The Bad Path is a Circle

Rating: 7/10 (29 September 2012)

Greetings again from the darkness. Director Rian Johnson (Brick) delivers a very entertaining, thrilling and clever sci-fi film that features time travel, dark comedy, romance, metaphysics, and enough action to keep just about any viewer engaged ... as long as you enjoy using your brain a bit.
Source Code, the recent film from Duncan Jones, used time travel in very limited segments. Here time travel is 30 years into the future and has been declared illegal. So, of course, only crime syndicates use it. When you think about it, sending your enemies back in time to be killed and disposed of is brilliant. It's very difficult to solve these type of crimes ... though, there is no evidence anyone is trying. The future mob boss known as The Rainmaker hires "loopers" from 30 years past to handle the dirty work. When The Rainmaker begins "closing loops", he does so by sending the loopers back in time to be killed by their younger selves. Yes, somehow this works.
Well it works until Seth (Paul Dano) chokes up and lets his future self escape. That doesn't go over well with the modern day crime boss (Jeff Daniels) who just can't allow these future guys to be roaming free. Then, just like that, the same thing happens to Joe (Joseph Gordon Levitt). His future self (Bruce Willis) appears, he flubs the kill, and the next thing you know, the Joe and Old Joe are seated in a booth at a remote diner ordering the same breakfast and staring into their own eyes.
Plenty of fun stuff in this one, although, I had a tough time buying a blond Emily Blunt as a Kansas farmer. Her young son Cid, played by Pierce Gagnon, is one of the more interesting characters in the film. He is supposed to the young version of the future Rainmaker, and he possesses some unusual traits ... with Blunt trying to supply sufficient motherly love to prevent him from spinning off track.
Director Johnson has a knack of tossing in some dark humor at just the right time. Some of the romance seemed a bit forced, but the criminal element and the Joe vs Old Joe stuff was really fascinating to keep up with. If you enjoy movies that are somewhat challenging, and you can suspend reality for the time travel elements, it's one that you'll probably find quite entertaining. (www.MovieReviewsFromTheDark.wordpress.com)