Another mindless time travel film, with more gore

Rating: 2/10 (20 July 2017)

The first movie about time travel was a 1921 silent film of Mark Twain's 1889 novel, "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." But it was H.G. Wells' 1895 novel, "The Time Machine," that brought the idea of time travel to the fore. Interest in time travel movies has ebbed and flowed over the decades since 1921. The BBC's series, "Dr. Who" first appeared in 1963 and ran for 26 seasons through 1989. It has since been revived. A series of three American films, "Back to the Future," were blockbusters in 1985, 1989 and 1990. Numerous individual films about time travel have been made over the years.
But, just as the series and serials have had declining interest and reviews, so have the Hollywood folks run out of ideas for different and interesting plots. The most recent bent seems to be a mix of psychological thrillers with time travel. A spread-out series of three films introduced this sub-genre with "The Terminator" in 1984, 1991 and 2003. These lack much imagination or plot. It's a simple story of someone from the future going back in time to eliminate someone else. With so little substance in the plot, these are mostly huge chase films filled with violence, killing, destruction and other "action."
I give all this prelude to "Looper," because it fits exactly in this mold. It's just a more recent issue of these psycho-sci-fi films with little substance. The writers tried to come up with something different, at the end. But that couldn't save this film. So long as Hollywood has a market for these mindless products, it will probably keep churning them out. And, if all the actors want is huge paychecks, they're probably satisfied. Too bad there are so few films made today in which people can use their acting skills. Or that challenge viewers with good mysteries, clever comedy dialog, or human interest dramas.
As for these fast and furious flicks of nonsense, it doesn't make much difference who the actors are. Just about any kid of 10 years or younger today could act any of these parts. They have daily overdoses of the stuff on their social media electronics and game pods.
Man's interest in flight dates back centuries and eventually led to aviation and air travel. It's anyone's guess who might first have thought about or proposed time travel. But, it will be an endless wait for anyone to be able to invent a machine that can transport a person back in time. When one thinks about it, the prospect is quite absurd. Someone could build a machine the size of a car or van that by it's whirring at supersonic speeds would have the power to pull the entire universe back in time? Or, put another way, to turn the clock back even a split second, let alone a few decades or centuries?
If planet earth lasts long enough, humans may one day travel to Mars or Venus, or to other solar systems. We may one day find ways in science that are unknown today to travel at speeds measured in light- years per year (about six trillion miles) or faster. But there's no direction to go backwards in time.
If you're a cinephile who likes good acting and movies of substance, I recommend that you skip "Looper." I was drawn to it by the build-up and Bruce Willis in a lead role. Since it was in the cheap bin at the store, I thought I'd try it. After a couple of duds like this, I've learned to check prospective movie buys more closely. I can wait until I've vetted a film on IMDb and read some of the reviews and outlines before jumping at good deals.