Looper Looper Party Pooper

Rating: 2/10 (1 October 2012)

I've read a few of the negative and positive reviews of "Looper" and find myself completely in tune with the negative. After the disappointment that was "Prometheus" I was hoping the Sci-fi action genre would redeem itself with something more entertaining and intelligent.
I'm not going to get into the faults in plot, as they've been recognized and pointed out by other reviewers in this forum: Like the idea of sending the bodies back to prehistoric times where the Rainmaker and his goons don't have to rely on, and pay hit men to dispose of the bodies. Or the idea proposed by another reviewer: killing the guys first, and then sending them back in time.
Anyways, I found it hard to sympathize or empathize with a character who callously kills people in such a coldblooded manner and then dopes up and hits the party circuit; likewise with the way he has no qualms about killing his future self – perhaps if more angst was conveyed, I might have believed it. Early on there was a failed attempt to make him more empathetic when he was conscientious enough to stop his car instead of running over the kid in the street, but it wasn't enough for me.
Speaking of drawing sympathy and empathy, the movie would have benefited if Bruce Willis's wife was more than just a cardboard cutout "revenge inducer". It may have added some emotional meat to the story, but instead, a vacuous montage is served up, as director, Rian Johnson, deems the image of the wife extending her middle figure (flipping the bird), as enough characterization.
Bruce Willis dueling submachine guns near the finale was trite, Piper Perabo's bare torso was nice (not sure what else her character was doing there), and the casting against type with Jeff Daniels as the bad guy was original, albeit a total miscast. "Looper" is a film that combines the wonder of pedestrian cinematography, punctuated by average performances, pointless characters, perfunctory dialogue, and a porous plot.
I have no problem with movies portraying profanity, brutality, nudity, and all the stuff pompous, pretentious, prudes persecute and pretend to hate, but there has to be a purpose and a point. The bottom line with this movie is, like "Prometheus," it was excruciatingly prosaic.