In the futuristic action thriller Looper, time travel will be invented - but it will be illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a "looper" - a hired gun, like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) - is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good... until the day the mob decides to "close the loop," sending back Joe's future self (Bruce Willis) for assassination.
I enjoy big, silly action flicks as much as the next guy, but I enjoy big, intelligent action flicks even more. Rian Johnson's third effort behind the camera (after the superb Brick and the disappointing The Brother's Bloom) is a sublime mix of stylised violence, edge-of-seat tension and thought-provoking narrative. There are no easy answers to the questions raised by Johnson's time-travel saga – for example, would you kill a small child if you knew he grew up to be a mass-murderer? – however these challenging themes never stop the film from being utterly exhilarating from start to finish. Whether it's the startling opening scene, the alternate path montage or the heart-in-mouth finale, Looper barely misses a beat thanks to Johnson's brilliant pacing and measured use of various camera techniques, Nathan Johnson's engrossing score and the subtly employed CGI which reaches its zenith during the telekinetic climax. The actors are all on song too; Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt and Jeff Daniels are perfectly cast as a fugitive from the future, a strong-willed mother and a charismatic mob boss respectively, but this is undoubtedly Joseph Gordon-Levitt's show. Playing Willis' younger self, who incidentally is trying to kill his older self (confused yet?), JGL is phenomenal as the arrogant, conflicted protagonist who on the surface is an egotistical prick but over time displays a deeper emotional understanding of how the world works. Epic, compelling, invigorating, thrilling: "Looper" is this and much, much more.
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5 templar crosses out of 5
5 templar crosses out of 5
MUST WATCH!!!
"Looper" is easily one of this generations most unique ideas that will have me thinking for a long time. It is very rare that a film with this much brains can be from this decade, seeing as how much crap has come out recently. So here we are planted in the past, which is still in the future, where people from the past.
The characters are detailed and the story is a mind twisting adventure. Though there may be some logical fallacies within the time traveling portion, the film in whole is wonderful and worth anyone's 10 dollars. Its a fun movie so just sit back and enjoy the show.
TRAILER:
CREDITS:
Directed by Rian Johnson
Produced by Ram Bergman and James D. Stern
Written by Rian Johnson
Music by Nathan Johnson
Bruce Willis as Old Joe
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Young Joe
Emily Blunt as Sara
Paul Dano as Seth
Noah Segan as Kid Blue
Piper Perabo as Suzie
Jeff Daniels as Abe
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The cast is great, especially JGL who has been having a stellar career so far, but the plot it what really kept me interested as it continued to throw twist-after-twist at me, without any confusion whatsoever. It’s a great sci-fi flick that actually makes sense. Good review Brian.
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