There is no shortage of great sci-fi movies out there. And within the past few years, a unique style of “intelligent sci-fi” has emerged. These films deal with such diverse concepts as immortality (The Fountain), alternate universes (Source Code), and dream stealers (Inception). But they are much more than that, and also deal with deeper philosophical questions and meanings. “Looper,” directed by Rian Johnson, easily fits within this category. It is not only one of the greatest films of the last year, but also one of the all-time great sci-fi movies. Johnson’s time-travel epic will keep you glued to the screen. And it is the type of movie that will linger in your mind afterwards, forcing you to think back a great deal on the last two hours.
About 30 minutes into the film, a character says the following line: “I don’t want to talk about time travel because if we start talking about it then we’re going to be here all day talking about it, making diagrams with straws.” And so proceeds “Looper”- not just as a time travel movie, but as a story that has, at its core, a very human element.
The movie takes place in the year 2044. Though time travel has not yet been invented, in 30 years it will be. But in the future, it has been made illegal, and so is only done by crime bosses when they want to dispose of somebody. By sending people back in time to be killed, it essentially erases all traces of them, since they now no longer exist in their own timeline. Our protagonist Joe Simmons (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a “looper,” an assassin whose sole requirement is to kill the people that have been sent back. There is a catch, though. When a looper’s contract is up, the organization sends back the older version of themselves for their past selves to assassinate. This is called “closing the loop,” and is a requirement that every looper must complete before ending their contract.
In comes Bruce Willis, the older version of Joe. Though Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis do not seem to look alike as actors, some brilliant makeup and prosthetics are used here so as to make it believable. Not to mention a superb acting performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who seems to have done his homework in imitating Bruce Willis’s trademark monotone. And Willis, though definitely not a young guy anymore, still manages to pull off his usual “shoot first, ask questions later” persona, which he first popularized nearly 25 years ago in “Die Hard.”
After the two characters meet for the first time, they immediately have a confrontation, and the older Joe escapes. They are now both on the run from the same crime group. The movie, which at this point was headed in the direction of a cat-and-mouse action flick, now splits into an unlikely tangent; startling because of its unexpectedness, yet immediately refreshing at the same time.
Two characters are introduced, that of a mother (Emily Blunt) and her son Cid (Pierce Gagnon). Much credit is due here for the young Pierce Gagnon as Cid. At only 7 years old, Gagnon has crossed the uncanny line that turns an adorable young kid into exceptionally creepy. Think Haley Joel Osmont in “The Sixth Sense,” or Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick in the remake of “The Omen.” A lot is to be said for this distinguished performance from such a young actor.
Though the pace has slackened somewhat here, there are still some of the most intense action sequences to come, which will satisfy that thrill-seeking need. Visually, the creation of this future dystopian world is a splendor; a world that is so different from our own as to be unrecognizable. It is presented in minute detail; down to the individual costumes, accents, and mannerisms of each character.
The ending to “Looper” ties all the individual pieces of the film into a neat little package, putting to rest all lingering questions and doubts. Unlike other time travel creations, such as the show “Lost” or the film “Donnie Darko,” Johnson has spent enough time focusing on the humanness of the story that we do not continue to question the logic of the film as a whole. If you were to examine the storyline under a microscope, some obvious inconsistencies and paradoxes would present themselves. But, really, who cares? That is not the purpose of “Looper,” and we easily see this by the end. The film has all the elements of a classic sci-fi; with some unexpected twists, deeper moral questions, and an ending that can’t be beat. Sci-fi fans, this is not one to miss.