Directed by: Rian Johnson
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt and Paul Dano
What It’s About: An assassin in the near future hunts his future self when his own hit goes astray.
Rated R (for strong violence, language, some sexuality/nudity and drug content)
Runtime: 118 minutes
by Aaron Sanders, Diversions Editor
A man stands in front of a plastic tarp in the middle of a cornfield with a shotgun in one hand and a pocket watch in the other. He takes a final glance at his watch. It is just about time. The man tucks away his timepiece and readies his weapon. His finger lies on the trigger, ready to shoot on a second’s notice. A second man, arms tied and head sacked, materializes in thin air only to be greeted by a shotgun blast to the chest. The first man approaches the fresh corpse, flips him over and cuts open the dead-man’s shirt, revealing a payment of six silver bars. This is the opening scene of Looper and from this point on, the film progressively becomes equal parts haphazard and entertaining.
The year is 2042 and in 30 years time-travel will have been invented and outlawed, used only by the biggest criminal organizations. Looper follows a laconic young man who goes by the name Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Joe is a “Looper,” an assassin who kills targets sent back from 2072 in exchange for vast sums of money and a flashy lifestyle. The life of a Looper is one filled with glamor, wealth, women and respect. However, when one signs up to become a Looper, he or she also agrees to (when the day comes) carry out his or her own hit when his or her older selves are sent back to present day. This is called “closing your loop,” and once completed, the involved Looper has 30 years to live his or her life until he or she is sent back to be killed. When Joe is sent his older self (Bruce Willis), the unthinkable occurs and his old Joe evades execution, forcing the Looper organization to rectify the situation by any means necessary, even if it means killing young Joe. To disclose the plot any further would be to tread into “spoiler territory.”
Looper’s cast of colorful characters, without spoiling any crucial plot details, include single mother Sara (Emily Blunt), Looper employer Abe (Jack Daniels), Joe’s best friend Seth (Paul Dano), Sara’s child Cid (Pierce Gagnon) and stripper Suzie (Piper Perabo), all of whom give consistently strong performances along with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis as young Joe and old Joe respectively.
Director Rian Johnson’s third effort is an intelligent, entertaining sci-fi thriller that not only dazzles as a brilliantly executed “time-travel” movie, but also as an intensive character study.
The character of Joe, both the present and future forms, exhibits the moral construct of a man rarely explored in contemporary cinema. Present Joe is by no means a “hero”; however, he is not inherently evil. He has very few, if any, redeeming qualities. For instance, in an early scene in the film, Levitt’s Joe provides sanctuary for his friend Seth, a fellow Looper who let his target get away, only to give him up to Abe, his employer, in exchange for the privilege to keep his hidden stash of silver bars, which he pockets from every job he has done.
It is only when older Joe comes into the picture that the ethical dilemma presents itself. Future Joe returns to the past, on a personal, almost selfish mission to rectify his future and that of his wife’s untimely fate through committing an appalling atrocity in the vein of what he understands is a cruel but ultimately necessary act.
Johnson’s Looper is a demonstration of how a film can provide a well paced and fresh take on a trite sci-fi genre and also produce some “food for thought.”
Looper is one of the best films of the year so far and joins the ranks of other modern sci-fi cult classics, like District 9, Moon and Source Code, and proves that sci-fi films can have minds of their own.
9/10
Courtesy of hopeliesat24framespersecond.files.wordpress.com and collider.com