a sorrowful example of narrative resolution...

Rating: 3/10 (10 January 2013)

Like other reviewers, perhaps I expected too much of this film, which is in its conception a clumsy amalgam of Blade Runner, Terminator, 12 Monkeys, and Carrie.
Yes, this is true.
As an earlier reviewer noted, the first 30 minutes were intriguing, and even though a modicum of reflection would quickly poke holes in the main premise (a future crime syndicate sends undesirables back in time to be whacked by assassins called "loopers"), the action and the novelty of the setting (2042) are enough to distract the view in a pleasant and stimulating fashion.
But then the storyline, after having hinted at some very intriguing intellectual possibilities, begins to introduce deus ex machina by the bushel full to bring the plot to a conclusion that the writer probably thinks is pretty clever.
It is as if the writer, after starting with a strong idea and opening these possibilities, realizes that he doesn't have the answers to the questions he raises, nor even any plausible possible explanations.
Unlike some of the other negative reviewers, with whom I agree for the most part, I'll not belabor the *small* stuff--and there's plenty of it--arguably too much even to list.
But I'll merely mention that while the film starts with a dramatic and shocking scene that is explained in a voice-over narration (the stuff about the future mob, etc.) ala Blade Runner, and every quickly and briefly mentions that things have gone to hell in a handbasket by 2042--oh, and by the way, some of us now have telekinetic powers ("TK")--this introduction to TK is then never mentioned until the last 3rd of the movie, and plays no other role than to be used as a sort of wildcard plot resolution tool.
Got a problem with bad guys who have all the cards and will surely kill the hero and heroine, thus ending the story without a proper dramatic arc? Pull a mini-Vesuvius (TK run amok) out of your writer's Bag o' Tricks and use it to get the main characters from point A to point B in the advancement of the plot.
It's that kind of a movie.