[youtube=http://youtu.be/2iQuhsmtfHw]I’ll come right out and declare that Looper easily deserves a 4.5- out of 5-star rating. It’s a time-travel movie with not just one, but two unique twists on the time-travel motif that make it a refreshing and enjoyable way to spend an evening, either with a significant other, or a gang of friends. That is to say, there are elements in this film that will appeal to both hardcore scifi fans and drama aficionados alike.Quick Plot SummarySet in 2044, time travel has not yet been invented, but Joe, our protagonist played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, works for a crime syndicate that exists thirtyish years in the future—after time travel is developed. His job is to assassinate and dispose of the bodies of people sent back by said crime syndicate in order to cleanly and completely erase the evidence (though it’s never explained why disposing of a body in the future is so difficult). Those in this profession are known as Loopers. Pretty easy to grasp, so far, right? The drama begins when GL’s future self is sent back as his present self’s next target—and escapes! This is very not good as the men in charge of the present-based Looper crew don’t look kindly at men from the future, who their future-based employers have gone to a lot of trouble to have disappeared, are running around freely with a good deal of insider knowledge about what’s coming. You can imagine the dent in plans this could create.As you’ve guessed, denting this plan is exactly what future Joe, played by Bruce Willis, intends, and this is where the story gets really, really good. Without spoiling anything, I’ll reveal that there are depths and plot twists to Looper that the trailer doesn't even hint at.Best BitsThe sets and settings within the film are a delightful mix of futuristic technology and steampunk-inspired novelties. Blunderbusses, steam engine-based crop waterers, and silver bars appear right along with touch screen monitors and hovering motorcycles (which still look decidedly steampunkish). The makers put a great deal of thought and time into creating realistic-looking and functioning machines that tickle the viewer’s imagination. Additionally, they had a particular flair for presenting a plausible future, throwing in many details of things to come that are not too outlandish to believe. From recirculating outflow/inflow pipes on vehicles to a visible and accepted class division in the social structure, these elements made the entire film feel decidedly intimate and almost prophetic.Though the violence in Looper was unapologetic, it still fell shy of gratuitous and mostly served to give it a gritty and realistic feel. Distilling the film down to it’s most basic themes, it’s a story about how a broken society breaks its members, how the broken often turn vicious to survive, and the high but necessary cost the vicious pay for a chance at redemption.Improvable BitsAs with any time-travel film, there were moments that left the audience scratching and shaking our heads. Such as this. These were small enough to be forgivable, however, as sometimes writers have to take liberties in order to make a story work (I’ve heard, anyway *wink*). The main issue with it was an abrupt shift in tone about halfway through. The film begins with the exposé of the dark, rough-and-tumble lifestyle of Loopers and their criminal leaders, all occurring in an urban setting, everything moving in a fast-paced, almost staccato gallop. Then suddenly, the cast of characters is pared down to three, and the storyline shifts to a more focused experience between Joe, a woman named Sara, and her son, all set on a rural farm with nothing breaking up the scenery but a farmhouse, barn, and row upon endless row of cane (and, I’m no horticulturalist, but what kind of cane is it? Not sugar cane, obviously, but...?). The transition, while working in terms of the story, is too sudden and jarring for a film that starts out as pure action and violence.Surprisingly Good BitsThe unexpectedly enjoyable element was how complex and dimensional the main characters are—both the younger and older Joe; the beautiful and talented Emily Blunt’s character Sara; and the film’s most incredible gem, the young Pierce Gagnon. The relationships and choices each of these characters make were rarely groundless or predictable, adding a fun, edge-of-the-seat sense of expectation to the story.A word on Joseph Gordon-Levitt. With the exception of G.I. Joe and Inception, I’ve never watched GL in anything with substance. And yes, I recognize fully that one could argue with G.I. Joe being classified as a movie with substance (but I liked it!). His character is not a person you’d like. A morally derelict, gun-for-hire junkie whose only so-called personal relationship is with a working girl. Joe’s ambitions are simple and straightforward: make money and cover the scars of his youth. GL does a sublime job of exhibiting a coldly calculating demeanor while still allowing enough of a human conscience to bleed through in the scenes where he isn’t blunderbussing someone into chunky salsa that it isn’t completely impossible to buy the movie’s eventual outcome. In other words, GL’s portrayal of Joe is hardbitten, but not hateful; unlikable, but still compassion-inducing; bad, but not repugnant, and makes the audience cheerlead for his eventual coming to terms with what’s right. The character of Sara is likewise dynamic; her past choices may seem untenable to many, but her present actions reveal the operose evolution of a conflicted and confused girl into a responsible, independent, and fiercely protective woman and mother. These are the types of multi-dimensional character arcs that make a film stand out.Overall, I highly recommend Looper to, as mentioned, anyone who enjoys scifi and drama. The plot is relatively hole-less and easy to follow, the characters are interesting, and the twists make for a very good story indeed.Mad fail on the Bechdel Test however. Still, there is one redeeming scene where Old Joe is telling Young Joe about the crime lord of the future whose identity is a mystery to everyone and, thankfully, mentions that it could be a man or a woman.
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