The Lookout (2012)

Excellent but underrated film

An Exercise In Nonsense

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

In some ways, 'The Lookout' reminded me of the truly awful 'Primer', in that there seemed to be a lot going on, but with the characters only allowed brief scenes and the briefest of conversations to clue you in as to what it was, the odds of you making sense of it all before the credits rolled were so long as to become infinitesimal. Maybe that's just as well, because I suspect neither the director, scriptwriters, or editor(S) had managed to themselves fully join the dots before they'd committed their work to celluloid.The opening heist and Paris city-centre shoot-out, and especially the intriguing use of flashback prologue that preceded it provided enough of a teaser to buy one's interest for at least a good half-hour, but ultimately it only served to leave me cheated, in the way the cruellest of con-tricks does. Successive scenes of gloomy late-night action, and apparent cross and double-cross, might look great on paper, but ultimately, not enough to make one even consider giving it a second - or even third - watch to try to pick up on what you missed, because you quickly realise that what you might have missed was never actually there in the first place.I'd officially given up on French crime cinema about 5 years ago - or whenever the over-hyped and overrated 'The Prophet' was released. I'd determined that all the younger directors were following some template, which usually featured sombre, moody, colours; savage violence - usually including superfluous and titillating misogyny - and slick fast-paced productions designed to compensate for plot-holes.'The Lookout' has all of these - and then some - but 'The Lookout' trumps them all because it has the 'Primer' factor that the other films lacked: "Regardez, mes amis: you don't need to have any coherent plot, because you can use bikini-brief scenes, and half-begun sentences that explain nothing!"This film might be the first truly 'Second Unit' film: it's all about the action, and the slick, fast-paced non-plot, and location shooting. Yes,it features Daniel Auteuil and Mathieu Kassovitz who've done good work in the past, but their presence was required solely to sell the film to a baker's dozen of international financiers. Acting-wise, their presence was superfluous. The presence of so many technicians who are experts in their field might have provided at least a temporary boon to the French film industry, but ultimately I fear it will only become self-defeating, as it will turn off potential viewers.Jean-Pierre Melville must be turning in his grave! (or even pirouetting...!)

I gave it 5 and that is generous, considering this film does not achieve many of the goals it sets itself: it is not really suspenseful, the characterization is often vague, the plot is not clear at many points (too many characters don't improve matters). There is a Hollywood gloss over this picture that depresses me; surely a French film can call upon a tradition of thrillers dating back to the post-war years: Le salaire de la peur for example. I thought of Melville of course (Le deuxieme soufflé and Le cercle rouge) and Alain Corneau (Police Python 357). The kids who would troop off to see this one will be quickly bored.There is little point in trying to single out any of the actors for praise or blame; they seem interchangeable in their roles. Daniel Auteuil looks glum most of the time--did they not pay him enough? Olivier Gourmet from those great Dardenne movies promised much, but his part was clumsily written and not really understandable.

I'm being generous, I know, but consider the misleading 5.something score for this movie to be an anomaly. I first thought this was a 'Res Dogs' copy but it developed into a thoughtful thriller with enough plot to make it compelling. The absence of an obvious 'hero' figure is, perhaps, an obstacle to begin, but a strong ensemble cast contributes to maintaining interest in the conclusion of the movie. The question at the heart of the film, if there is one, may lie with the motivation of the Policeman, rather than the identity of the traitor. A genuinely classy European thriller of a type that can no longer be considered rare ( tell No-One, The Secrets...) but which is well worth a look.

To some extent, the previous posted reviews demonstrate an attempt to save the movie from a harsh criticism. The movie indeed gathers a general vote of 5 out of 10. Sadly, this is justified. You could say the actors are well directed, which is true. D. Auteuil does a smart job, N. Kassovitz is well managed. Also, the bank robbing scene pompously shown in the trailer is intense. Finally the global scenery in Paris is a well depicted. These elements however are not sufficient to make a movie worth a watch - or worth a better vote - without a story. The numerous inconsistencies do not help. I won't unveil any spoiler, but you will ask yourself oh so many times about the storyline being so lazily drawn up, and about the characters' conduct; and you will feel cheated as well. This movie indeed resorts way too much to ellipsis to avoid explanation when it does not simply goes against any obvious choice that a reasonable man would make. And forget about the trailer and the first scene: le guetteur (the sniper) is not a sharpshooter movie, neither is it about the psychology of these type of soldier. It is an excuse to develop a police investigation out of nowhere, on which you will probably still ask yourself how it came up at the end credits.