Looper

Rating: 8/10 (7 October 2012)

I saw the trailer for this film and thought it didn't really look like something I would necessarily see in the cinema and could wait until DVD, but then I heard more good reviews, including a five star out of five rating by critics, so I had to see whether it deserved it and would indeed by a good film. Basically it is the year 2044 in the economically collapsed United States, organised crime has increased and mutation has occurred in 10% of the population, giving people telekinetic powers, and thirty years in the future, 2074, time travel has been invented but immediately outlawed, and with tracking devices in people mean it is near impossible to dispose of bodies secretly. Crime bosses in the future therefore leave instructions for organised assassins known as "loopers" in the past; a person the crime bosses want dead in sent by time travel back to 2044 and the looper kills them and takes the silver bars strapped to the victim as payment, and the body is easily disposed, and when looper's have their contract ended the crime bosses send their future self to be killed by their younger self, this is "closing the loop", not doing this they will be killed. Joe Simmons (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) works for a mafia company in 2044 as a looper, with Abe (Jeff Daniels) from the future as his boss and the owner of a club that Joe often visits showgirl Suzie (Piper Perabo), as well as managing the loopers Abe also runs the hire muscle the "Gat Men", one being desperate to prove himself and unstable Kid Blue (Noah Segan). One night Seth (Paul Dano), Joe's friend and fellow looper, admits that he was supposed to close his own loop and kill his future self, but he hesitated and let his future self escape, he also mentions a mastermind in the future called the Rainmaker who has overtaken organised crime and is closing all loops, Joe tried to protect Seth, but changes his mind and betrays him and gives away half of his silver bars to Abe. Joe is sent to kill his next target, but he hesitates when his victim is not wearing a hood to cover his identity and sight, and he recognises it is his future self, he lets Old Joe (Bruce Willis) escape, but the two encounter each other again in a café where Old Joe explains the Rainmaker sent him back in time to be killed and that his wife was killed and he wants revenge. Old Joe killed his captors and purposely travelled back in time to kill the Rainmaker while he is still a child, but of course killing someone in the past instead of from the future could have severe consequences in the world, so Joe does try to stop and kill his future self, but they are attacked by the Gat Men, but Joe manage to tear off a crucial piece off of a map in Old Joe's possessions, marking locations and digits. Joe follows this map to the location he tore off, and he ends up at a farmhouse where single mother Sara (Emily Blunt) lives with her son Cid (Pierce Gagnon), he shows her the map and she is shocked to recognise the digits as the birthday and serial number of the hospital where Cid was born, he explains about being a looper and about the Rainmaker, and Old Joe meanwhile is following the digits for two other children born one the same day and in the same hospital so he can kill them. As Joe stays with the mother and child, he and Sara, who he learns is telekinetic, and that Cid was raised by her sister most of his life until she died, and because of this he does not believe she is his mother, and worse is when he shows his extraordinary power when they are attacked by Gat Man Jesse (Garret Dillahunt) and lets out a telekinetic blast in a moment of pain and anger. Joe is sure that Cid is the Rainmaker, and Sara explains that the boy lost control of his power and killed her sister, meanwhile Old Joe is caught by Kid Blue, but he manages to break free, killing Abe and all the Gat Men apart from Kid Blue, and he starts making his way to last of the children he located on the map. Joe urges Sara and Cid to flee, he is sure that Old Joe or his employers will find them, and soon enough the two Joes confront each other again near the farmhouse, where Kid Blue also shows up to attack Old Joe, only to end up killed by the vengeful future man. Cid lets out another powerful telekinetic blast when Old Joe tries to catch and kill him, Sara calms him down and finally convinces him she is his real mother, Old Joe approaches them again to kill the boy, but she stands in his way, Joe realises that if he kills Sara it will cause Cid to indeed become the Rainmaker and create a closed time loop, so in the end he sacrifices himself, saving Sara and Cid and erasing both Joe and Old Joe from existence. Also starring Summer Qing as Old Joe's Wife and Frank Brennan as Old Seth. The stars of this film are definitely Gordon-Levitt and Willis playing the same character from the past and the future with gusto and grit, and Blunt does well with an American accent and being feisty, the story is clever mixing the "time continuum" concept, making you think about how changes in history will effect things to come, it is only a little complex at times, but it is a refreshing science-fiction action film. Very good!