Thirty years in the future time travel is illegal. The only people who use it are criminal organizations who send undesirables back to the past to be disposed of. Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is an experienced looper — or present day trigger-man — stashing his pay so one day he can retire and live in France. He doesn’t count on a crime lord from the future, the Rainmaker, ordering his loop be closed. That is sending his future self, Old Joe (Bruce Willis), to present day to be executed.
The actors aren’t the stars of this movie, the ideas are. Is it airtight? Nope, but what time travel movie is? Future crime bosses could have done the killings themselves and sent the bodies back to the past be disposed of, but where’s the fun in that? We need the two Joes in one place to get the story revved.
Director Rian Johnson uses the sci-fi premise to allow the character of Joe in both forms to examine his life. It’s humanist science fiction that values the person over special effects. It’s also a wildly entertaining chase movie, with enough sci-fi to keep the left side of your brain engaged while the right brain will thrill to the chase.
JGL as Willis
In terms of the performances, Gordon-Levitt nailed the cadences of Willis’s voice. Willis is Willis, but he does world-weary like no one else. Also enjoyable is Emily Blunt as a protective mother whose son (Pierce Gagnon) is on Old Joe’s hit list.
“Looper”
Director: Rian Johnson
Cast:
Rating: R
Grade: 4/5
