Looper

In the future, time travel is invented and coopted by underworld bosses, who use it to send people they want to get rid of back 30 years. These victims are disposed of by “loopers” – assassins who are paid in silver. Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is one such looper: competent at his job, but drug-addled and disillusioned. Joe’s plans of escaping the life are thwarted by the arrival of his older, future self (Bruce Willis), who is determined to track down and kill a future despot, thereby preventing the eventual murder of his wife.

From The Terminator to 12 Monkeys, Looper pays homage to a variety of sci fi classics, but spiritually speaking, the film it evokes the most may very well be Donnie Darko. Like that movie, Looper offers a bold vision that pushes intellectual boundaries. Also like that movie, Looper is frustratingly perplexing on first viewing and gets bogged down by the murkiness of its reality-defying mechanics.

The third feature from writer/director Rian Johnson, Looper continues to solidify his reputation as a distinctive stylist. The best way to describe the film’s fictive future is retro chic: Joe’s prized possession is a Mazda Miata, and the bad guys don’t carry lasers but ridiculously large revolvers. This blending of new and old disarms viewers and toys with dystopian clichés, as does the film’s violence.

Lending substance to this style is a competent cast of big names and lesser-known talents. Between this and The Dark Knight Rises, Gordon-Levitt has settled all doubts regarding his credibility as an action protagonist. Willis, who retired those doubts decades ago, is in rare form here: his Joe is absolutely relentless, but he continues to hold onto his conscience as he does unconsciously things. Englishwoman Emily Blunt is surprisingly convincing as a Kansas farm mother, and newcomer Pierce Gagnon is downright creepy to watch as her precocious, “gifted” child. Rounding out the cast are Jeff Daniels (as the affably sinister looper boss), Johnson film veteran Noah Segan (as his inept henchman), and Paul Dano (as Joe’s friend and colleague).

Unfortunately, the talent on both sides of the camera cannot entirely compensate for the massive holes in the execution. To put it simply, for as hard as Looper tries to suck us into its world, it still leaves too many questions unanswered. We never learn, for instance, why the loopers are necessary (it is off-handedly mentioned that forensic technology is greatly improved in the future, but it still seems a stretch, especially given the power and influence the underworld is supposed to have). We also don’t see any other instances of time travel being used voluntarily (i.e. to escape the wrath of the future Rainmaker’s reign of terror), nor do we ever learn the genesis of the film’s telekinetic abilities.

All told, Looper is audacious, thought-provoking, and often entertaining but also something of a disappointment. Some kind of expanded edition could probably clear up a few of the film’s mysterious, but until then, accept it as a good film that could have been even better.

8/10