Looper (2012)

Looper seems like it's inspired by Philip K. Dick's several works. It's a Sci-Fi story that is set in the future with a quite interesting concept. The ads shows this as a typical nonstop action film. Surprisingly, it's much better than anyone would expect. It's actually a mind blowing film that tells an unpredictable story and has a great amount of thrills. The performances are strong and the directing is solid. Unlike most modern Sci-Fi films they depend on the action and the explosions. Looper is all about letting the audience intrigue all the way on the concept.

The important thing you should expect in this film is the brilliance of the concept than the action. Yeah, there's fighting and gunfights but it's mostly about the idea. The film tells it in a stylish and mind boggling way which makes it compelling. The story development is clever. The first half lets the viewers root for the film's world until the plot twists. It's great when a scene suddenly becomes confusing then it all make sense afterwards. Aside of its storytelling, Joseph Gordon-Levitt did a great job playing the young version of Bruce Willis as he imitates Willis' accent and gruffness. He still plays the role with his own style. Gordon-Levitt is energetic and striking. The rest of the cast are excellent.

The production design is decent. Its futuristic world looks magnificent and their weaponry looks awesome. The camera-work is one of the merits of the film. It makes the action look stylish and brings cool vertigo to the trippy moments. Every shot of the film is impressive. The most interesting one is when Joe was in the fields, you prominently see a cloud trail on the sky remarking the scene. The script is smart enough for explaining its concept and making things gripping.

Looper is one of those films that would stuck in your head in a long time because it's plain brilliant. It's so different to popular modern Sci-Fi films. This film is not an action movie cookie-cutter that leaves the high concept as the background of the film. This film simply narrates, mind-bends, and intrigues which makes it amazingly interesting. The idea is original with some inspiration. Looper has the art, the heart, the tension, and the brains that any science fiction fans would love.

Fmovies: I've been reading many reviews and the discussion boards on this site, and after just coming back from enjoying it, I was very disappointing to see so many negative reviews and comments. I'm definitely going to be responding to some comments in the discussion boards from some specific details of the movie, but for now I will just write a review. And a positive review since there is so many haters out there.

Firstly I have to say I am a big fan of sci-fi and specifically time travel. And as a huge fan I can see how since you're doing a movie/story about something that doesn't exist, or something we don't understand, of course there will be some plot holes and always ask, "why didn't he do this" or, "why couldn't they do that" or "he could've just done this" but being a film with only so much time to tell this unique story I think it did a great job with it. It takes a black-noir sort of character and puts him in the year 2044, where time travel hasn't even been invented yet but eventually does and used by only secret criminal organizations. These organizations seem to gather future "trash" and are disposed by loopers who are told to wait at a specific time and wait to pull the trigger. Which so happens to be our protagonist (who suspiciously reminds me of Max Payne). Now the kind of people that are sent back in time to be killed by "loopers" (yes there is more than one), we are given no prior knowledge of who they were or what they have done. What I really enjoyed was the fact of, what they considered is bad? Who deserved to die?

Anyway we are given a few glimpses of how the rest of the city looks in this time and how a first world country in some parts, looks like a third world country in others. People thrive on scraps, constantly stealing from one another and just surviving. While the rich are comfortable and most probably criminals or in some way affiliated with the crime land. Now I know this can be considered very cheap and cliché, but clichés are clichés for a reason. It's supposed to show how the world is brought down by it being run by criminal minds. People from the future who come from the past to make the past "better" and how these people are ignored for rich people to think of themselves. Which was the point of the movie, because when you are talking about changing the future, do you want to change the future to make it better for you? Or for the rest of the world? This would make more sense to people who have seen this movie, but for those of you that haven't, I just hope you don't read a lot of these "reviews" and decide not to "waste your money." It talks about time travel, different dimensions and for being a time travel movie leaves very little holes (of course they are some but it's inevitable in a sci-fi).

I can't finish this review without saying how great the cinematography of this film was. At time you could just feel how the character was feeling, when he was giving narrating sections while showing all he did was murder faceless people, over and over. And he actually has plans, and start to care for who he is and what he becomes.

I could probably talk about this movie all day, but I don't want this review to be a novel, so I'll finish it here but my main objective of this review is for people not to miss out on this great movie, as the acting is top notch and at some part comical, with a great new actor who is no older than 10!

Looper is a film that goes to extraordinary lengths to leave every base covered in its quest to avoid plot holes and inconsistencies and in my mind it deals with the problems associated with time travel very well. One thing I liked is that the older Joe is aware of everything the younger Joe is about to do which gives him an edge if they were to do battle. I also liked that the older Joe in true Bruce Willis style bypasses the whole idea of trying to work out how and why what is happening is happening by saying he can't be bothered to work it all out. As well as the older Joe having the advantage of memory over the younger Joe, the younger Joe in turn has his own advantages which become apparent. There were several times when I thought I'd worked out what was going to happen or what a particular character's arc was going to be but the film cleverly manipulates its audience, leading them down alleyways only to jump out at them from behind and spin them around. There is a nice early twist which gave me a smile and plenty more to keep you guessing right the way to the end. In the end it turns out that time travel plays second fiddle to another phenomenon which I was pleased by as there was no mention of this in the trailer which I've been trying to avoid for several weeks. The plot is multifaceted with each character having their own reasons for being where they are, when they are and doing what they are doing. It is a dense plot which explores several different ideas and concepts both personal and scientific.

