Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.0

Looking Glass Blu-ray Movie Review

I spy...

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 30, 2018

Looking Glass positions itself as a Psychological Thriller in which a man must decide how to respond when he learns the sleazy roadside motel he operates hides a pathway that allows an individual to peer into each room by way of a two-way mirror. The idea certainly flashes potential, and anything with Nicholas Cage draws some attention, but the film, directed by Tim Hunter, never capitalizes on the idea in any satisfying way. It dabbles in what is an interesting social experiment but turns into a murder mystery with a bland cast of characters and, worse, no real sense of tension, no pull, no ability to do something of interest with an interesting premise. It's scattershot at best, structurally and narratively alike, putting out feelers that turn into empty vessels and telling a story that never moves beyond its interesting peripherals to find value in the center.

A couple, Ray and Maggie (Nicholas Cage and Robin Tunney), moves away from the old pains and memories of a shattered life for a fresh start. Their destination: an old small town motel they have just purchased. They arrive at night. The previous owner has left them the key, a messy apartment, and vacant rooms. Ray, who bought the place after answering an ad on Craigslist, briefly speaks with the old owner but the old man soon cuts off all communications with his successors. One day, not too long after getting into the swing of things and getting a grip on the establishment’s day-to-day operations, Ray finds a chained door, marked “private” and “keep out,” for which he has no key. A snip of the bolt cutters later and he discovers behind it the facility’s laundry room with stairs leading to a basement. Innocent enough, until he uncovers the entryway to a cobweb infested, tight-fit walkway with access to every room by way of two-way mirrors. Try as he might to simply move on and forget the walkway exists, or to report its existence to the police, he finds himself drawn back there, particularly as an alluring guest engages in lurid sex acts in one of the the rooms with a number different women. As the voyeurism becomes part of Ray’s life and grows into an obsession, his actions threaten to alienate him from his wife, draw the suspicions of a local cop (Marc Blucas), and destroy his sanity.

Looking Glass is just too busy. It's trying to be a character drama, a psychological thriller, a murder mystery, and a mildly erotic journey through one man's transformation into an addicted voyeur. The film never materializes anything of much interest for any of its components, always putting one on the back burner just as it's becoming interesting in order to focus on another. The film is ripe with good ideas, supported by some decent execution, but the effort lacks cohesion, flow, and purpose. The most interesting component is Ray's dwindling personal stability, his wrestling with inner demons that his newfound realities have amplified. Ray is an imperfect man, but there's not enough of a solidly identifiable backstory to truly shape him in the moment. Nicholas Cage does what he can with Ray, injecting a growing psychosis, paranoia, and anxiety into the character as he is attacked form all directions, fearing someone -- the law, his wife -- will discover his secret (or realize he knows), compounded by a growing fascination and addiction but an equally grinding guilt that gnaws at him from the very first moment he bears witness to his housekeeper routinely cleaning one of the rooms upon discovering the secret tunnel. He shares good chemistry with co-star Tunney, playing his wife, and Blucas, playing a local sheriff with seemingly more reason to keep dropping by than simply wanting a cheap cup of coffee from the motel's lobby pot.

On the flip side, the production is rather good from a core location standpoint. It doesn't translate into a particularly pretty film (see video below) but the location feels like just the right blend of legitimate business and sleazy hotspot. Where the film fails, however, is in the surrounding areas. There's a convenience store and garage across the street from Ray's motel, and several scenes take the viewer there as Ray interacts with several individuals, on friendly enough terms with the shopkeeper the first time, more combative the second, and ultimately deals with a gang of ne'er-do-well's who stand in as some vague threat to Ray for some vague reason as he begins to poke around where he's not welcome to poke. There's not much of a satisfying tie-in to all of the almost randomly inserted pieces. The film just can't settle into a groove, and it's a film where the ebbs and flows of introductions, forward momentums, revelations, character developments, and climaxes (of several kinds) often all just rot away as the script efforts to do something else rather than building towards a satisfying conclusion to any of it, right up to the dull finale.

Looking Glass Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Viewers can peer into Looking Glass by way of Momentum's uninspiring 1080p transfer. Its most distinguishing characteristic out of the gate is its excess noise, visible even in a bright desert daytime stretch as the couple drives to the beginning of a new life. From there, a fair bit of noise remains, regardless of lighting conditions, whether bright daytime scenes or dense and dark nighttime exteriors or low-light interiors. The image is unremarkable on the whole. The digitally sourced picture lacks any kind of serious vitality, favoring flat details and bland, often vomit-like colors, save for a few intense bursts from neon signs or slot machines in chapter eight. Details are not at all exciting. Faces, clothes, walls and object detail within the apartment complex lack more than rudimentary high definition detail. There is some significant banding at the 1:03:00 mark and again at 1:11:15. Fortunately to that level of severity it's limited largely to those two shots.

Looking Glass Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Looking Glass' DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is unremarkable. Rudimentarily effective, but unremarkable. Music struggles to play with good clarity. It's muddled, absent more than essential detail, and lacks serious, intensive width or depth. Some minor effects, like dripping water in the motel's basement, offer sufficient sonic pronouncement and positioning. The track opens up a little for a casino scene in chapter eight, where music intensifies and the din of the gambling floor springs to life, but the total effect is hardly more than "adequate." A bar fight in chapter 12 fails to find any depth, or even much distinction or spacing, to crashes and punches, and is probably the most disappointing moment in the entire track. Lastly, dialogue has a mildly shallow tenor about it, though essential, basic intelligibility, placement, and prioritization are mostly fine.

Looking Glass Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Looking Glass contains two parts of the same extra. Behind the Scenes with the Cast and Crew (1080i) begins with Part 1 (6:09), a look at the script, characters and actors, and shooting locations, intercut with several clips from the film. Part 2 (6:12) explores the story and actors in greater detail. No DVD or digital copies are included.

Looking Glass Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Looking Glass is a film of great narrative promise and character potential. Neither are fully or satisfactorily realized. It's too busy and unfocused, jumping ship to another angle every time it starts to grow interesting. The movie is at its best when Cage can explore his character's growing psychosis but it stumbles along the cruder surrounding plot details that never amount to much. Momentum's Blu-ray is as uneven as the movie, featuring middling video and audio and just a coupe of brief extras. Worth a rental, no more.