The Lookout Blu-ray

The Lookout

 (2007)

The Lookout Blu-ray features poor video and solid audio, but overall it's a disappointing Blu-ray release
Chris Pratt was once a Golden Boy athletic hero in his small Midwestern town. Chris had it all — a beautiful girlfriend, a well-heeled family and a shining future. But after a serious accident, Chris has found himself in a strange new world where the most basic things seem to fall through holes in his memory and nothing quite makes sense. Unable to make it on his own, he lives with his mentor in navigating this surreal life — the wisecracking, fiercely independent blind man, Lewis. For a job, Chris sweeps the floor at the bank waiting for his halted life to come unstuck. Things suddenly shift when he meets Gary Spargo, an old school acquaintance and street philosopher who begins to revive Chris' shattered confidence, even helping him find a stripper — albeit a stripper named Luvlee Lemons. But Gary has bigger plans, and when he recruits Chris into his grand plan to rob the bank where he works, Chris appears to be in way over his damaged head. As the bank heist unravels into chaos, both Chris' uncertain future and even more importantly Lewis' survival are on the line. Now, it's up to this young outcast who can't always think straight to figure out how to outwit and take down his manipulators his own way.

For more about The Lookout and The Lookout Blu-ray release, see The Lookout Blu-ray Review

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels, Matthew Goode, Isla Fisher, Carla Gugino
Director: Scott Frank

» See full cast & crew

The Lookout Blu-ray Review

One studio to another, one aspect ratio to another.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman, November 2, 2012

Echo Bridge has re-released the Miramax title 'The Lookout' to Blu-ray. The disc contains the same extras as the fine Disney release from mid-2007 but switches out the PCM 5.1 uncompressed track (as well as optional English and French lossy 5.1 offerings) for a DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. This disc also ditches all subtitle options. The most evident change comes in the video presentation. Rather than retain the film's theatrical 2.40:1 aspect ratio, the image has been reframed to fill 1.78:1 high definition displays. Screenshots include ten comparative shots that correspond to those from the Disney release review as well as a few new captures for perusal. New video and audio reviews are included below, as well as a few final thoughts. For a film review, please click the link above.

Chris searches for the rest of the picture.

The Lookout Blu-ray, Video Quality

 

There's budget Blu-ray, and then there's butcher Blu-ray. Echo Bridge's Blu-ray release of The Lookout is both. As noted above, the film exists in a previous -- and proper -- Disney release from 2007. That version retained the film's intended 2.39:1 theatrical exhibition aspect ratio, whereas this Echo Bridge bargain title presents the film recomposed at 1.78:1 in order to completely fill high definition displays. The result is no more "black bars," a bit of information lost on the side, and a smidgen gained on the top and bottom. The composition isn't atrocious -- The Lookout still plays dramatically well and no scenes appear unwatchable due to framing -- but there's no excuse at all, particularly when a perfectly good and proper edition already exists. As for the transfer that's here, it's not particularly bad other than the framing. It maintains approximately the same color balance and texture as the Disney release, yielding good, not spectacular, detailing across faces, clothes, terrain, and structural interiors. Colors are fine, perhaps a hair less brilliant but otherwise proper and representative of a true, accurate palette. A moderate amount of grain remains over the image, though some noise creeps in at times. Flesh tones appear as intended, but shadow detail is questionable in some scenes. This is a proficient transfer with no glaring issues outside of the framing. That alone, however, should not be tolerated or rewarded, no matter the price.

The Lookout Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 

Echo Bridge has at least not foregone a quality audio presentation. The film plays with a solid DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack that's not quite as clear and natural as Disney's PCM track, but it offers some muscle and fine clarity both as needed. Generally, The Lookout is a thought-provoking drama, and the track reflects the picture's reservedness. Dialogue is clear and accurate in every scene, whether in hushed environments or amidst surrounding noise. Atmospherics generally impress, whether the background din of a bar, natural exterior ambience, or casual elements like city sounds or background music and television. There are some strong discrete effects that occasionally come up slightly lacking in clarity but that are otherwise sonically effective, such as a car zipping across the stage early in the film or pots and pans flung off to the side a bit later. Gun blasts hit hard in chapter 13, and subsequently shattering glass yields impressive, pinpoint placement. Music enjoys fair spacing, good body, and nuanced clarity. Overall, this is a fine presentation that's enjoyable and fairly close to the Disney release.

The Lookout Blu-ray, Special Features and Extras

 

As noted in the open, this Blu-ray retains the same trio of supplements from the 2007 release, including an audio commentary track with Writer/Director Scott Frank and Director of Photography Alar Kivilo. The featurettes Behind the Mind of Chris Pratt (480p, 9:26) and Sequencing 'The Lookout' (480p, 19:59) are also on hand. See the linked review above for more details.

The Lookout Blu-ray, Overall Score and Recommendation

 

It's no surprise that The Lookout holds up extremely well to a second viewing now some five years after its initial Blu-ray release. It's a superb character drama with elements of action, shaped by fantastic characters and superb performances, including a marvelously nuanced effort from Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It's an emotionally powerful picture that's both haunting and mesmerizing and is arguably one of the most grossly overlooked and under-hyped films of the first decade of the 2000s. Also haunting -- though not in a positive way -- is Echo Bridge's unnecessarily reworked high definition presentation. The 1.78:1 framing doesn't destroy the film, but it needlessly strays from the theatrical exhibition ratio. Perhaps it's a test case, perhaps Echo Bridge believes this is what the masses want (and if that's the case, this is a rather odd movie to release in such a way; The Lookout is hardly a mass-consumed, casual viewer-friendly, largely hyped blockbuster sort), but either way it harms the artistic integrity of a brilliant film. Fortunately, HD audio remains, and at least no supplements have been cut, but neither have any been added. In short, this is one to skip no matter how low the price may go. The Disney release costs a bit more, but know that the added dollars go a long way in both enjoying the film and letting studios know that filmmaker-intended aspect ratios are the way to go.

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