"This time travel crap, just fries your brain like an egg". Rian Johnson really make a point with this phrase!

Rating: 10/10 (16 April 2013)

For how long did the world had a good science-fiction film? Well, Nolan's "Inception" is a masterpiece and technically speaking it is a sci-fi. Then in 2012 Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" came and it was despised by the public. But it was never easy to make a good sci-fi film, because it always approached over the years many different tones and genres ("Alien"-Horror, "Star Wars"-Fantasy, "Blade Runner"-Action and Philosophy). And then Rian Johnson, director-screenwriter from the school thriller "Brick" and the "comedy" "The Bloom Brothers", with "Looper" not only made the best sci-fi of 2012 but also one of the best of its kind.
"Looper" is located at the future in 2044 where time travel has not been invented. But it will be in the year of 2074 and will start to be used by the most dangerous criminal minds in the world. Where when they want to get rid of a rival or someone, they send that person back in time where will be eliminated by assassins called "Loopers" which from each death they will be rewarded with silver or gold, because technically speaking the death never happened. One of these Loopers is called Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a young selfish that drug-acted that have fun all night after another job well done. One day when he is about to close another job, he discovers that his new target it is his older-self (Bruce Willis). When Joe is about to "Kill-himself" the Old Joe manages to escape, and if any Looper let his target escape he also will be hunted down and killed. Now Joe has to find his older self and kill him avoiding his own death. But Joe barely knows the dark secrets that his older self from the future brings.
What Rian Johnson made so special in Looper? Mainly because while "Looper" can be quite original and unique. Johnson builds a credible and even possible future with poverty and corruption reigning (and also most of the population still use cars and only some use flying motorbikes). Also managing to join several clichés of time travel films from "The Terminator" to "12 Monkeys". That is, a possible frightening and terrifying future with a big twist in the film.
Not just clichés of time travel that Rian Johnson brings to Looper, but as I said before, science-fiction has always had many different genres and Rian Johnson knows that. Putting in the movie good old fashioned action (bloody violent and awesome as hell), but also dramatic moments when Joe meets Sara (Emily Blunt) and her son Cid (Pierce Gagnon). And also elements of Western with the Loopers (bounty-killers using revolvers and weird-awesome shotguns). Along with dark and violent moments, especially when Old Joe starts to show his true motives.
All this comes with a superb screenplay written by Johnson himself. The writing seems a mixture of Michael Mann with Tarantino and Joss Whedon. This means, long but never get boring well-paced dialogs, raising in them several different topics related to the history and making all characters relevant in the story. Speaking of characters, all of them are very well built and are part of the great genius that Johnson put in the movie. Mainly because there is no good vs. evil here, Joe shows to be really selfish in various situations, and the Old Joe shows several reasons for what he is doing.
But what they all have in common is fantastic performances: since Emily Blunt (great) to Paul Dano (which unfortunately barely appears in the film); Bruce Willis finally after a time with horrible action movies (except for "Red") showing that he can be a excellent actor; Levitt.....well I don't even know if that's Joseph Gordon – Levitt. Or Rian Johnson has a time machine and he went in the past and asked Bruce Willis in his 30s to act in the film, or that is an excellent blend of makeup and contact lenses or a MAGNIFICENT performance from Levitt.
"Looper" is succeeds not only for its great originality, but also by the use of various genres and tones that science fiction films always approached by mixing together clichés of previous films. All thanks to a superb script, great direction and excellent cast, with a great genius since the beginning to the "mind blowing" end, "Looper" it was not only one of the best films of 2012 but it can be one of the best sci - fi movies ever made.
10/10