One of the most watchable and enjoyable blockbusters I've seen recently...

Rating: 9/10 (27 August 2013)

The second time travel related movie in two days (see 'Primer'), and I have to be honest, I preferred this one a fair bit more. Yes, it's a lot longer and has a bigger budget, but these weren't the things that made me prefer it. They contributed, but honestly I thought the story was better and that it managed a similar amount of cleverness with much less confusion. It's really well crafted, and one of the most watchable and enjoyable blockbusters I've seen recently.
'Looper' tells the story of Joe, who works as a hit-man in the year 2044, killing off people who are sent back from 2074 in order to remove them cleanly from the future. The first 40 minutes of the film are mostly exposition, and we don't get to the main event (the arrival of Bruce Willis) for a while, but it's still really interesting as we learn how our world is different to theirs. We see lots of poverty, new drugs, the arrival of telekinesis, and it's clear that the film is trying to be both close a reality in some parts, and distant in others. There are no flying cars or anything as extreme as that. The arrival of Bruce Willis is done with an incredibly clever segment, where we see the process through which he first lives those 30 years between Young Joe and Old Joe. It's essentially a display of everything that separates the two characters, as it has happened for one, but is still to come for the other.
Questions are raised that we don't usually get in a time travel film. Does Old Joe know exactly what Young Joe is about to do, because things could change instantly? I really enjoyed the sending of messages from young versions to old through the skin, and thought it worked well as a grizzly method of communication. The rest of the film is very watchable, if slightly slower than the action packed first hour. If I have one problem with the film, it's that it's too long when Joe is staying with Sara, and their eventual night of romance feels very gratuitous.
The climax of the film is very exciting, and lots of great action scenes happen along the way. Bruce Willis does prove that he can still do what he used to do best, and delivers his best performance in years. It's really fun, very smart, and the decision that Joe makes in the final minutes makes for a very satisfying ending.