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Monday, October 22, 2012

Looper (2012): A Matter of Time


Perhaps I was looking forward to this one a bit too much. Looper is, of course, the much anticipated time-travel film from Wunderkind writer-director Rian Johnson [Brick (2005)] starring the rising star Joseph Gordon-Leavitt and established star Bruce Willis, along with the lovely, ever-amazing Emily Blunt. Its time travel hook is more or less a meld of 12 Monkeys (1995) and The Terminator (1984), updated and with a lovely twist at the end. I like this sort of film, I’m a big fan of all three of its stars, and I found Looper engrossing and entertaining. When the lights came up, though, I was a little disappointed. Like I said, my expectations may have been set too high.

The setup [not a spoiler, as we learn most of this in the first five minutes, as a preamble to what comes next]: It’s 2044, time travel has not yet been invented, but it will be by 2074 - when it is immediately banned, and thereafter used primarily by organized crime syndicates as a means to dispose of rivals, ingrates, and whoever else they want to knock off. The victim is bound, hooded, and sent back to 2044, whereupon he’s immediately killed by specialized assassins, called loopers. For the 2074 mob it’s quite efficient, no muss – no fuss. The loopers are paid very well for this service, as well they should be, because eventually they will be called upon to pull the trigger on their older selves, a ritual referred to as “closing the loop,” at which point they are retired and allowed to live out their remaining thirty years of life. Failing to close the loop when the opportunity presents itself is a serious, fatal infraction.

Gordon-Leavitt is a looper named Joe– a young amoral guy, living for the present: sex, drugs, partying … and money. Inevitably, he faces his closing-the-loop moment – and blows it. Joe the elder is Willis, of course, older and wiser, and maybe a little tougher. Knowing what he knows (and I won’t spoil this part), Joe Sr has an agenda to carry out in the past (i.e. in 2044), which has to do with solving a mystery and altering events in order to change the future – his future. Joe Jr is, understandingly, more concerned with his present – he’s in serious (mortal) trouble unless he gets his man, which is to say his older self. This may sound confusing but is well and convincingly laid out in the film.

So … interesting situation. Child is father to the man, and vice versa, with one’s life on the line. Johnson’s script riffs on the paradoxes inherent in the situation humorously at times and dramatically at others. The several scenes with Gordon-Leavitt and Willis facing off with one another are just terrific in this way, especially one at a roadside diner. Both actors are in top form here. (Gordon-Leavitt is fitted with a prosthetic nose bridge and other makeup magic to make him look more plausibly like a younger Willis, and while one may question whether all that was warranted, it definitely works.)

Jeff Daniels has a nice turn as the boss of the loopers, a guy shipped back in time to do this job, who seems to wish he could go back (but can’t), who’s frankly more than a little frustrated dealing with the young, often clueless, and sometimes unreliable crew of dimwad loopers at his disposal, and who rules his menagerie blending paternal advice and the threat of extreme violence.  He gets off one of the funniest lines in the movie and casually steals every scene he’s in.

Blunt plays a young woman living on a sugar cane farm, trying the best she can to raise her somewhat unusual son, and steer clear of trouble. She is lonely and vulnerable, but plays tough. Of course trouble is going to find her anyway. Blunt is always excellent. I never thought of her as a mother before, but she was fully credible in the role of someone whose first priority is to help and protect her child any way she can. The child, played by a little guy named Pierce Gagnon, is pretty amazing, and another scene-stealer. How and why the story winds up at their farm is complicated, and to explain would spoil some of the fun, so you’ll just have to see it to get it.

There’s action, multiple hunters and hunteds, some razzle-dazzle, the obligatory Willis shoot-em-up , human moments, terrible inhuman moments (thankfully brief), and time travel conundrums. There’s even a surprise ending that’s as satisfying as it is unexpected – even though I told you about it. All in all, it’s a solid, worthwhile, entertaining flick.

So why was I disappointed? It may be because I had seen its predecessor, 12 Monkeys, just a couple weeks earlier. And while Looper is quite good, Monkeys was better. Or maybe it was just first. If you’re not inclined to drop the big bucks on a movie theater experience right now, check out my review of 12 Monkeys, and rent that this weekend. Looper will be on DVD in a few months, too.

Looper is in theaters now, in wide release.


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