Just watched this for the first time in ages and really enjoyed it. Highly recommended to see in retrospect; Crichton was really spot on with his predictions of digital trickery.. LONG before cgi & photoshop & all that stuff we casually expect today. Back in 1981 the concept of having someone's face & body mapped onto a computer generated wireframe was preposterous ...back when digital graphics were only as good as Space Invaders.

I agree the Looker gun would've been a great nonviolent tool for self-defense, law enforcement & even warfare. It's not entirely unfeasible either... visual stimuli are known to cause some people to freeze up or have seizures (epilepsy) which, now that I think about it, was a plot point in Crichton's earlier film The Andromeda Strain.

I think the movie got a little campy in the final act, but it's pretty obvious Crichton was having some satirical fun with the fake tv studio scenes. I mean, the dead body on the breakfast table while the kids are passing the orange juice... hahaha This movie had it all. Smart story, nice presentation and some good fun.