Michael Crichton's Overlooked Sci-fi Thriller Had Groundbreaking Visual Effects

Warner Bros.

Michael Crichton's "Looker" is one of the most prescient science fiction films of the last 50 years. So, why is it largely forgotten? Well, it kinda stinks.

Crichton was an interesting if frustrating man. After receiving his MD from Harvard, he chose to become a writer rather than practice medicine. He chose profitably. His first novel, "The Andromeda Strain" (published the same year he received his degree), was a best-selling thriller about an extraterrestrial viral outbreak and was turned into a hit movie by Robert Wise in 1971. While his publishing career flourished, he began directing movies in 1973 and knocked out a trio of very good films in "Westworld," "Coma," and "The Great Train Robbery." He soon established himself as the master of the techno-thriller and achieved his greatest hit in 1990 with the publication of "Jurassic Park" (though Crichton didn't write the script used for Steven Spielberg's blockbuster film adaptation). Unfortunately, his work thereafter took a clownish turn with his absurdly racist novel "Rising Sun" and the misogynistic book "Disclosure." (The former was at least redeemed cinematically by director Philip Kaufman, who subverted Crichton's anti-Japanese sentiment.)

In 1981, however, he was on the verge of crafting a sci-fi classic that would predict computer generated imagery, artificial intelligence, and corporate-controlled media. Crichton was smart. Unfortunately, he was in over his head with a fledgling production company and a plot that played to his worst sexist instincts. Nevertheless, no one had seen a movie that looked like "Looker" at the time, and that makes it a fascinating relic.

Warner Bros.

"Looker" stars Albert Finney as Dr. Larry Roberts, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who's disconcerted to find naturally beautiful, essentially perfect models showing up at his office asking for mere millimeters to be shaved off their noses and chins and what have you. When these women start turning up dead, he suspects they're being manipulated to seek physical perfection. The culprit is Digital Matrix Inc. (DMI), which is compelling these women to undergo full body scans that will turn them into computer generated models. Again, this was 1981.

Michael Crichton had the right idea, but, as was his wont, he badly underwrote his female characters, particularly Susan Dey's Cindy Fairmont (who, in the best version of this movie, would've been the protagonist). The film turns into a standard-issue detective story where Finney's character attempts to infiltrate DMI and expose the nefarious intent of billionaire business magnate John Reston (James Coburn). Once again, this was 1981. In 2026, Coburn's character would be hailed as an AI innovator.

"Looker" is a cautionary tale about driving humanity out of advertising, and it's weird that storytellers, in the intervening 45 years, haven't turned this into a four-alarm fire as this artificiality has spread into more noble creative pursuits. Worse, master directors like Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh, and Darren Aronofsky are embracing technology that is antithetical to the collaborative spirit of filmmaking. Despite its myriad flaws, Crichton saw the dehumanizing nightmare coming with "Looker." It's a helluva lot better than his bizarre sci-fi thriller "Runaway."