LOOPER

Cole's Rating: ★★★

Uncle Jesse's Rating: ★★ 1/2
Thatcher's Rating: ★★★

Year: 2012

Cast: Joseph Gordon Levitt, Emily Blunt, Bruce Willis

Genre: Action/Crime/Sci-Fi

MPAA Rating: R

       Let me just say that there aren't a lot of time travel movies that are as good as this. As of now, I can only think of a few that can, those being 12 Monkeys, Back To The Future, and The Terminator. My point is this movie was satisfying; it was the perfect mix of science fiction, action, and drama. In Looper, a druggy killer of the present, Joe (Joseph Gordon Levitt) is confronted by his future self (Bruce Willis) on a regular hit, in which he would simply kill a target sent back in time by a crime organization from the future. If he were to go through with his orders, killing his future self, he would end his life 30 years from then. But if not, he would be hunted down along with his future self, and most likely be punished or killed. You can imagine the stress factor here. The movie then delves into the reasons for the return of his future self, which is the main conflict, and also includes a few subplots that make the movie as good as it is. This film forced me to revisit and revise my list of top ten movies of 2012.

       Joseph Gordon Levitt has himself a good vehicle here. I believe he is a very good actor, who appears in only good movies. He’s no Adam Sandler, who is a great actor, that does just awful movies sometimes such as That’s My Boy and Jack and Jill. No, Joseph Gordon Levitt has himself a serious career in front of him, as he has appeared in great movies such as 50/50, The Dark Knight Rises, and Inception. His performance in this was very satisfying, despite his physical alteration due to the fact that they attempted to make him look as close to his future self (Bruce Willis) as possible with prosthetic makeup, and the eye contacts he wore due to the fact that his character was a junkie who used liquid drugs, ingested through the eye. His character, who had been picked up by a group of bad people who turned him into the killer that he was in the present was portrayed perfectly by Levitt who can obviously play a troubled young man. The performance of Willis was different than A Good Day To Die Hard, of which I interpreted as a more audacious and cocky performance because he had already done the same movie four times, he knew the ropes. No, this was a different Willis, it was genuine, it was one that I hope sticks around. He was what he was described as in the movie, “A man who would kill for his wife.” Let’s hope this type of performance sticks around for his new film Red 2, we’ll see where that one goes!

      A complaint I behold lies within the effects. But it picks on a particular scene that I found amusing. It was the scene where Joe was being attacked by a guy on a flying motorbike. Trust me, it wasn’t intended to be amusing. It felt like I was watching Judge Dredd, or Honey I Shrunk The Kids. That’s how bad the graphics were. You will not be satisfied with this scene unless you have been under a rock since the 1960’s.

       I enjoyed this movie because the entertainment value was stellar and the idea of it was captivating. I found it very clever how devoted the script was to the idea, with all the unique vocabulary that was used that dealt with ‘Loopers’. It’s a movie that will entertain, intrigue, and stimulate the mind. Like I said, it may not be the greatest movie ever, but it may be one of the greatest time travel movies out there.

Written by Cole Pollyea