Movie Review – Looper (2012)
Movies involving the concept of time travel are always interesting.
From the ability to jump back and forth through time like in Back to the Future and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, or one-way trips backwards through time like in The Terminator or Looper, time travel movies can be great tales of science fiction. Of course, many time travel movies also require a mandatory discussion about whether or not the events in the movie could occur with respect to the time line and changes made during the past.
That’s where Looper comes into play. Looper is a story in the near future involving executioners in the mafia and the killing of people sent back in time from the future. Things seem well until a target from the future survives the execution and tries to change the future.
Looper stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Joseph Simmons, a 25-year-old executioner for the mafia. Bruce Willis plays Old Joe, Joe’s future self sent back in time from thirty years in the future. Jeff Daniels plays the role of Abe, a man from the future and Joe’s boss in the mafia. Rounding out the cast are Emily Blunt, Noah Segan and Piper Perabo.
Looper (2012) – (c) TriStar Pictures / Alliance Films
Set in the year 2044, Joseph Simmons (Joesph Gordon-Levitt) works as a special executioner (known as a “looper”) for a mafia in Kansas City. His job is simple: executing targets as soon as they appear in a designated area. The targets are always bound and blindfolded, and he knows exactly when they’ll appear in his target area. All that Joe has to do is shoot the target, dispose of the body, and then collect the pieces of silver as payment.
It’s explained that time travel is invented about twenty years from that point in time, but as soon as it’s invented time travel is outlawed. As a result only the outlaws use time travel. Supposedly it’s very hard to dispose of bodies in the future, so the mafia sends the targets back in time to be executed and disposed of. A payment is sent with each target to ensure that the target is killed.
At some point the looper will ultimately kill the future version of themselves and receive payment in gold. The execution is known as “closing the loop” and it frees the looper of their duty in the mafia. They can then run around and spend the money and live for the next thirty years. But in thirty years time, the mafia is going to capture them and send them back in time to be executed.
As we see, Joe is a skilled killer and collects a small fortune in silver bars. Seth (Paul Dano) is a fellow looper and friend of Joe. Seth likes to show off his telekinetic ability, something that one in ten people can do in the future. The two of them cruise the city’s streets and visit the showgirls. One of the showgirls, Suzie (Piper Perabo), is involved in a relationship with Joe. Read more…
Categories: movie reviews Tags: Bruce Willis, movie review, sci-fi