Looper

In my previous post reviewing PTA's The Master(2012), I said that I don't always review new releases and I really don't. I definitely don't write back-to-back posts reviewing new releases, in fact this is the first time I am doing that in over a year. But, then again I also haven't seen two movies in theater on two consecutive weekend that are worth talking about in a long long time. I haven't seen movies in theater on two consecutive weekends in a long time. Period. This time I have. So, let me take this chance and get into Rian Johnson's Looper(2012) which incidentally was third time-travel movie I saw in last 10 days.

Set in the future, 2044 to be precise, where time travel is not yet invented but it is invented in 2074, 30 years in the future. In monologue opening the film, our protagonist Joe tells us about it. He is a looper, hired by employers 30 years in the future, a special brand of people who do very specific but important job - kill people sent back in time. As soon as time travel is invented sometime in future, it was banned immediately. So, in 2074 mob had to use the time travel very secretly. What they do is send their targets back in time where loopers like Joe are waiting for them. Loopers have the time and place where there targets will appear. They go there and wait for them. As soon as they arrive, blindfolded and hands tied behind their back, Loopers kill them, collect the loot on them, pick up their money and enjoy the rest of their life. Reason why they are sent back to be killed - apparently it is very difficult to dispose off the bodies in future. However there is one thing that all the loopers worry about - closing their loop. Since Loopers know so much about this business and they also know about time-travel, some time in the future they themselves need to be eliminated too. So, one day target in front of them will be their own future self. Every time Looper gets rid of a target, he gets silver bars as a reward. If your reward is Gold, that means you have closed your loop. You collect your gold, come back, collect your money. Once they close their loop, their contract as a Looper expires, they get to retire from the business, enjoy the rest of 30 years of your life and then die. Usually it all runs pretty smooth but one day, one of Joe's colleagues Seth, faces ghastly consequences when he chickens out after seeing himself in front.

Joe is a little different from all other loopers. All the loopers know that at some point or the other, they will close their loop and will have only specific time to live after that but not many of them think forward and plan for future - Joe Does. He thinks about how will he spent those last 30 years of life and is making provisions for it. He stores all his silver, he is teaching himself French so that he can go to France. After a while, inevitable happens with him as well. Joe faces himself but his older self doesn't appear blindfolded or with his hands tied behind. Because he isn't sent from future, he's come on his own with a specific purpose. Joe hesitates for a second and old Joe knocks him out and flees the spot. When he comes back to life, with the example of Seth fresh on his mind, he realizes what is at stake and he goes out looking for his older self. If there is one unforgivable sin for loopers, it is to let your target escape especially if that target is you. Since Joe has violated that one rule, his boss Abe has one of his men, Kid Blue looking for him. While Joe is trying to get hold of old Joe, kill him and get on with his present life, not to mention Old Joe has his own plan as well. While hiding from Kid Blue and figuring out what Old Joe's next move will be, Joe takes a refuge on a barn of Sara. Joe has a reason to believe that his old self has some unknown interest in something around Sara's barn. Joe's plan is to stay at her house and wait for Old Joe to come there, take him out and return to his old life. However, in this game of Cat and Mouse, nothing is as easy as it looks - Well, except the ending.

Even though I felt that the overall performance of the movie was little underwhelming, I will give it to you that there is a lot to like about in Looper especially with the cast. Joseph Gordan-Levitt is perfect in central role of Joe but that's hardly a news. This dude rarely disappoints. He is great in initial carefree, partying Joe but always with one eye on future. However, he is especially great later in the film as walls start to crumble around him. It's also great to see Bruce Willis in yet another action film and doing it convincingly. Put a gun in his hand and he gets into his own. Emily Blunt, though in a supporting role of Sara, probably was the best part of it mainly because I don't remember seeing her in any role remotely close to the one in this and also because of the perfect southern accent she picked up. Being a good actress helps too I guess. 10 year old Pierce Gagnon playing Cid also deserves a mention for doing freaky part really well. Rian Johnson's direction is commendable. His eye to the detail is very apparent, especially in creating the initial glimmering but still hollow world of Loopers. However just like his previous film Brick(2005), Looper falls just a little shy of greatness. The more I try and reason with myself, I get something more that works in its favour but I also think of something else that counteracts it. With the almost unanimous praise that I have seen it garner, I might not have my expectations in check but that doesn't hide the fact that it didn't feel up to the mark.

My basic problem is with the pacing. Though it never becomes boring or tedious and it does keep story moving with some kind of activity, it does not move uniformly. It keeps on going up and down a lot of times and I am blaming it for never getting me on the edge of the sit which with the story like this, I expect to be. I have also seen a lot of people talking about how it keeps all the scientific time traveling mumbo jumbo out and lets a viewer enjoy it as a movie. In my book, that's a dig against it, more so if you want to call it a time-travel movie. Simplicity isn't always Good. And then we have the ending. I will say that I actually liked the ending. It was easiest and also smartest way out of the situation and it did give me that WOW! felling for a minute but also with that ending, he walked right into the classic time-travel paradox that every time-travel movie probably should avoid. There are a couple of more things that didn't go down as well but they can be considered as minor spoilers and to keep this review spoiler-free, I won't mention them in detail here. All in all, once again movie worth watching for it's cast but one that falls a little short of its ambition.

Rating(out of 5):