Looper                                                                                                              Movie Review                                                                                                           By: Brad Shawgo

Imagine if you could set at a table across from an older version of yourself. I cannot imagine it being anything less than bizarre. Now, if this setting weren’t already enough, imagine this same scenario but mix in the idea that you have to kill that older version of yourself. Through the use of time travel, Looper presents a scenario similar to the one I just described. Looper is much more than a science fiction film about time travel though, or even confronting a future version of oneself. If one can look past the plot holes and questions that come from a time travel narrative, a much deeper message and an entertaining film can be found.                 

The story places us in the year 2044 in Kansas City, where the mob is using assassins that are referred to as Loopers. The reason they have acquired this title is because the same mob thirty years into the future, using time travel, send the people they choose to kill thirty years into the past so that the Looper can kill them and depose of the body. The reason that this is done in the past is because a tracking device has made it impossible to dispose of someone without anyone finding out. When the mob no longer has a need for a Looper, they send the older version of the Looper to its younger self to be disposed of. This is referred to as “closing the loop”, a measure taken by the mob to prevent any loose ends. The day comes when Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a Looper from 2044, is required to ‘close the loop’ on himself’. When he sees himself appear in front of him, he hesitates, allowing Old Joe (Bruce Willis) to escape.        

This causes Young Joe, along with other men from the mob who are referred to as Gat Men, to search for Old Joe, who happens to be on a mission of his own. The same Gat Men who are looking for him, killed his wife, captured him, and sent him back in time to be killed. Since he is from thirty years in to the future, he is aware that the mob is led by the Rainmaker, who is described as one of the most horrific of people, for both causing havoc and closing all the loops. Old Joe believes that if he can prevent the Rainmaker, who is just a child in the year 2044, from growing up and taking power, his wife will not be killed and he will also save several others in the process. Old Joe has acquired the birth date of the Rainmaker along with the name of hospital he was born. Unfortunately for Old Joe, there was more than one child born on that day at that hospital, giving him three possible children who could possibly be the Rainmaker. Old Joe comes to the difficult decision that he must find all three children and kill them. Old Joe has these coordinates in his pocket and in one of their encounters, Young Joe somehow tears one of the coordinates off of the paper that they are on. This takes Young Joe to a farm house outside of the city inhabited by a woman named Sara (Emily Blunt) and her young son Cid (Pierce Gagnon). With the help of Sara, Young Joe figures out what Old Joe’s plans are and is now forced to protect Cid from Old Joe.                                                                            

Director Rian Johnson creates a fast pace and intriguing first act. The audience is introduced to a run down, near apocalyptic back drop of the world that 2044 has to offer. The bleak conditions and ruthless mob paint a dark picture of the future. Most importantly, Joe is introduced along with a satisfying explanation of what a Looper is and how they operate. In this introduction, Gordon-Levitt as Young Joe is explaining everything through voice over. This is when the script is at its best and enhances an already solid opening. Not long after this, Old Joe is introduced in an eye catching sequence that does a nice job of explaining Young Joe becoming Old Joe also adding depth to the character. At the conclusion of this sequence, Young Joe meets Old Joe and at the same time, the film seems to meet a wall as its pace slows down tremendously for a second act that comes nowhere close to meeting not only the opening act’s tempo but also its level of meaningful substance. It was a challenge to stay attentive during this stretch of the film and if wasn’t for the first thirty minutes playing so well, I would of have given up all care of what was going to happen next. There are a few scenes in the film’s middle that offer pointless dialogue along with scenes that are out of place or unnecessary, keeping the film from moving forward. With that said though, the second act does not derail the film as there are moments that support the third act that, all things considered, eventually leading to a satisfying ending.                   

Looper is far from a performance based film. No role is intended to out shine the films premise along with the narrative that comes with it and none of them do. With that said though, Looper’s performances do nothing to hurt the film. Over the past few years, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt have been two of the best in their line of work as they have turned in solid performances, showing range in the process. In this film, both continue giving quality performances as both fill their roles well. As Sara’s relationship to Cid becomes a major aspect of the plot, Blunt is able to display the love a mother has for her child and how powerful it can be which is a necessity for the role. As Young Joe, I cannot say that Gordon-Levitt knocks his impersonation of Bruce Willis out of the park but that doesn’t mean it is a bad performance. Young Joe is bitter towards the job he has and the situation he becomes a part of, something that is seen in every aspect of Gordon-Levitt’s performance. Willis’s performance and the character he plays are also noteworthy. The motives of Old Joe and the life he has had causes the character to be the most fascinating one of the film and Willis holds his own in the part as he shows something that we don’t see often from a performance of his: emotion.                          

With time travel playing a major role in Looper’s plot, many questions can be asked. If this happens in the past, why isn’t it like this in the future? If he did this in the past, why is he a part of the future? If he is from the future, where is his present self? The questions can go on and at times can add confusion to a somewhat already unstable premise. If one can look past these questions, one will find a much deeper meaning. Looper doesn’t just look at how are own past effects our future individually but how it effects an entire society. It does this through looking at the importance of our society’s youth and how the raising and development of our youth in the present affects the future. As repetitive and sappy as it may sound, we as members of the present society have the responsibility of taking interest in our youth so that not just their own future is impacted for the better but society as a whole is positively affected. Looper succeeds in giving this message in an intriguing, cinematic way.

Grade: B