Has its moments but mostly it is ideas without cohesion, flow or spark

Rating: Null/10 (6 January 2013)

Looper was compared (by some, but not many) to The Matrix and Inception in terms of it being a smart film supposedly based on ideas and, to a point I suppose it is. The plot sees hit men recruited in the near future to kill and dispose of people the mob want out of the way; the twist being that these hit men exist many years before the hits need doing and the mob are sending the victims back to be killed and disposed of because in their future getting rid of bodies is apparently very difficult. These hit men are very well paid but, at some point they will do a final contract – their futures selves – at which point they are well paid off and allowed to life out the rest of their lives until the point where they become that person who is sent back to be killed. When Joe is sent back to be killed by himself though, he has other plans, sparking a race to change the future and the present.
It sounds like it could have been a smart film but unfortunately the delivery from concept to filming is lacking. In terms of the ideas it is important not to think too hard about them or else the wheels will immediately fall off – even the idea that mob would have a time machine but not be using it for many other better ideas is one, but there are many others. The story unfolds with messy coincidence and a real lack of cohesion with many ideas and tones banging up against each other in a way that doesn't work – the film never seems to settle into a rhythm or flow and it is quite hard to watch as it is so uneven. I was surprised by how little spark there was to it as well – the filming style seems to be deliberately slow and moody, but the material doesn't support this approach, meaning that the unintended consequence is that the story seems lethargic and quite dull. It still has its moments but mostly it bored me.
The characters and actors don't help. I understand why they wanted Gordon-Levitt to look as much like Willis as possible, but, as impressive as the transformation is, it is endlessly distracting – and considering how much more disbelief I was being asked to suspend by the rest of the film, I don't think it would have been a massive stretch to accept him as he is. The transformation into Willis also hurts Gordon-Levitt's performance as it is so much impersonation that he loses the character; it is excellent in terms of impersonation of mannerisms, tone and the like but there is no character here. Willis doesn't present one either and is so-so. Blunt is more interesting and at least has more to do than Perabo, although the latter will be more memorable to some viewers.
Looper has some good ideas in here but they are presented without much cohesion, flow or spark. The tone of the film is all over the place and it never really got me engaged as it should have done and the manner of the ending suggests they had that as their first idea and sort of pieced it backwards from there. It is a very average film at best.