*WARNING! MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!*
Every year, we are always gifted to a little sci-fi gem that knocks every other sci-fi flick that year. 2009 had two with Moon and District 9. Although 2010 had the fortune of Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi mind-bender, Inception and turned out to be 4th highest-grossing film of that year. Every science fiction film tackles on an idea or theme or concept (District 9 on xenophobia, Inception with dreams). This year, we have Rian Johnson’s Looper and it tackles on probably the most used concept; time travel.
The year is 2044; a huge economic collapse occurred and social decay and organised crime has grown since. Thirty years into the future, time travel is invented but it is also outlawed. Crime bosses find it difficult to dispose their targets, so they send them in time machines to the past. Our protagonist amongst this dystopian future is Joseph “Joe” Simmons (Gordon-Levitt), who works as 
a looper. A looper are basically hired guns that kill those targets that are sent from the future. Life seems fairly routine for Joe, he goes to nightclubs with his fellow loopers and spends time with showgirl, Suzie (Piper Perabo). Until one day, he gets sent a target and is revealed to be his future self (Bruce Willis). Older Joe manages to escape, younger Joe is then tasked to find his older self but keeping low from “Gat Men”, led by Kid Blue (Noah Segan).
Rian Johnson has really gone all out to make us invested in his vision of 2044, it is something we have seen before (dystopian setting and different social class similar to Children of Men) but Johnson has managed to make this all seem fresh. The use of time travel is very cleverly conveyed on-screen, such as the butterfly effect with a horrific scene where a future looper is escaping but is suddenly receiving scars and losing limbs due to his younger self being tortured and mutilated off-screen. Also scenes where Joe meets Sara (Emily Blunt) for the first time and older Joe suddenly sees visions of what his younger self is seeing. The fact Johnson was able to make us delve into his future setting without much exposition is quite a remarkable feat and making us just go along with the ride!
Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes a wonderful performance, he gets the essence and mannerisms of Bruce Willis rather than impersonates him (such as the smirk and raised eye-brow when he’s being complimented from someone). As the make-up does make him rather unrecognisable, there’s still a sense of uncanny valley with it all. Bruce Willis delivers a subtle and emotional performance, showing the amount of regret but also pain from the things he’s lost and trying to fix all that. The scene in the diner with both Gordon-Levitt and Willis is the highlight of the film, as the older Joe is telling young Joe that he’s a junkie and really needs to be fixed. Whilst the younger Joe is young and naive, pointing out that he can still make his own decisions no matter what has happened with older Joe. It is all very engaging and very amusing to watch as they’re basically trying to top each other. Emily Blunt makes a great performance as Sara, whose a farm girl living outside from the major cities and also tasked on looking after her son, Cid (Pierce Gagnon). She’s a tough character, but also carries emotional weight that makes her a strong character overall. It is also refreshing that Blunt actually delivers a convincing American accent, as most of her roles in her previous work just have her speak in her British accent. Jeff Daniels is one of the great supporting casts playing as Abe, who is from the future to manage the loopers but also run a nightclub Joe frequently goes to. The scenes where he tells young Joe to instead of copying something from the past and make something on your own. Even a funny line where he tells Joes to go to Shanghai, when Joe wants to go to France but Abe then says “I’m from the future, go to Shanghai!”
The pacing, editing, production design, visual effects are very well executed and very well done. The first act is slow, letting you delve into the future and the narration helps you get an idea the tone the film will go. Another scene I really admired was the montage of young Joe growing to the older Joe, it could’ve gone to the conventional route on having a voice-over explaining to us about his choices after his looper contract had ended but it doesn’t and it works beautifully. The technology within the world all felt very plausible, as it was only thirty years into the future that you can imagine cars having one or two additional features. The director wasn’t interested on focusing on the technology or using it as a spectacle, we are aware it is there and will only be used when it is required to (not having to rely on a chase sequence here and there to grab audience’s attention).
Overall; this is a great sci-fi film. The script is very smart and competently written. It is refreshing to watch after the blockbuster season has finished. Gordon-Levitt, Willis and Blunt all make great performances and is certainly one of my favourite films of this year. Highly Recommended!
5 out of 5
