MOVIE OF THE WEEK (9/28/12): LOOPER
"You eat that steak and eggs platter first!" The older Joe (Bruce Willis) confronts his younger self (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) in a scene from writer/director Rian Johnson's action thriller LOOPER. Credit: Alan Markfield © 2012 Looper, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
KEY CAST MEMBERS: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Noah Segan, Piper Perabo, Jeff Daniels, Pierce Gagnon, Tracie Thoms and Qing Xu
WRITER(S): Rian Johnson
WEB SITE: http://loopermovie.com/
THE PLOT: Written and directed by Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom), Looper stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Joe. Joe isa "looper," a.k.a. someone who - now pay attention here - works for an organized crime outfit in 30 years in the future. He himself, however, lives in 2044 in Kansas where he earns money by arriving at a pre-determined spot on a cornfield, waits for someone to show up with a bag over their head, hands tied and bars of silver taped to their back as his payment ... For when he blows them away with a blunderbuss (fans of the video game Red Dead Redemption should be familiar with that weapon of choice).
You see, it's become very hard to dispose of people in the future without being caught ... Which is why the organized crime outfit Joe sends people back in time to get rid of them. Then again,sending someone back in time is as highly illegal as say, oh, I don't know - the murders they want Joe and his fellow loopers like Seth (Paul Dano) to commit. And that's why when loopers receive a gold bar payment when it's time to "complete their loop," a.k.a. kill the future version of his or her self when they are sent back in time.
Problem is Seth, however, recognized his loop when he was sent back in time by "The Rainmaker" - the new criminal boss disposing of loopers in rather extraordinary fashion - and let him escape. And Abe (Jeff Daniels), the crime outfit sergeant sent from the future to manage the loopers, knows that's a major problem.
That's not as big a problem, however, for Joe as the one that's coming in the form of Bruce Willis ... A.k.a. future Joe. Now married, Joe manages to come back to the present day in an attempt to warn his future self of what's coming and kill The Rainmaker before he can escape childhood.
Given his best friend's screw-up and his future self returning to the present hell bent on murder and Abe's wanna be top hitman Kid Blue (Noah Segan) searching for all three of them, Joe needs to escape. And once he finds a farm run by the stern Sara (Emily Blunt) where she lives with her son Cid (Pierce Gagnon), he thinks he might be OK as tries to piece things together ...
But you know that old expression about what happens to best laid plans ...
You see, it's become very hard to dispose of people in the future without being caught ... Which is why the organized crime outfit Joe sends people back in time to get rid of them. Then again,sending someone back in time is as highly illegal as say, oh, I don't know - the murders they want Joe and his fellow loopers like Seth (Paul Dano) to commit. And that's why when loopers receive a gold bar payment when it's time to "complete their loop," a.k.a. kill the future version of his or her self when they are sent back in time.
Problem is Seth, however, recognized his loop when he was sent back in time by "The Rainmaker" - the new criminal boss disposing of loopers in rather extraordinary fashion - and let him escape. And Abe (Jeff Daniels), the crime outfit sergeant sent from the future to manage the loopers, knows that's a major problem.
That's not as big a problem, however, for Joe as the one that's coming in the form of Bruce Willis ... A.k.a. future Joe. Now married, Joe manages to come back to the present day in an attempt to warn his future self of what's coming and kill The Rainmaker before he can escape childhood.
Given his best friend's screw-up and his future self returning to the present hell bent on murder and Abe's wanna be top hitman Kid Blue (Noah Segan) searching for all three of them, Joe needs to escape. And once he finds a farm run by the stern Sara (Emily Blunt) where she lives with her son Cid (Pierce Gagnon), he thinks he might be OK as tries to piece things together ...
But you know that old expression about what happens to best laid plans ...
THE TAKE: Here's a common truth about time travel movies ... Most are either really good (Back to the Future, The Terminator, etc.) or really, really, REALLY stink (A Sound of Thunder, The Butterfly Effect, etc.). Sometimes the sheer science the film constructs for its universe doesn't make sense; other times, the characters are so freaked out by the act of time travel they end up sounding ridiclous. (Sorry, YouTube failed me in finding you a clip to drive the point home.)
The long and the short of Looper, however, is this: It's a pretty well done story about a man and his actions and realizing what he needs to do versus what he - be it his current or older self - wants to do.
Gordon-Levitt is making such a strong transition to movie acting that if you told most people he was the kid with the long hair from the criminally long forgotten Third Rock from the Sun, they'd probably do a double take. His acting in Looper further distances himself from his NBC days, as he does a strong job providing a bit of intensity to what could have easily become a lackluster character. Likewise, Willis does a solid job of helping frame his younger self's plight while Blunt plays farmgirl convincingly to keep things moving right along.
The strongest acting, however, may come in the form of the young Pierce Gagnon, who proves pivotal in both the story's plot and keeping you interested in it. Child actors being successful in movies is nothing new; however, when one is able to make his presence known as well as Gagnon does, you really wonder what the future holds for him with baited breath.
Much credit must go, however, to Johnson for crafting a well-executed story. Part sci-fi, part action thriller, part intelligent self discovery piece, the film – while not a classic – shows it has the power to entertain both current and future audiences.
The long and the short of Looper, however, is this: It's a pretty well done story about a man and his actions and realizing what he needs to do versus what he - be it his current or older self - wants to do.
Gordon-Levitt is making such a strong transition to movie acting that if you told most people he was the kid with the long hair from the criminally long forgotten Third Rock from the Sun, they'd probably do a double take. His acting in Looper further distances himself from his NBC days, as he does a strong job providing a bit of intensity to what could have easily become a lackluster character. Likewise, Willis does a solid job of helping frame his younger self's plight while Blunt plays farmgirl convincingly to keep things moving right along.
The strongest acting, however, may come in the form of the young Pierce Gagnon, who proves pivotal in both the story's plot and keeping you interested in it. Child actors being successful in movies is nothing new; however, when one is able to make his presence known as well as Gagnon does, you really wonder what the future holds for him with baited breath.
Much credit must go, however, to Johnson for crafting a well-executed story. Part sci-fi, part action thriller, part intelligent self discovery piece, the film – while not a classic – shows it has the power to entertain both current and future audiences.
PARTING SHOT: A film whose title and trailer don't do it proper justice, Looper isn't a classic film, but it is a solid, well constructed one among the best options for cinematic entertainment in a month filled with "thanks for coming" players.
RATING (OUT OF FOUR BUCKETS OF POPCORN):
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