated viewer. Is that all there is to it? No. The CGI corporation is run by the evil James Coburn. Not only does he now create commercials out of nothing but he has learned how to insert a hypnotic ray into the pupils of his CGIs. Bad enough when you're selling mouthwash. A disaster when you're producing political ads for a candidate who promises to rid us of inflated government and bureaucratic bloat and return to us the freedoms bestowed on the nation by the Founders. Oh, he's against pollution and big corporations too, so no need to read any messages into it, beyond those carried by any commercial production, including, "Spend money on this movie and make us famous and rich." There are multiple plot holes. I'll just mention two in passing and then give up. (1) It's never explained why those two or three suicides took place. (2) The cops switch from suspecting Finney to being convinced of Coburn's guilt for no particular reason.The technology is kind of interesting, dated though it is, but a little confusing too. Evidently, in the course of developing the hypnotic eyeballs, Coburn and company stumbled onto the possibility of installing the ray into a handgun, through the kind of serendipity that Robert K. Merton wrote about.Albert Finney makes for a clumsy action hero. He doesn't move very quickly or gracefully. There is a car chase of course, only the weapons are not machine guns or shotguns but those flash rays. And the final sneaking around, with Finney and a couple of villains creeping into commercials being shown to a select (and amused) audience of Big Wigs, is a little sluggish. The pace isn't helped by an ostinato in the musical score that goes on and on until -- until -- I woke up in a daze a week later and found myself in Cozumel. I was glad it happened -- GLAD! What with the pina colada and that bronzed babe.

Obviously forgotten today, and maybe that's a problem.Michael Crichton dealt in practical Science Fiction. How a potential technology could really cause problems in the here and now. This movie hit on a few of them, some of which HAVE come to pass.His premise is that computers could be used to simulate characters (already has happened) and that they could be used to influence us by using algorithms to calculate our optimum responses. (Again, probably happening now, even if we don't know about it.) The plot is that a plastic surgeon is asked to alter four women into perfect specimens, but three of them are killed after wards (they never really explain why.) In trying to protect the last, whom he develops a personal bond with, he uncovers a plot to use computer generated images (wow, and now they are real!) to manipulate our responses.A note on nudity. We have Susan Dey of Partridge family fame going topless in a couple of scenes. We'd NEVER see that now. If we are lucky, we might see a name actress have her head CGI'd (ironic) onto a body double. But usually, the MPAA would go completely nuts and give the film an R or NC-17 rating.Some things are dated, such as tape-reading computers and big hair on the women- SO 1980's. But the film's concepts hold up pretty well.

I remember seeing LOOKER in the theater and several times on TV years later. It no longer runs anywhere, and I was not aware it was available on video. Albert Finney is always worth a look, even in this pseudo-scientific potboiler about models being murdered and a mysterious corporation that may be behind the killings. It's a Michael Crichton novel written in the style of Robin Cook's COMA, so be prepared. Actually, COMA is a better film. But it's like WOLFEN,a Whitley Schreiber story about intelligent wolves loose in New York city. The movie is a dud except for Finney's presence. Hell, Finney even kept the fantasy flick BIG FISH interesting, and that's saying something indeed. If you want to see Finney in a really competent thriller, watch the made-for-TV THE GREEN MAN. It is a great ghost yarn, strictly intended for an adult audience.

"Looker is ultimately not worth a look" DECIDE FOR YOURSELFThis is a great film. I did not give it a higher score only because I reserve 7+ scores for films that are also important, which this film is not. (Case in point "True Lies")This being said, it is an extremely enjoyable film to watch.Michael Crichton often chose his stories to examine actual concerns of the time, as he did in "Terminal Man", "Coma", and even in "Jurassic Park" (the issue of Genetic Research). In this film the concern involved the increasing affect that computers and advertising are having on us.Albert Finney was in several "workmanlike" films during this period....films that were consistently enjoyable, with another example being "Wolfen". It is great news that this is finally being re-released on DVD!...now where is "Serial"?! ...or Americathon?! ...or Peter Proud?!