“Looper”, a new science fiction mystery, written and directed by the young and talented Rian Johnson, is further proof that crowd-pleasers don’t have to be stupid. By crafting a winding tale that is just as clever as it is entertaining, he manages to give us this fall what we barely had all summer; a fun and pulpy movie that keeps you thinking about it after you have left, and that makes you come back for seconds. Though its influences are evident and some of its risks don’t pay off quite as well as Johnson had hoped, “Looper” revitalizes the time-travel scenario in the same way “Inception” made people—specifically, those were beat down by two bad “Matrix” sequels—reinvested in dream-tech.
The
story begins in a dystopian near-future where a young, drug-addled hit-man
named Joe (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) tells us about his job, where he
kills people sent back in time by the further-future mob. No running or chasing
required, the bodies are already bound and prepared for execution as soon as
they arrive, just mere feet away from the Joe and other ‘Loopers’. The only
catch is after they retire they will be sent back to be killed themselves, to
ensure the illegal secrets of their time-travel. Enter future-Joe, played by Bruce Willis, who
manages to outwit his younger self and escape.
What ensues is a fight for the future and a fight for personal freedom,
as the story splits between the hunter, the hunted and the agency that employs
them both.
As I
have stated, the narrative DNA of “Looper” will be apparent to anyone familiar
with this genre. The snappy voice over from the films sympathetic outlaw and
the tables-turned philosophy of the plot will recall the style of writer
Phillip K. Dick and many of the movies inspired by his cyber-punk noirs, such
as “Blade Runner” and “Minority Report”. However, unlike the dreary and
uninspired remake of “Total Recall” we had earlier this year, Johnson’s subverts
the expectations of this mode with a shockingly intimate middle act, where we
are ripped away from the city milieu and placed in a seemingly different story
about a single mother, played by Emily Blunt, protecting her child on a
farm. With the addition of this plot
element, the structure evokes James Cameron’s “Terminator” films, in the best
way possible.
Like
all good sci-fi, this movie challenges the audience and asks them to meet it
half way. Johnson gives us the necessary information to keep up but allows the
viewers to bring their imagination to fill in the gaps. Though time-travel is the exploitable plot
device, it ultimately is not the concern of its themes or the character’s
overall journey. Because of this, we are never bogged down by the mechanics of
the plot and become more invested in the engaging performances by the talented
cast. Joseph Gordon Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt are all fantastic in
their parts, but even the smaller roles, played by notable actors like Paul
Dano, as a cowardly runaway Looper, or Jeff Daniels, as a reasonable but
unshakable mob-boss, keeps even the most inconsequential scenes exciting.
What I
mean to say is you should absolutely go see “Looper”. This is easily one of the
best movies of the year and one of the smartest screenplays to come from this
genre since “Source Code”—another cousin-film that it could be easily compared
to. I could nitpick about how the time
paradox doesn’t quite make sense, or how the middle act has some pacing issues,
or how the voice-over gets a little too expository. However, the end result is
a stylish, humorous and imaginative take on a well-worn science fiction archetype,
that I wasn’t sure could surprise me anymore. The good news is it can.
Grade: A-
Originally Published in the Idaho State Journal/Oct-2012
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