At the Theater - Looper - For those who complain about a lack of originality from Hollywood, Looper is a strange but inspired mixture of science fiction, action and crime drama with several doses of left-field weirdness- it's an involving time-travel tale that's skillfully directed, featuring a healthy amount of humor and several small, humanistic, golden touches that often propels it into greatness territory. The film is brutally violent and yet surprisingly touching, exciting and yet though-provoking, with a refreshing minimum of predictability- it never gets too big or unwieldy, maintaining a personal approach throughout.
Loopers are a squad of hitmen in the year 2042 who are required to execute and dispose of marks sent back from 2072- time travel has been invented then, but deemed illegal, with a powerful, unnamed crime syndicate using a makeshift machine for their unsavory purposes. The story establishes (though somewhat superficially) that it's nearly impossible to get rid of the evidence involving murder in the 2070's because of advanced technologies- targets are captured alive, bound and hooded, then sent back along with a payment of silver to 2042 to be dealt with by the Loopers. Every so often, Loopers are faced with "closing their loop", an event which involves executing their future selves and subsequently retiring with a handsome payment of gold- all the while knowing that their lives will end 30 years later.
Talented Writer/Director Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brother's Bloom) provides an undeniable directorial flair and a firm grasp on story-telling that helps to quickly reel a viewer in- he's definitely a talent to keep tabs on. Expect some well-written dialogue, an obvious love of Film-Noir and a handful of innovative action sequences.
Joseph Gordon Levitt ((500) Days of Summer, The Lookout) plays the younger version of Joe- a Looper and functional drug-addict who's faced with the dilemma of tracking down and terminating his future self (Bruce Willis) once his loop-closure appointment goes awry while also trying to evade forces hell-bent on punishment. It's an understandably conflicted role, with Gordon Levitt doing an excellent job of acting under a thin layer of makeup effects that the filmmakers decided to apply in order to deal with resemblance issues (he looks like a younger version of Willis, though with maybe a bit too much eye-liner...) The character is about as flawed as one can get, yet you can't help but feel sympathetic for him.
Bruce Willis gives one of his better performances as "Older Joe" here. The action star is given a few brief moments to showcase his emotional range and the results are decidedly positive. Fans will be happy to find that there's also a couple of segments in which Bruno utilizes various hand cannons and machine guns to mow down a good number of henchmen.
Emily Blunt's (The Wolfman, Wild Target) character arrives at the midpoint of the story as a single mother managing a sugar cane farm who takes the "on the lam" Younger Joe in. Her "Sara" is one of 10 percent of the future population, called TK's, who have developed a small amount of telekinetic powers- there's good reason for this supernatural embellishment, as it plays an important role in the plot's proceedings. Blunt makes the most of the role, she's a strong, independent, caring mother who's harboring a dark secret and desperate to protect her son. I haven't seen a bad performance from the actress yet. I'm quite positive that most viewers will remember the little boy named "Cid" (Pierce Gagnon) in this...
Jeff Daniels makes a few appearances as the crime lord/watchman sent back from the 2070's to keeps tabs on and govern the Loopers, making sure they play by the rules and follow through on "closing" their respective loops once the event presents itself. He's clearly a villain, but strangely likable- then again, isn't Jeff Daniels always likable? I wish there had been much more of him.
Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly) plays a prostitute dancer that "Younger Joe" has designs for while Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine) is a fellow Looper who fails to close his loop- things don't end well for his character in a segment that's rather grotesque. Garret Dillahunt (FOX's Raising Hope) rounds out the notable cast as a Gat, a sentry out to kill both the Older and Younger Joes- his lone scene is quietly explosive... ;)
Complaints- distinguishing viewers are likely to point out more than a few possible plot holes, logistical leaps and sketchy details when it comes to the reasoning behind the existence/function of Loopers, their eventual Loop closures and events of the far future that appear to contradict the rules. Although I'm normally not the type to give in to contrivance (and there's a good helping of that here), I found myself more immersed in the immediate, onscreen story, the excellent performances and inherent directorial flair- in short, I enjoyed so many other aspects of the film that I was able to forgive it for it's flaws. Others might not find themselves as forgiving and I could definitely understand that.
The trailers for this film were a bit misleading, as there are essentially two very different storylines that eventually interconnect- one of which did not appear to be touched upon in the various previews and TV spots (at least not in the many that I bore witness to). That's a good thing, in my opinion, as a large portion of the second half of the film comes largely as an unexpected surprise. I'll only reveal that it involves a small child who throws some rather impressive temper tantrums...
All things considered, I think Looper is one of the better films of the year and comes highly recommended.
8.5 out of 10
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