Film Review - Looper

Every so often a film comes along that manages to surprise as well as provoke thought: Duncan Jones has managed it twice with ’Moon’ and ‘Source Code’; Terry Gilliam has done the same on countless occasions, particularly in ‘Twelve Monkeys’; and Christopher Nolan, aside from the Batman trilogy, released ‘Inception’ and ‘The Prestige’. All of the above illustrate a world away from our own but one that runs in parallel with life as we know it. They are also wholly absorbing, dragging their audiences into another existence that, prior to the film, they could not have imagined.

Such a film is ‘Looper’. Writer and director Rian Johnson’s vision stems from an America ravaged by economic crisis. Sound familiar? Organised criminal outfits have control over time travel, which almost confusingly hasn’t been invented in the film’s timeframe, and Loopers are employed to dispose of their murder victims in the past. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Joe, a Looper who faces his older, Bruce Willis-shaped self in an attempt to close his own career, albeit from a future perspective. If it sounds confusing, it is, at least in print. To explain any more would ruin the experience, and Johnson’s expert direction rarely leaves the audience confused. It’s only when you try to describe it afterwards that it causes problems.

All of the typical features of a science fiction film are here. We have big action, technological developments, cool weapons and paradoxical time travel, however none of this gets in the way of the story as it does, say, in the two sequels to ‘The Matrix’. The time travel, which is the major conceptual point here, is handled perfectly, creating its own rules which work within the film’s own universe while not being bogged down in techno-babble. It’s also very easy to believe (as far as time travel is ever believable) and so intricately woven into the plot of the film that there is no need to spend any real time trying to work it out. Instead, the characters are the stand out aspect here and they are allowed to breathe aside from unnecessary technical exposition.

The performances from Johnson’s key cast are exemplary. Much has been made of Gordon-Levitt’s prosthetic jaw-line, to the point that there’s even an in-joke about it. However, the two actors inhabit one another, creating one character that is equally believable as an older and younger man. Emily Blunt also excels as a young mother who gets caught up in the struggle, and her performance here solidifies her reputation as one of the best young actors at work. The supporting players add much, never overstepping their roles, but playing their part in the overall thread of the story. In particular, Jeff Daniels impresses in a role that suggests that his range as an actor has been wildly underestimated.

What is most astonishing about ‘Looper’ is how long it stays with you. While not as complex as ‘Inception’ or ‘The Matrix’, the fate of the characters, and in particular Joe’s stories (and I do mean plural, at one point told in a remarkable flash forward), represent the richest seen in a science fiction story for some time. Nothing is clichéd, nothing is under-developed and, most importantly, nothing is unbelievable. Seriously. For a science-fiction film, this last point is perhaps the most important; suspending your disbelief of the situation is one thing, and is called for in most sci-fi. Here, however, we can honestly see how normal and less-than-normal people cope in a disintegrating world. In some places it’s harrowing; mostly though, it’s just thrilling.

More than a few publications have called ‘Looper’, “This decade’s Matrix”. It’s not, in that it’s not the game-changing film that the Wachowski’s film was. It couldn’t be either, because ‘The Matrix’ created a world so different and unusual as well as developed new ways of filming, and that’s not what ‘Looper’ is about. Instead, this is a world that is disturbingly close to our own. We have absolute realism (with perhaps the exception of time-travel), fully developed characters and a sense of how science-fiction can be truly relevant to us. It’s not ‘The Matrix’; it’s better.

Gave it a 8/10. Did enjoy the film and the storyline was very good, as you say it seems complex to try explaining it to somebody but in the film it doesn't seem complicated, think the cast was put together very well. Small part of the action looked bad where as majority was very good. As you say very little is unbelievable, though a few things in the film did annoy me they were nothing big enough to ruin the film.

Thoroughly enjoyed Looper. It wasn't over-complicated and didn't make a whole hash of the storyline unlike many sci-fi thriller type films do these days.

The 3rd best film I have seen this year. 8.5/10