Looper

I was going to watch this movie for the first time and pair it with Gemini Man last year but never got around to it. Now, as Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes his (unfortunately-not-particularly-triumphant) return to the limelight, it seemed a perfect time to talk about a film from his (so far) career peak.

What a novel idea. To anyone who uses that adage about how there are only 12 original stories or whatever, I dare you to watch this and say that again. In the future there are crime syndicates who get people killed by sending them back in time and having their hitmen dispose of the bodies there. Eventually the hitman himself is sent 30 years back in time to be killed by his past self and thus eliminate evidence of the crimes. The past self obliges, knowing that he is getting 30 years of retirement with a handsome severance package. The “loop” is then completed.

The problem comes when someone called “The Rainmaker” wants to eliminate all the “Loopers” and become sole criminal mastermind in the future. As a result of something The Rainmaker causes, the main character, Joe, does not want to be quietly killed by his past self. Rather, Old Joe has something else in mind. Young Joe tries to stop whatever his older self has in mind while also trying to figure out just what it is AND evade their boss’s henchman, who now wants to eliminate any trace of Joe.

If that sounds trippy that’s kind of the idea. In a way it reminded me of 12 Monkeys, also starring Bruce Willis. Still, stories where the twist is that the main character was the one causing the conflict all along but didn’t realize it due to time travel were cliched even when the original Twilight Zone did them over a half-century ago. Looper is different. It actually asks powerful questions about free will, while presenting alternate timelines and making your head spin the way any good time travel movie would.

What’s really anchoring all the stimulating thrills are the performances, especially of our Joes. Bruce Willis is an underrated actor, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, in the primary role, is fantastic. A big deal was made over how much the makeup made Gordon-Levitt look like a younger Willis. I had mixed feelings – one the one hand Gordon-Levitt did look like you might have expected Willis to 30 years earlier, if you looked at Willis in 2012. However, we know what Willis looked like when he was about the age Gordon-Levitt was in 2012; we saw that in Die Hard. Maybe if they’d dyed Gordon-Levitt’s hair sandy and had him bulk up that would have worked a little better. Still, it was a terrific makeup job, and more importantly Gordon-Levitt’s imitations of Willis’s mannerisms are SPOT-ON! Considering he’s never won any major acting hardware despite pushing 40 (which pains me to say considering he and I are the same age LOL), I’ll call Gordon-Levitt underrated as well.

He and Willis should both be proud of the work they did as the same character in this magnificent movie though.

Bottom Line: Highly recommended!

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