RaTKiN's Movie Rants: LOOPER

Rating: 8/10 (25 November 2012)

"I don't want to talk about time travel, because if we start talking about it then we're going to be here all day talking about it, making diagrams with straws." - Old Joe (Bruce Willis) -
In 2044, time travel has not yet been invented. But thirty years from then, it will have been. However, time travel will be outlawed right away. Only crime syndicates will actually use the technology for a very specific purpose. It will be absolutely impossible to kill anyone in 2074 due to advanced tracking/tagging technology, so they'll instead send their victims thirty years into the past for them to be killed on the spot in 2044 by the titular "loopers". These are people in 2044 that are aware of this mind-boggling scheme, and are hired as assassins by the syndicates in 2074. Sh*t starts hitting the fan when looper Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) sees his older self (Bruce Willis) being spawned in front of him and fails to kill him...
You probably already knew this movie involves time travel, even mimicking some elements seen in The Terminator at a certain point, but as Bruce Willis' and Jeff Daniels' characters so aptly mention, it doesn't want to linger on the specifics of it (and I will follow the movie's example in this review). It also doesn't try to overly explore its futuristic setting. The world is depicted as a dystopian high-tech/low-life place, without focusing too much on it.
All this means the movie offers no foolproof explanation for its own time travel logic, and you WILL be left with a lot of questions and theories that might just fry your brain. Writer-director Rian Johnson instead asks his viewers to bear with its logic, just like he did in a way with his quirky high school film noir Brick(2005). Your enjoyment of Looper will depend heavily on your willingness to do so.
On the other hand, this approach prevents the movie from being riddled with too much physics lingo and actually frees up screen time for plot and character development. This was clearly a thoughtful and deliberate choice by Rian Johnson, for which I sincerely wish to applaud him. In short, the ideas about time travel do form the premise of the film, but they are NOT what Looper is about. Instead, they are used as a tool in order to raise some interesting questions in regard to the main character Joe and the (differing) choices his younger and older self make. Old Joe will have experienced certain life-altering and character-changing events, while young Joe is obviously unaware of them or has no emotional connection to them. In this sense, the movie is a time-spanning character study of two film noir anti-heroes who are basically the same and yet simultaneously very different.
In other words, when Looper's end credits roll you will realize the story has gone in a completely different direction than the one it started out with. (I really can't go any deeper into this, as it would spoil a lot of the surprise for you.) In fact, the plot swings out into all kinds of unpredictable directions throughout the entire movie. This unwillingness to provide some form of "easy" narrative grip to the audience might make some very nervous indeed. Others will revel in its unpredictability and be mesmerized by its many surprising shifts. Again, your willingness to go with the flow will be decisive for your enjoyment of the film.
Stylistically, Looper had more of a neo-noir than a futuristic cyberpunk vibe to it, at least that's how I experienced it. It's beautifully shot and for most of the time doesn't intend to distract from the film's content. It's certainly no case of style over substance. The movie's pacing is also more akin to a typical film noir, than to an action-packed science fiction blockbuster. There is certainly some great action, but it is used rather sparsely and only when it matters most.
The acting was very good overall and remains credible and convincing throughout. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is made to look like a younger version of Bruce Willis through the use of make-up prosthetics, expertly crafted by Kazuhiro Tsuji. It is never ever apparent Joseph is wearing any. It seems like the character is played by an actor we haven't seen before, but kind of looks like both Joseph and Bruce. It's never ridiculous and it never distracts. Joseph even manages to give his character a certain Bruce Willis vibe, which is then (almost uncannily) mirrored by The Bruce himself. It's a great duo of characters that don't seem to know how to behave to one another. Emily Blunt portrays a likable supporting character, convincingly shifting between "I'ma whoop yo ass if you don't behave!" to a sweet young mother acting out of a sense of responsibility and love.
However, one character literally made me smile from ear to ear at times because of his performance. Pierce Gagnon, who plays the absolutely intriguing and intelligent Cid, has to be one of the best child-actors I have ever witnessed on screen. He does so well, it actually sometimes feels as if his character is an adult trapped in an 8 year old's body. Whenever he stares into someone's eyes, you would swear he can pierce their soul and read their inner thoughts. I won't spoil anything, but know this reviewer got goosebumps several times because of the way this character is written AND performed. Really stunning stuff!
It's an original and refreshing movie with a premise that will make you think, and then without constantly shoving all sorts of (meta)physical mumbo-jumbo down your throat, but instead focusing on character, will lead into an ending that will make you feel. If you are willing to take its internal logic on time travel for granted, you will probably enjoy Looper.
8/10 !