"Time travel has not yet been invented but 30 years
from now, it will have been." Thus begins the movie LOOPER, a science
fiction action film that takes on time travel in a different way than most. The
movie starts just a few years from now and people from the future have become
involved in the present. With no way for future gangsters to dispose of people
they send them back in time to be killed and disposed of. The people in our
time who do this job are known as loopers.
Loopers wait at a designated area and time. When the
intended shows up, they shoot them, wrap them up and then take the body to a
burning disposal unit. They are paid well to do the job and down the line must
eventually kill their own future self with a higher paid out at that time.
Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is one of the best loopers. He
follows instructions and never looks back, making plans to one day travel to
France when he retires. His friend Seth (Paul Dano) isn't quite as well groomed
for the job. Seth shows up at Joe's house one night on the run. It turns out
that his latest victim was his future self and he let him escape. Now the
gatmen (those armed with revolvers instead of the blunderbuss that Loopers use)
are tracking him down to eliminate both him and his future self.
Joe gives them an assist rather than find himself on the bad
end of a bullet and continues on his way. The victims keep coming back but then
Joe finds himself in the same shoes as Seth. The future Joe (Bruce Willis) is
now in his sites but he hesitates. That's all it takes for future Joe to make
an escape and leave current Joe on the run for his life. Trying to set things
straight by killing future Joe won't be easy since your current strategy is all
past history to him.
Current and future Joes meet at a diner they both love to
get things straight. For current Joe to survive he must kill his future self.
But future Joe lets him know that things aren't what they seem. Not only will
his life change for the better but someone close to him will die if he doesn't
change the past. On top of that a crime boss in the future is having all the
loopers disposed of from the future so he will stand unopposed. Only finding
this man in the past and killing him will set things in the future right.
Both are bound and determined to get their own way. Future
Joe wants to save the world and his true love. Current Joe doesn't care, he
just wants to survive. But as the film progresses both men learn something
about the world and about themselves.
As the gatmen try to track them both down they take two
divergent paths to try and affect things. Future Joe is searching for the child
who will become the future criminal mastermind. When he does he will kill him.
But a part of the map he made ended in the hands of current Joe who sets out to
protect the child and at the same time finish his looper contract.
The map leads him to a remote farmhouse where he finds Sara
(Emily Blunt) and her son Cid (Pierce Gagnon). Could this be the threat to the
world of the future? Joe doesn't know but he does know that his future self
will eventually end up here with the intent to kill. And the only one Joe wants
to see dead is his future self.
Don't let it fool you this isn't as complicated as it might
seem. What it is is a dynamite sci-fi thriller that keeps you guessing from the
start and doesn't let go until almost the last minute of the film. There are no
easy answers here just as there are none in life. The story that seems simple
yet becomes more complex with each passing minute is one that will hold your
interest and never let go.
The acting here is amazing. Gordon-Levitt has the mannerisms
of Willis down pat. He's become an actor that is bound for more amazing roles
and performances and this one just adds to his list. Willis could perform this
role without breaking a sweat and he does a great job here. Blunt is good as
always, giving those subtle nuances a twist to make her character deeper than
one would expect.
Some would say that this is nothing more than a TERMINATOR
rehash without robots but they would be wrong. There is more going on with
these characters than in that film. There is a deeper meaning to the lives
being lived and changed here. And by the end of the film there will perhaps be
just a touch of humanity worth saving.
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