You’d think that once time travel is invented in 2074, the criminal elements would find better use for it (like buying shares that would balloon a thousandfold, or placing bets on football games whose results they would already know à la Back to the Future 2) than send their enemies back 30 years in time to be killed.

But that’s the premise of Looper, also the name for a hired gun who waits for his/her target to materialize in 2044 to shoot them.

If not for the fact that tracking down killers who attempt to dispose of bodies is now possible, these mobsters would likely have their way and kill off their victims right on the spot. But, as with most time travel movies that tend to fail the logic test, a good gauge of how successful Looper is would be how willingly audiences suspend disbelief with the plot that’s part MIB3, part Minority Report and part Mrs & Mrs Smith.

Armed with a black Gat rifle weighing about 2kg and dressed in a sleek leather jacket with slicked-back hair, protagonist Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) moves with the assurance of a seasoned killer who doesn’t bat an eyelid about removing humans swiftly, upon instruction.

With the aid of special eye drops, Loopers can see these time-travelling figures as they appear, their faces covered with white muslin and their bodies bound in burlap-brown cloth as they kneel in prayer position. Loopers are handsomely paid in silver or gold bars strapped to the backs of these targets that can be collected once shot. And since these murder victims don’t exist in the present time, no crime’s recorded and disposing their bodies becomes a cinch.


It’s not the dream job it sounds, though, because despite boss Abe’s (Jeff Daniels) resemblance to Santa Claus, he doesn’t hesitate to instruct his “Gat Men” (who monitor all Loopers) to drive a hammer into the hand of Looper Kid Blue (Noah Segan) as punishment for failing to eliminate victims after being given several chances.

When Joe receives another instruction to eliminate a human, his usual quick reflexes fail him momentarily when he comes face to face with the future him: Old Joe (Bruce Willis). Stunned and outwitted by the more seasoned pro he’s become, he’s knocked out cold and wakes up to find Old Joe is on the hunt for the Rainmaker, who can close all loops and put an end to time travel.

A confrontation between the young Joe and his future self in a quiet eatery in the middle of nowhere sets the scene for some fast-paced stunt sequences and quick cuts.

“Take your gun out from between your legs and do it… boy,” Old Joe says condescendingly with the air of a patronising senior facing a sheltered child. He probably does know better, but. Old Joe is fighting to change his past, and Joe is determined not to let history repeat itself.  He fears losing his wife a second time, the way his future self has.

With a scrap of paper marking out a destination and a series of seemingly senseless numbers, Joe arrives at a farm and meets Sara, played by Emily Blunt, who’s perfectly cast as a mother fiercely guarding her farm and child, Cid (Pierce Gagnon). Brit Blunt has her southern twang perfectly down pat as she advances towards Joe, rifle aimed, determined to extract the truth from this strange trespasser who seems to know too much about Cid. The final build-up happens first when a Gat man pays a visit to Sara’s home in search of the Rainmaker, and then a confrontation Joe is forced to face up to when Cid is placed at gunpoint.

The premise of the film seems like a throwback to The Butterfly Effect (2004), a movie in which the protagonist is given the chance to travel back in time to alter his past, and Terminator (1984). Other similarities can also be drawn tothe more recent MIB3, as mentioned before—an alien goes back in time to kill Agent K, erasing him from the present.

In all, Looper is layered with an appropriate amount of tight action scenes set in a futuristic world with scenes layered in a style that’s reminiscent of Inception (2010), in which Levitt also starred. Levitt’s versatility is evident, from his roles in 2009 rom-com (500) Days of Summer to more recent action-packed offerings like Premium Rush . One particularly impressive scene is when the Rainmaker blows up his victim. We see tables and chairs levitate and crash in wild abandon against the ceiling before the victim follows, a slow-mo explosion of  blood in a violent crimson-red blossom that’s almost beautiful.

Comparisons have been drawn between Willis’s performance in this film and his last time-travel movie, The 12 Monkeys, in which his character is killed and witnessed by his younger self. Despite the success of the latter, Willis maintains a strong performance in Looper as Old Joe. Much talk about the uncanny resemblance between Levitt and Willis in the movie has also stirred up online—all in fact a result of the use of plastic facial moulds and hair pieces, as MTV revealed in an interview with Looper’s make-up artists.

Directed and written by Rian Johnson, who last directed the lesser-known The Brothers Bloom (2008), Looper is a commendable effort given it’s his first attempt at an action film. Although the rapid cuts between scenes and lack of dialogue could make the storyline difficult to follow initially, the different parts of the movie are pieced together towards the end in a confrontation between Joe, Old Joe, Cid and one of the Gat Men. In all, the quality of the sequences and strong acting performances from Levitt, Gagnon and Blunt boost the movie-cred of this sci-fi action film.

 

• Movie name: Looper
• Rating: 3/5
• Release Date: Oct 11, 2012
• Runtime: 118 mins
• Language: English
• Censorship Rating: NC 16 (Some coarse language and violence)
• Genre: Action
• Director: Rian Johnson
• Main actors: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt