Surprisingly surprising...

Rating: 9/10 (29 September 2012)

I'm mostly writing this review because of my husband. He's the type of person that actually likes to read them before he goes to see the movie while I prefer to make up my own mind without any preconceptions or expectations.
If he had known how much gritty violence there was in the Looper, he wouldn't have gone to see it. And there really is quite a lot - from the very beginning you see the main character shoot people he doesn't know for no other reason but the money he gets for it. It's cold and gritty and paints a very bleak picture of the life in the near future. Saying that - I don't think all that violence was gratuitous. I thought it was a very effective tool and I found it more palatable then many less gritty action movies with a higher body count but less realism.
I loved the movie. I thought it was one of the best dystopian movies I've ever seen. It was really more of the psychological thriller with a redemption side story then a straight sci fi.
As I mentioned in my title, it was really surprisingly surprising. Most movies don't offer me anything new these days. They're done 'by the numbers' and you pretty much know within first 20 min how they're going to end. Which is fine too, as long as it's well directed and well acted.
Now Looper is not only well directed and acted, it is also quite original and the twists are imaginative. I don't want to give too many spoilers...
BIG SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!
...but the little boy was absolutely brilliant as the potential monster. I loved how the subject of a person's childhood potentially shaping a whole world's future is realised within this movie.
Really, all the cast was so well chosen and the support cast was just as impressive as the stars. The women were such subtly realised archetypes of a seductress, the good woman that redeems the anti-hero and a mother doing everything for her child. All three of them were beautifully 3 dimensional.
Same with the male characters - though not quite as easy to fit into archetypes.
I would definitely see it again - which, to me, is the ultimate test of quality. The only reason I don't give it 10 out of 10 is that I really would've liked a little more world building, but I do see why that might not have been feasible.
You know - this would make an awesome TV series - so much room for development...