As well as confidently dealing with a complex script which would have been very easy to either make too complicated or too full of holes, Writer/Director Rian Johnson (Brick) also creates a very believable future and fills it with people and events which feel plausible. Cities have continued to expand upwards and outwards but they themselves are filled with tent cities in which a large vagrant class live. Life is cheap and hard in this world in which the have's and have not's are much more separated than today. There is enough in the film to make to world feel as though it is our near future and the technology on display feels as though it is a few logical steps along the road. I especially liked the ingenious solution to running cars after the inevitable the oil crisis and there's also a great line about China in there which had a lot of people laughing.

The writing and direction are superb but another strength are the acting performances. Joseph Gordon-Levitt wears heavy makeup and prosthetics to make him look more like Bruce Willis and although this is occasionally a little distracting, it looks unnervingly good at times, especially closer up which is odd. The effect is actually better in close up than when JG-L is in the middle distance. Underneath the prosthetics though Gordon-Levitt delivers a fine performance, adopting a few of Willis' telltale mannerisms and affectations but avoiding pure mimicry. He appears confident and at ease in the dense lead role, carrying off a mixture of hard edged killer and caring young man while switching from one to the other with ease. Bruce Willis equally is very good but we have seen this kind of performance from him many times before. Nevertheless he is on good form here. The chemistry between the two leads was great and really helped with the believability of them being one person. Emily Blunt was another actor who performed very well and in a departure from her more familiar roles. She adopts a convincing American accent, drops a few F-Bomb

Looper fmovies. Sitting here the day after viewing Rian Johnson's Looper, parts of it are still falling in to place. Standing out amongst this years crop of mostly underwhelming sequels and comic book adaptations, Looper thunders onto the screen, showing, much like Inception did two years ago, that there is a place in 2012 for fresh material and just how good it can be when it's done right.

The film tells the story of Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a hit-man for an organised crime syndicate tasked with assassinating targets sent from the future. After being confronted with his future self (Bruce Willis) and failing to perform, Young Joe is forced to track down Old Joe and finish the job before being tracked down himself by the nefarious mob led by Abe (Jeff Daniels). However there is much more to the story than the basic premise, and Johnson isn't afraid to keep details close to his chest until later in the film than most movies of this type, so I won't spoil them here.

While certainly paying subtle homage to its predecessors, Looper is a stunningly original sci-fi masterpiece, vastly superior to any of the higher profile action releases this year. While certainly made on a much larger playing field than Johnson's previous work (Brick, The Brothers Bloom), there is still a small-scale, independent feel to the film, and it benefits from clearly staying completely under the control of the young director. Delivering excitement sprinkled with thoughtful themes of personal sacrifice, he offers us much to chew on.

Johnson understands that a successful action film doesn't need an explosion every ten minutes, and allows ample time for developing character and story, something which will likely divide audiences. Looper is very deliberately constructed, and after the highly charged opening establishing the intricate time-travel premise and direction of the plot, Johnson scales back the action almost too much as he ambitiously juggles the many and varied story elements he has created. Thankfully, any weakness in the middle of the film is largely overshadowed as Johnson launches the third act with such ferocity that the stark change of pace leaves you breathless.

Despite the problems in the middle of the film, Looper overcomes its flaws purely by being that rare beast in Hollywood nowadays, the totally original script. Not an adaptation, not a sequel or remake, but a fresh idea from the mind of an immensely talented young film-maker. In a perfect world, Looper would be the game changer it deserves to be, slapping Hollywood studios across the face and announcing that not everything has to be a PG-13 franchise based on a comic book. It's unlikely that this will the case, and it remains to be seen whether or not the film will even be a success, but it's encouraging to see that there are young auteurs at work who are fighting to craft new and exciting stories, even if we only get to see the results every year or two.

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I would have thought it doubtful that anyone could have anything new to add to the sci-fi sub category of time travel movies. After watching Looper yesterday, i'm happy to report that Rian Johnson has removed those doubts and given me hope that sci-fi in Hollywood can be more than just empty spectacle.

First off i would say, don't get discouraged from watching the film if you think its going to be too complex or difficult to follow. To follow the story and recognise characters motivations does require a little concentration, but not to the point that you wont enjoy the action beats and other more visceral elements.

The story is well constructed, information and plot points are presented at an entertaining and well judged pace. There are some nice little throw away visual references and metaphors which, if you catch them, add a nice texture to the story and stop it feeling too clinical in its plotting.

The script is tight, hard edged and very dry in its humour, the actors are fantastic. I think its fair to say that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is well on his way to being "one to watch", Bruce Willis pops back to life here, clearly enjoying himself again, (although i wouldn't say this is solely a Bruce Willis movie in that definition).

This is a brilliant movie experience, its an wholly original and entertaining idea, that the writer/director has managed to successfully transpose to film without, it would appear to a layman, pressure or interference from external sources.

No matter how much of a good time you will have watching this film (and you will), Hollywood could stand to learn much more from it.