Looper
Director: Rian Johnson
Written By: Rian Johnson
Photography: Steve Yedlin
Starring: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt
Year: 2012
Country: USA, China.
The third film from writer/director Rian Johnson (whether that's pronounced Rain or Ryan is one of cinema's great mysteries).
Looper, which was selected as the opening film for the Toronto International Film Festival, takes place in two futures: 2044 and 2074. In 2074 surveillance is so advanced that it's literally impossible to dispose of a body. The only way criminal organisations can kill someone with safely is to use recently invented and outlawed time travel to send the target, cuffed and bagged, back to the year 2044 where a Looper will be waiting to blow them away.
Joe Simmons (Jospeh Gordon-Levvit) is a Kansas based Looper, he's selfish, a junkie and a bit of a badass; he's like Han Solo before he was ruined by Lucas is '97 by making Gredo shoot first; anyway, I digress. Waiting in a cornfield for his next hit to show up, (this is all in the trailer, no spoilers!) a few seconds late they show up but with no headbag. Joe makes the mistake of looking into his eyes and recognises immediately that it's himself, thirty years in the future (Bruce Willis). In the shock of seeing himself, he lets the taget escape. So now he's both running away and after himself while the looper orginazation, lead by Jeff Daniels, is after him for letting his target go. Confused?
Loopers remnicent of a lot of past Sci-Fi classics. Clearly Rian Johnson is big fan of James Cameron's Terminator films (it's safe to assume not of the other two) and Terry Gilliam's, brilliant, 12 Monkeys. The only modern Sci-Fi classic it's nothing like is The Matrix which seems to be the film most people are comparing it to.
Looper has a great cast, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who I'm a big fan of does a brilliant job as always. The script was a bit more Bruce Willis lite than I was hoping for, but it's great to see him back at his best. Emily Blunt was good, if slightly miscast. The story goes she accepted the role before her character even showed up in the screenplay she liked the story so much. And Jeff Daniels (who was either Dumb or Dumber, I can never remember) who was the surprise delight of the film.
Rian Johnson directs with such vitality, he really is one of the more intresting film-makers working in the mainstream today.
The only major problem with Looper is that the film changes half way through and it stops being an Sci-Fi action film about time travel, and starts being a pedophobic horror film in the tone The Omen.
I don't think this is quite as brilliant as Johnson's first feature, Brick, but it's a solid, well directed, well acted and interesting film. It's no Twelve Monkeys but it's not far off. Time will tell if Looper becomes a classic.
Score: 4.5/5
