Fun, but there wasn't enough thought put into its premise

Rating: 7/10 (30 September 2012)

The third film from the director of Brick and The Brothers Bloom. This is Johnson's first big Hollywood film, and I had a hope he would make a revolutionary science-fiction picture that would blow every summer blockbuster out of the water. Alas, that's not how it's gone down, but Looper is certainly a fun sci-fi thriller. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as a mob hit-man known as a Looper, whose job it is to whack victims sent back from 30 years in the future (why this has to be done is hastily and unsatisfactorily explained by JGL in voice-over). Every looper knows that one day he will have to kill the future version of himself, for which deed he will be compensated enough to live comfortably for the rest of his life. When it's JGL's turn, though, his future self, played by Bruce Willis, gets the better of him and escapes, and the mob is after them both. Time travel is one of the hardest science-fiction concepts to deal with, but there are just a handful of great time travel stories. I don't think this is one of them. For as smart as Johnson came off with Brick and The Brothers Bloom, the time travel premise seems like it should be far smarter. But whenever they try to explain the concept, the characters always say something like "it's cloudy" or "it's hazy." Johnson's superior visual sense isn't much present here, either. It's a well directed film, for sure, but it's nothing amazing. With all of my complaints, I will say, even if I was disappointed, I was entertained. It's a fun picture. I just wish it weren't directed by Rian Johnson. Acting honors go to Emily Blunt and Jeff Daniels. Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis are both fine, though I did think that JGL was a little busy trying to impersonate Willis.