Excellent Film

Rating: 9/10 (30 September 2014)

In the year 2044, the world is in shambles. Poverty rates have skyrocketed, crime rate has increased, and around 10% of the population have a small genetic mutation that allows them to telekinetically move small objects. Thirty years into the future, time travel is invented and immediately outlawed. However, organized crime has taken advantage of this new technology as a way to easily get rid of bodies in secret, as it is essentially impossible to dispose a body in the future. As targets are sent back in time to what is present day and "Loopers" are given a specific time as to when the targets are to appear. The loopers kill the target who is tied up with a bag over his or her heads with a blunderbuss, take the silver bars attached on the victims back, and dispose of the body. When the looper is no longer needed, the mob ends their working relationship by sending back the loopers future self-back for them to kill, thus "completing the loop." The story follows Joe, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a looper whose future self, played by Bruce Willis, manages to escape and causes turmoil trying to avenge the death of his wife. Future Joe attempts to find and kill the new mob boss, dubbed "The Rainmaker", who is currently a ten year old boy living nearby. The Rainmaker has been closing all loops still open and the future Joe is trying to stop him from ever becoming the mob boss in order to save his wife. Things easily get out of hand quickly, and Joe struggles to keep his future self from murdering a seemingly innocent child at the time. This thriller has amazing cinematography and special effects, an intriguing storyline, great acting, and will have you on the edge of your seat for the entire film, even holding back tears at the end.
Looper embeds the futuristic ideas of time-travel with all the elements of an action thriller and a drama all into one. The film is expertly written from where the film intertwines a love story and drama into an action packed sci-fi thriller. The movie is filled with a celebrated cast, whose acting brings the audience closer into the story as if they were one of the characters. Different from most action movies, Looper provokes the viewer to delve deeper into what makes humans decide to act the way they do and how their actions change what occurs in the future.
Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Looper features a complex yet alluring plot aided by the cinematography from Steve Yedlin. Although the storyline is difficult to follow at times, the screenplay brings up many questions that are left up to the viewer to be answered. Since the technology of time travel is still too complex, Johnson did an amazing job making sure that time travel followed its own rules and could be properly interpreted by the viewer and because every time someone is sent back into the past, it may affect those in the future, the characters never know if or how their actions would change the timelines in front of them. In Looper, Johnson creates a myriad of timelines that constantly change with each different action.Many different scenes in the movie makes the audience think as to why humans make the decisions they do. Since the basis of the movie has to do with time travel, Looper is effective in showing how the human species deal with these types of decisions. Yedlin worked with Johnson to make this concept more understandable, and draw the viewer into the story with many different camera moves and shots that makes the viewer feel as though they are in the movie, dealing with some of the same problems as the characters.
The characters cast in Looper comprised of a star studded cast featuring names including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, and Jeff Daniels. The acting in Looper is what really contributed to the films positive reception. Since Bruce Willis was playing an older version of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Johnson was able to train both Willis and Gordon-Levitt to act with the same mannerisms and physical qualities one would have with their older self. The film was also effective in changing the looks of the older Joe whenever anything happened to the present Joe, as the timeline changes constantly. Although the "Rainmaker " was never shown as his future self, he was played in present day as a young 10 year old boy, played by Pierce Gagnon. Especially for an actor younger than ten years old, Gagnon did a terrific job in portraying the dark and twisted mind of the young "Rainmaker." Although the storyline may not end up the same as that of the older Joes timeline, the film will test the limits of your emotions and leave you begging for more.
This film brings the best of both an explosion filled action movie and a heart wrenching drama. Not only does the acting and cinematography of the film bring the viewer closer and more involved into the story line, but also the premise itself will leave the audience questioning how humanity decides what actions to take and how it affects his or her lives in the future. This film is a must watch and deserves to be rated a nine out of ten.