Review of Looper (2012) by Carlos G — 15 Sep 2016

From time to time, Hollywood will come out with an action film that is not there just to grab the money off your wallets, a movie that isn't just dull action, a movie that will make you think, and a movie that above all, is original, that's "Looper".

The film is set in the year 2044, in Kansas City, where Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) works as a "looper", a loper's work is to kill and dispose of face-concealed victims that are sent from the future (where time machines exist) back to the past. A lopper's career ends when he kills his old self, who is also sent back to the past, the old looper is sent back so that the companies that possess and use these time machines can get rid of all traces related to time travel, including old loopers. When Joe's next target arrives from the future, it is shown to be his older self (Bruce Willis) from the future, Old Joe manages to knock Joe out and escape. The film then shows Joe trying and kill his older self, while also being hunted by authorities that are looking for him. While that's going on, Old Joe is too on the run from the authorities, as he tries and fixes the future by repairing things from the past.

The movie works mainly due to the fact that it's a highly entertaining movie, and as said above, original. Director (and writer) Rian Johnson does a great work in making "Looper" different from other blockbuster action flicks, adding a great history, with well developed, in depth characters, great production values and the fine presence of leads Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis.

The cast counts with the presence of many talents, including its A-list leads. As we see Gordon-Levitt take more and more great roles, mainly in these last few years, it is no surprise to see him in what may be the best action film of 2012, and his does a great job. With great chemistry with the rest of the cast, mainly Emily Blunt, who plays the strong character, Sara, Joe's love interest, another addition to an already fantastic cast. Besides Gordon-Levitt, playing Old Joe is Bruce Willis, in what may be his best film (along with 2012s "Moonrise Kingdom") in the last 5-6 years of his career. It upsets me seeing Willis take these bad roles one after the other, I do not understand. This man is in one of my favorite films of all time, f*cking "Pulp Fiction", I know he can act, he's done it several times, he does it fine in this film, what I just don't understand are these films he's beeing agreeing to do lately, it's as if he trying to do bad movies, I just hope he takes a deep breath, stop, and then start actually reading the scripts that are sent to him, cmon your better than this Bruce. The cast counts also with Noah Segan, Jeff Daniels and a brief, but noticeable appearance of Paul Dano, another actor to be in the lockout for.

"Looper" is a highly entertaining film that gives us hope to a future filled with smart sci-fi action thrillers filled with great (none-mindless) action scenes, developed characters and original stories. "Lopper" is fine cinema. 4/5.