An odd change in tone from the original trailer is nothing new to cinema, and Looper is no different; what looked to have been people fighting their future selves in a sci-fi world does happen, but only for about the first quarter. After it, we degrade into a look at protecting kids with powers and young men growing up. Natural progression or massive grinding of gears? Let’s find out.
In an intricate plot, we are introduced to the Loopers; near-future assassins who kill for the mob in the further future by shooting time travelling victims. Well paid and living a party lifestyle, but on a limited contract which expires when their future selves get sent back in time, Loopers live fast then have 30 years to survive out their life. One day a prophylactic message from a future Looper about a future mob tyrant called the “Rainmaker” killing off the Loopers gets to Joe (Joesph Gordon-Levitt, Premium Rush), and his suspicions are aroused when his older self (Bruce Willis, Expendables 2) returns and goes on a rampage in the past to stop the mob boss, and it all comes to ahead at a Kansas farm with a young mother (Emily Blunt, The Adjustment Bureau) and her son.
Gordon-Levitt as young Joe is his usual likeable self, but there’s also the impression he’s slumming it on autopilot here; there’s not a terrible amount you can do with a young punk drug addict who has a heart change halfway through a movie, but there’s an expectation of someone as talented as Gordon-Levitt to do more. Willis plays a more destructive elder version of Joe driven to save his future wife, providing typical action hero flair but staying engaging with the silent and deadly aspect of his character. Yet, despite having these two talented stars as the same character, there’s too much of a difference to say they’re one and the same, and it feels like a father-son relationship rather than the same person/people meeting each other/himself.
Jeff Daniels (Dumb and Dumber) supports the young Joe as his Looper boss Abe and puts in a decent turn in his acting as the local mob leader. For someone more known for comedy roles, it’s a nice surprise to see how he can have a slightly comedic look but still be utterly chilling. Blunt as the young mother Sara, who’s learning-to-grow-up, serves as an inspiration to the younger Joe, but her and her son enter at too late of a stage in the movie to have as much impact as they should emotionally.
The actual Looper career and culture is marvellous. Pure sci-fi. To live a rich lifestyle with constant partying, drinks, drugs, sports cars, and the like, all you have to do is kill and dispose of so many bodies from the future (where people tracking makes it impossible to do there), until you kill your future self to “close the loop”, earn an uber rich payday, and live out 30 years of your life. It’s certainly interesting to explore this culture and we get just enough to keep the audience wanting more.
The sci-fi aspects are also neat for the near future; whilst not being as too advanced as it’s time travel capable counterpart, it’s made at least believable; and with flying shuttle bikes and future skyscraper landscapes being common in the genre, it’s the little things which stand out, such as a flying automatic crop sprayer. The time travel aspect is a little dodgy but easy to follow, and whilst not exactly establishing it’s own rules, Looper at least purposes that time travel is only possible to the past (where changes there effect people who arrive from the future). Like when young Joe meets Sara for the first time he starts forgetting his wife from 30 years time; implying the future is fluid, with the smallest changes effecting memories of a possible future self.
There are far too many aspects of the film which are needless however; there’s a massive scene setting effort during the start of Looper to establish that the United States (where the majority of the film is set) is in poverty even though it doesn’t really feature in the story or tone, and throwaway characters (like Joe’s stripper lover and what you will remember as the sweating special agent) appear all too commonly. Telekinesis is also rather important to the last quarter of the movie but is only demonstrated in a throwaway scene at the start before being completely forgotten about for an hour, and The “Rainmaker” character is just announced (and portrayed as something to be feared) without any showing at all; apart from some nothing TV footage in the future and people saying he’s slapping off former Loopers (which doesn’t make sense, because they’re meant to be killed off anyway); and these are just a handful of examples from Looper’s poor storytelling.
The overuse of despicable comedy in an otherwise serious film is just stupid; there’s an spectacularly awful, Looney Tunes-esque, chase scene where young Joe chases his elder out of a diner in a gunfight with some of Abe’s aiding trying to capture him, before they realise who they’re with and start chasing him as well. Yet worse still, they make a comedy character pretty much the main villain of the entire movie, meaning you can’t take him seriously at all.
Constant supposed red herrings, to a possible twist, keep being chucked at you and cause even more frustration when the end comes about; the ridiculous level of teasing makes you believe there will be a surprise ending. Giving the impression that Looper thinks it’s clever, when really it’s not, and comes across as pretentious. When you consider this, and the moment when you realise you’re watching a pastiche on Terminator, then you feel a bit removed from the film, but at least it’s close to the end of the runtime when that occurs.
Stylistically Looper is good, and looks like a great sci-fi film on a reasonable budget, but many of its problems stem from the naivety of its writer/director Rian Johnson (The Brothers Bloom); who only has two other films under his belt so far. Since he’s penning his own script he wouldn’t have had much editorial constraint, he doesn’t manage to entice any of his cast to a decent performance level (even though he reunites with Gordon-Levitt from Brick), and makes the film even less memorable with the severe lack of a big action setpiece.
What’s weird is that, despite it’s problems and poorly constructed plot structure, Looper is still immensely likeable; the action is okay (and easy enough on the eye), there are some neat twists on time travel, and it’s easily tops Prometheus as the sci-fi film of the year; there’s hardly any unlikeable or badly written characters and the showing of maturity of young Joe is a watchable plot thread.
Not the instant sci-fi/action classic others are decreeing it to be, Looper contains a charm amidst the convoluted but tolerable plot; it suffers from thinking it’s a lot cleverer than it actually is, but there’s enough sci-fi aspects to eat-up and want more; you have to overlook some horrible comedy moments to appreciate it for what it is, and a big action set piece would have been welcomed, but what’s here is enough to keep it just in the good territory.
Terry Lewis – @thatterrylewis.
