Movie Review: ‘Looper’ Second Opinion

Director: Rian Johnson

Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Jeff Daniels

Plot: Joe is a hitman in the year 2042, employed by a criminal organisation thirty years in the future where time travel has been developed and outlawed. In order to dispose of their enemies the crimelords of the future send them back in time to be executed, with the ‘Looper’ being the hitman to kill them. The clause in the Looper’s contract being that eventually they have to eliminate their future selves. Joe’s future self, on the other hand, has different plans.

Review: The most astounding part of this high-quality, thought provoking sci-fi/action blockbuster is, without a doubt, the performances from Gordon Levitt and Willis. They both play Joe, both the present and in the future, and it’s a phenomenal pair of performances that are as similar as they are different (in a way that makes total sense). There’s a very clear sense that Willis is playing the character established by Gordon-Levitt after having gone through 30 years of wild times, dark times and a redemption. Likewise Gordon-Levitt is every part of the person who would become Willis wiht his performance enhanced by some fantastic make-up work that brings the appearance of the two closer together.

Johnson has a created a fantastic vision the future, and although the reasons for the world turning out the way it has are never made abundantly clear it seems uncomfortably realistic. The division between the rich and the poor has grown wider, with large numbers of vagrants prowling the cities and rural areas and a brutally violent way of life has become the norm. Although communication technology and fuel efficiency has improved the standard of living has gone the other way. It’s a bleak world, and strangely suited to the discussion of morals and philosophy that this film serves up.

Time travel is presented simply in Looper with visitors from the future blipping into existence and often not lasting more than a moment before being gunned down by a Looper. When one does make his escape the process of luring him in by cutting messages on his present self (to begin with) is as fascinating as it is horrifying. The action warms up when many of the Loopers have their loops closed, that is ending their contract by eliminating their future selves. It becomes known that a new crime-lord known as the ‘Rainmaker’ has taken control of the future and is closing down the Looper system. Things come to a head when Joe’s future self arrives with the intention of finding and killing the child who would become the Rainmaker in thirty years.

With the present day criminals gunning for both versions of Joe and present Joe trying to hunt down his older version to protect himself while the old Joe is trying to kill the Rainmaker sounds like it could be overly complicated everything is so well pieced together that the viewer never feels left out of the…ahem…loop. Not that it talks down to the audience – like Inception is expects you to keep up with the narrative, but provides more than enough cues to lead the way.

The philosophies of time travel play centre stage as characters battle with the repercussions of their actions and whether or not they are obliged to follow the same path that has been laid out before them. Some of this may sound like old hat but it’s presented in such a compelling manner that it will feel like a fresh concept. This is the serious time-travel movie that audiences have been waiting to see even if they didn’t know that they wanted it. The action is imaginative and original – sometimes stretching back to wide angles to capture what is happening, the characters are immensely well developed and the fictional world that has been created is realistic and rich.

What is especially interesting is the way the film deals with right and wrong. Both versions of Joe have their own motivations and garner sympathy as a result, but how they are viewed by the audience will shift back and forth throughout the film. How far a person will go to protect themselves and their happiness, to alter the history of the world when in a position to do so, to doing what they think is the right thing – there are many threads to the psychology on hand here and director Johnson does a remarkable job of exploring the themes of the text.

Although the action, characters, story, setting and philosophy driving the movie are all fantastic this isn’t a perfect film (as strange as that may sound). There are several characters who are introduced early on the film and drift out of the story at various points after they’ve served their purpose of providing some visual exposition. The other Loopers, who could’ve realistically played a major role in the crisis caused by the two versions of Joe, completely vanish after they’ve been used to explain all about the job. Likewise Joe’s present day girlfriend Suzie only exists to give him someone to talk to before pulling a vanishing act.

Another unusual point of contention is that everyone in the movie carries only one of two guns (unless they’ve just busted out of an armory and are on a killing spree through a gangster’s headquarters) as though there aren’t any others available. Either the blunderbuss that gives perfect aim over a restricted range or the high accuracy, long range but difficult to handle GAT. It’s unrealistic to think that in the world that has been set up all the main characters bring one or the other to a gun fight simply to set up the scenario that the story needs.

These are petty annoyances and if you can look past them as just devices used to tell the story and explore the ideas that Johnson wants to explore then you’re in for a damn fine slice of science fiction.

Score: NINE outta TEN