Viewed in
2012
Formats
Movie theater.
Premise
Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as hitman for a futuristic mob, who suddenly finds himself forced to kill his future self, played by Bruce Willis.
Loved
Time-travel aspect of the writing.
Liked
Performances.
Disliked
Floating quarters.
Thoughts
I liked it a lot, but didn't love it.
The writing was incredible. Time travel movies are always risky; either you have plot holes or you lose the audience in minutiae. Here, action was easy to understand, and I didn't notice any logic issues with the themes of cause-and-effect. Though a friend had a good point: why couldn't the future mob kill the target, then send him back in time to rid the evidence?
I was totally surprised by JGL and Willis' dynamic. I expected the story to travel into father-son/buddy-action territory, instead it went really creative on how they interact and alter each other's timelines. All this thoughtfulness in character and plot led to a very satisfying ending.
There were numerous haunting visuals, such as the first scene of JGL coldly offing a target, or Emily Blunt's bedroom safe. My favorite moment was the montage showing how JGL ages into Willis. It was so elegant and creative, making my inner filmmaker jealous.
I feel like Joseph Gordon-Levitt has become this generation's Johnny Depp. Both are heartthrobs with a nose for interesting, risky movies and roles. They never completely own an action flick like a Bruce Willis, but you buy it. Speaking of Willis, has there been an actor with greater range, risk-taking, and longevity in the last four decades? (Maybe Tom Hanks or Daniel Day Lewis?)
But I guess I should be talking about their performance in this movie. They were great. I loved how JGL sneakily stole Willis' distant stares and occasional gruff-whispering, further blending them into the same character from different times. I also really dug Emily Blunt and Pierce Gagnon's performances.
Which leads to the biggest flaw in the film. As powerful as their performances were, it couldn't hide the fact that their subplot, and thus the "floating quarters" subplot, did not belong in this story. There was no correlation/influence to the time-travel aspect, which ended up as a huge distraction. While floating quarters was a visually efficient way to show the Rainmaker's future impact, it wasn't enough to justify its existence.
Another problem was overhype. At first, this came out of nowhere, but then it was instantly showered with so much praise, leading me to believe it was going to blow my mind. I'm a big Doctor Who/Terminator/Back to the Future fan. So from the first frame, I was scouring the background, looking for hints of time-travel consequences, wow-inducing observations into the human condition, or harbingers of upcoming mind-effing. But nothing.
Last complaint: what the hell was young Denis Leary lookalike, Noah Segan's purpose in the climax? He popped up in the final battle but didn't influence anything.
Overall, Looper was incredibly enjoyable, thanks to taught writing, great performances, and creative story-telling. It had one too many science-fiction ideas in it, but at least it took a risk. Had people just told me it was the smartest action flick of the year, instead of best movie of the year, I would've liked it even more.
