One of the Best Time Travel Thriller Dramas

Rating: 9/10 (17 January 2019)

30 September 2012. Its hard not to find similarities between this movie and Bruce Willis' previous time travel cult classic, 12 Monkeys (1995) or even if one thinks of The Terminator (1984). There's really no fascinating character like Brad Pitt's Jeffery Goines as in 12 Monkey's, so that acting even though its solid isn't so much the focus as the direction by Rian Johnson who presents the audience with both a cerebral, action, family drama fusion genre. The director goes out of his way to use extended shots with scenes that seem to go on for minutes in order to impregnate them with emotional resonance. And the futuristic set design while perhaps a little heavy handed in the beginning and not too original at first, quickly transforms into its own future vision that nicely captures a vibrant yet understated backdrop to the rest of the movie. And then there is the not so quite brashness of a low self-esteemed looper hotshot who seems to had an obsession to prove himself, that isn't quit in sync with the rest of the movie and perhaps the most unnecessarily used and weakest character.
What makes this time travel movie stand out is the intense emotional connections that both the older Joe (played by Bruce Willis) experiences in the future and the younger Joe (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) experiences in this movie and the difficult universal themes that each character must face. This is not a two-dimensional movie and the director seems to go to great lengths to establish a backstory and character with conflicting feelings (even the brash looper hotshot). There are emotional elements of The Butterfly Effect (2004) along with even the haunting emotional twist as in The Time Machine (1960) or The Final Countdown (1980) as well as a more graphic action elements than Time After Time (1979) or Time Cop (1994). In some ways, the ending has the same emotional impact as Idaho Transfer (1973) starring Peter Fonda.
Overall, this movie is an elevated layered sci fi movie with a conscience that portrays universal themes that offer no real clear cut answers between personal dreams and personal sacrifice, something each of us must discover our own answers in our own way.