A Great Crime Thriller: a Review of "The Lookout" DVD

For me, there is nothing much that is better than a good crime thriller when it comes to books and movies and even television. I am a particular fan of the "heist" movies. For me, the more elaborate the heist, the better. I love watching it all come together like a great play in football.

The newly-released DVD "The Lookout" is a heist movie, but it is not one with a complicated heist. However, the movie itself takes enough twists and turns to make me want to leap with joy. I want to meet each person involved in this movie, shake their hands, and thank them for taking the time to make this movie and do it so well.

The movie stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the kid who probably became most-famous thanks to this his television role on "Third Rock from the Sun." Well, folks, forget that that performance, forget it was ever a television show, forget he was ever on it, because this young man is good. He is very good. He is dazzlingly good.

He plays a young man named Chris. In the first scenes in the movie we see him driving his convertible down a country road. He wants to show his friends the huge numbers of fireflies that line the country road and how you can see them when you drive with the lights off. A stalled Combine in the middle of the road not only ruins the trip, but takes lives and permanently maims Chris.

Chris now falls asleep easily. He has trouble focusing. He forgets things. He carries a notebook and writes down everything in order to try and keep his life straight. He gets tremors in his hands and has trouble holding things. He has to label everything including labels in the shower so he can remember to use soap when he showers. He lives with a blind man, played by Jeff Daniels, named Lewis.

Lewis and Chris have ambitions to buy a gas station and turn it into a diner that serves breakfast and lunch. Lewis is a very good cook. Chris just hopes to get out of the night job he has as a maintenance man at a local bank. He longs to have his life back the way it was before.

Chris is also lonely. He cannot relate to women. He meets with his caseworker and blurts out the most-inappropriate things to her because his mind does that from time to time. Then, one night, at a bar, he meets a man named Gary, who claims to know him, and a beautiful woman named Luvlee, who used to be a dancer. She offers herself to him. Gary,on the other hand, has a plan that could bring about many of his dreams.

It is not giving away anything to tell you that Gary wants Chris to help him rob the bank he works at. Chris is to serve as the lookout, which is probably where they got the name of the movie. In a heist movie it is not whether or not a crime is going to be committed. You know one is going to be committed It is whether or not the crime can be pulled off, and who is going to come out alive at the other end.

The movie is written and directed by Scott Frank and it marks his directorial debut. Frank was involved in producing the movie "Minority Report." He also wrote the screenplay. He also helped write "Get Shorty" and "Dead Again." He has an impressive pedigree. I will also say, he has a brilliant future as a director if this movie is any indication. My only concern for him is that hitting one this far out of the park as a debut can lead to major disappointment down the road.

The pacing is perfect. The movie is just the right length. I cannot stress enough how wonderful that is. Too many movies these days try to stretch the patience of the audience. That shouldn't be the case with a thriller. A thriller should be lean, taut, and fast-paced. "The Lookout" is.

The tension builds beautifully. It takes time to make you care about this character of Chris. Then it begins to build the tension, like a well-done Hitchcock thriller. Layer upon layer is added until the way out seems impossible for the character, and then you have the joy of watching him or her try to get out. With these kinds of movies, you can never be too sure if or how the main character will make it out in the end.

It is a modern noir film and it works very well. The writing is excellent. The directing is tight and exciting, without being too fancy. The villains are wonderfully villainous, especially Greg Dunham as "Bone." Matthew Goode is excellent as Gary, as well.

So, needless to say, I highly recommend this one. The extras on the DVD are fairly standard. There is a making-of documentary and then another bonus feature that claims to look inside the mind of the main character. I didn't find that either of these added much to my enjoyment of this film. Get this one just because of the main feature and the great story.

I am looking forward to Scott Frank's next directorial feature. I also think Joseph Gordon-Levitt will be an exciting star to watch as well.

It is just a joy to find a movie that thrills when it is supposed to and works when it should.