Review of Looper (2012) by Matt F — 10 Jul 2017

'LOOPER' was directed by Rian Johnson and stars Joseph Gordon- Levitt, Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt. ?In a future society, time- travel exists, but it's only available to those with the means to pay for it on the black market. When the mob wants to eliminate someone, it sends the target into the past, where a hit man known as a looper lies in wait to finish the job. Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is one such hired gun, and he does his job well -- until the day his bosses decide to "close the loop" and send Joe's future self (Bruce Willis) back in time to be killed.

This movie is not bad. It's not good. It etches more towards good than bad but that doesn't make it good. It's not average. It's not above or below average. I don't know what to label this movie as. Some ideas and concepts presented are intriguing and, given some time to develop, could make an interesting TV series or something of the like. Levitt was fantastic at mimicking Bruce Willis and I commend him for that. Willis was also great and the pair both provided a very interesting and unique performance of the same character. If this movie had been given maybe another 2 weeks in the writing room, I think it would've worked much better. I don't dislike it and I don't like it. I give it a six because it leans more towards the good but that doesn't make it good. That sounds very confusing but it does kind of make sense.

The movie does hold some very interesting concepts which could be explored more with prequels, a sequel or a TV series. But they just had too many new ideas that they had to cram into the run time. This bloats the movie for me by about 30 minutes. They cram in a stupid amount of exposition at the beginning and that really should have been cut entirely, and then sprinkle it throughout the film instead of a tiny 30 minute gap. I think I like the ending but I am unsure of it. More time on the script would have benefited the movie much more I am sure.

As previously stated, Levitt and Willis are both excellent in their joint role as Joe. Emily Blunt was awesome as Sara and shows real, genuine desperation and an urge to care for her child. That kid was creepy as hell but was excellent nonetheless.

It is well shot, lit and edited. No complaints as far as standard scenes go. I do, however, have some complaints surrounding the way action was handled in this movie. Granted it isn't an action movie and thus I don't expect perfection but if you choose to include it, make it watchable.

This movie is hard to recommend. I think I will say you should watch it once, ponder on the interesting questions raised and then never see it again. I see very little(if any) rewatch value and seeing it more than once would probably make my head bleed. That's my recommendation for this film. I'll rate it 6 Creepy A$$ Looking Kids out of 10.