Time travel adventures tend to be a tough bunch to roll through. The concepts of changing history, running into oneself in the past or future, the ripple of the butterfly effect in the timeline, the disastrous effects of a paradox, and of course, what shape does the time machine take? A plutonium powered DeLorean? A blue ’60s style British Police Box? Or why the hell not, how about skipping through time in a hot tub?
Thankfully, Looper manages to get a substantial amount right in concept, execution, and presentation, putting it high on the horse in its handling of time travel. These kind of films are dissected ad nauseam by critics and fan boys alike, whether its on the scientific aspects of it all, or to see if it manages to makes any logistical and plausible sense. Some films execute the concept with a grain of salt, Looper does not.
The one-dimensional ads don’t do justice to this high-concept cat and mouse sci-fi chase. The commercials rely on simply hooking you in on Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a futuristic hit man (a “Looper”), being faced with the unexpected assignment of executing his future self, who is sent back to the past, and played by Bruce Willis. Frankly Looper goes above and beyond that on multiple levels, and soars beyond being a simple cause and effect time travel movie.
What works incredibly well in director/screenwriter Rian Johnson’s film is his investment in moody visuals and rich character development. Nobody in the impressive cast is shortchanged for a meaty part with plenty of depth written into their character.
Looper sucks you in from the get-go with a quick grisly attention grabbing opening scene which brilliantly sets both the stage and tone for the film. Another brilliant sequence follows Levitt for thirty years as he lives out his life of drug fueled violence as a gangster, which leads right up to the point where his older Joe (Bruce Willis) is sent into to past to be killed by younger Joe (Levitt).
To attempt a better plot explanation. In 2072, time travel is illegal and carried out only by the mob in secret. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Joe, a Looper in 2044, who is hired by said mob to kill vagrants on a clean slate by sending them tied and blindfolded into the past where their bodies have no record. This simple straightforward lucrative job for Levitt’s Joe is thrown out the window one day when he looks into the eyes of his latest kill, and they are his own. It turns out Joe’s employers have decided to close his loop, which means sending his 30 years future self back in time to be killed by his younger counterpart. Bruce Willis’ Older Joe manages to elude execution and attempts to carry out a multifaceted plan that will have major repercussions on preventing a dystopian future. And go…
Why do you need to see Looper? Let’s start with the performances. Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives a star worthy performance as the young Bruce Willis. It’s hard to figure out where prosthetics meet the subtle CGI which assist Levitt’s morph job, but none of it takes away from the old school homage to Willis he physically and convincingly pulls off throughout the film. It’s a performance that eerily mirrors Willis’ facial mannerisms so much you wish you could forget the actual decades younger Bruce from Moonlighting and Die Hard.
These days Willis can phone in a performance and simply chalk it up to Bruce just playing Bruce (Cop Out anyone?). But here he plays Bruce the way Bruce is best played: some parts Pulp Fiction’s Butch, some parts 12 Monkeys’ James Cole, and this makes one bad ass role whose ultimate, overall, and driving motives force you to wonder if he is the hero or villain of the thick story line laid down. Older Joe is a character whose motives in his past border between simply self serving and heroic, and to attain his objective, he must persevere through heart wrenching and reprehensible actions. Willis has lot to work with here, and he knocks the role out of the ballpark.
Emily Blunt as Sara factors in when the film switches pace gears from its brisk opening hour to a grinding halt in its Witness-esque mid-section. But it’s the relationship and subplot developed between Gordon-Levitt’s Joe, Sara, and her ten year old son Cid (Pierce Gagnon), that gives the center the movie it’s heart. The film builds upon that relationship until its threatened for the sake of the greater good, or what could be perceived as the greater good.While the film generously grabs some of the best aspects of The Terminator, Back To The Future, 12 Monkeys, and even Akira, Johnson’s solid screenplay manages to meld it all together into a moody fresh take. As far as its view on time travel, Looper cleverly takes mostly a direct cause and effect when events in the past effect the future, or even people from the future now living in their own ‘past.’
To seriously over analyze or logistically dissect Looper would take away the thought provoking character driven originality the film deserves. As a time travel concept snob, I did myself a disservice in the theater by over thinking the grand scheme of it all. Trying to figure out all the possible twists and turns that you should’t be trying to figure out, not the way to go. Its a thinkers movie without question, but let it all flow and sink in as it moves along.
Looper succeeds as a gritty no-nonsense tense mind bender, and pulls no punches in some imagery that may not sit well with everyone. But there are plenty of terrific action sequences, a fantastic supporting cast, well executed drama, and the film isn’t afraid to take the edge off a truly tense moment with a little humor every now and again. But its also satisfying that Looper will also stand tall among the notable entries of time travel films.
Looper opens in theaters on Friday, September 28th.
REVIEW RATING: ★★★½★★
Directed By: Rian Johnson
Starring: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Piper Perabo, Jeff Daniels
Studio: Sony Picture
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 119 minutes
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