Release date: September 28, 2012 

Face your future. Fight you past.

Sitting in the cinema, I couldn’t quite put my finger on the exact details of JG-L’s Willis-esque transformation until he turned to the side. Damn that honker has a steep drop-off. I never noticed the odd shape of Bruce Willis’ nose until they slapped that sucker onto someone else’s face.

Looper, written and directed by Rian Johnson, who has blessed us with The Brothers Bloom and a couple of episodes of Breaking Bad; stars Bruce “The schnoz” Willis, Joseph “I’m gonna go bald, but I will be in every film until 2020” Gordon-Levitt, Emily “Frost” Blunt, Jeff Daniels and Pierce “Old man name” Gagnon.

Looper takes place in the very near future of 2044. A future where not too much has changed in the world. Cars still look very similar, there are flying motorcycles and some individuals have developed TK – Telekinetic powers. Most of the TK people are merely able to levitate coins in their hands. Even fewer people, are aware that time travel will be invented in the 2070’s. It will be immediately outlawed, being used by crime syndicates to eliminate people. They send their targets back 30 years to be killed and disposed of, because doing so in the future is almost impossible without getting caught. Gordon-Levitt plays young-Joe; a paid killer for the future crime bosses. He was hired by Abe who is played by Jeff Daniels. Abe is sent back from the future to organize the men hired to pull the trigger for the future. Eventually young-Joe is tasked with offing his future-self, which proves to be harder both psychologically and physically than expected.

WHAT WORKED:

– The story! Rian Johnson does an amazing job of crafting a brilliant world where with the exception of people developing TK powers seems all to realistic. He takes the audience as deep as they need to go when explaining time travel without frying your brain like an egg. Unlike Doctor Who, where time is non-linear, non-subjective and is more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly time-y wimey… stuff; this universe’s time is all related and linear. What young-Joe does to his body, like shooting off a chunk of his ear, effects old-Joe’s body even in the present.

– The writing. Much props fly by the way of Johnson again. He knew when to be serious, sad, angry and even funny with this flick. There were a few times when the entire cinema let off some knee-slapping chuckles. I might have enjoyed one or two bald jokes at the expense of old-Joe/Bruce Willis, but then again there might have been a little too much on young-Joe’s mind.

– The look. For a scifi fantasy flick like Back To The Future, I can sit back and enjoy the fact that they believed we’d have self tying shoes and hover-boards by 2012. However, I really enjoy the fact that Looper looks 32 years into the future and even with see-through phones, the world doesn’t look all too different.

– The pacing. This film sits at 118 minutes. But it doesn’t feel as if you’re sitting in the same spot for two hours. It takes you on a ride that’s a tiny bit slow to gain traction, but chugs along well the rest of the ride home.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK:

– I’m gonna get shit on for this, but I don’t have a 50/50 heading in my reviews. The make-up/CGI on Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s face. I know the purpose was to make him look more like Bruce Willis so that people would accept that they are in-fact one and the same. But just like everything is CGI and there is no longer any room for practical effect in hollywood, they messed with JGL’s visage. Don’t get me wrong, it’s amazing. It’s a great job. You can’t tell it was altered if you don’t know what JGL really looks like. But hot-damn-Batman, That nose that sits on Willis’ face really should stay there, only on his face.

THE LOWDOWN:

– This film raises many questions about morals, and how technology alters them. Combining all these actors who brought what we expect of them, with the genius of Rian Johnson, you get an awesome flick that rocks your socks. Looper is a must watch whether your flavour is scifi, action or drama.

Looper is Verified Awesome!