Our Score:

Looper (Re)View

Posted by Vinnie Leduc on September 30, 2012

Two of my all-time favorite of the favorites movie franchises, Back to the Future and Terminator, revolve around time travel. So naturally, if I had known about Looper a few months earlier before its attention-grabbing first trailer came out, it would have easily landed on our list of most anticipated movies of 2012, especially because I also really liked director/writer Rian Johnson’s feature film debut, the low-budget neo-noir Brick. Armed this time with 60 times the financial fuel, Johnson has sent us another hit with Looper. However, the time-travel tale doesn’t quite live up to the hype nor its potential. Sad face.

While last week’s surprisingly fun Dredd was flashier and more satisfying in the sci-fi visual effects and action violence departments, Looper‘s timeline-tweaking storytelling is definitely the primary draw, and this strength demands multiple viewings. Johnson’s cerebral trip is a ride I definitely plan to take again, despite the film poking some tongue-in-cheek fun at itself by suggesting not to get your brains too fried trying to follow all the ripples stemming from screwing with the space-time continuum. So don’t worry about overloading your gray matter till you’re bleeding out of all your head holes (but you can dive into deep deep discussion and debate if you want to), but on the other hand, don’t worry about not getting enough R-rated action (as if Dredd wasn’t enough) because not only does Looper have its share of violence, but it also includes one of the most unforgettable and spine-tingling sequences of the year.

Once you get past the weirdness of his prosthetic Willis-ish nose and blue contacts, you’ll see that Joseph Gordon-Levitt, fresh off The Dark Knight Rises (I didn’t catch Premium Rush… wait, who did?), delivers another great performance in the spotlight that he shares with Bruce Willis. The I-am-you-and-you-are-me pair is excellently complemented by Emily Blunt (further expanding her repertoire), Jeff Daniels (also adding to his extensive range), and Paul Dano (doing what he does best).

I was a little disappointed that my mind wasn’t ultimately blown or anything, especially with…

Show spoiler / more details »

… the arbitrary ending that basically could’ve shortened the movie significantly and was a bit of a letdown in terms of payoff.

But I’m very glad that Looper wasn’t near as stupid or boring as some other time travel crappers like Timeline and A Sound of Thunder. Maybe I’m the stupid one and need to rewatch it soon in order to appreciate the subtleties beyond the main plot. And I’ll do it with pleasure because Looper is worth the trip back in time travel. Looper gets 3.5 out of 5 stars or B or Good.

You can discuss this with more MediaStinger fans on Facebook, you can follow us on Twitter at @MediaStinger, and you can follow writer Vinnie Leduc on Twitter at @MovieVVhore.

User Score:

Rating: 3.7/5 (7 votes cast)

Looper (2012): No Extras During or After the Credits

Also On MediaStinger
Looper Trailer: Back in Time Travel

Also On MediaStinger
The Dark Knight Rises (Re)View

Also On MediaStinger
50/50 (Re)View

Also On MediaStinger

Around The Net

http://MediaStinger.com/ Paul Curtin

Really enjoyed this and glad to see Rian Johnson and JGL teaming back up to make more amazing films now that both their careers are blowing up after Brick. My only problem was that I couldn’t suspend my belief enough to believe Bruce Willis was JGL. I spent the whole movie thinking “Wow, they really did a good job on his makeup and nose to make him look like Bruce.” Still thought they had great chemistry and pulled it off, but personally I think I need my time travel movies having the same person playing both roles to completely buy in.
http://www.facebook.com/nhleduc Nam Leduc

This. Was. Sick.

Time Travel is always a tricky thing when going about a movie script but I thought Looper had a good touch on this devilish idea of futuristic self interacting with current self. The action was pretty awesome, the story was engaging, and before i knew it, the movie ended from its ‘vicious cycle’. Awesome ! (LOOPER = round and round and round) but ultimately the underlying theme of LOVE is my favorite part. Bruce Willis acting thoroughly on the whim of potentially bringing his love of his life back by changing the past. Not anything extraordinarily original, but had its own taste of innovation as well.

Bruce killin’ kids…devastating but at the same time, the ruthlessness needed to do what it takes to love. It is a bit brain-wracking to understand the course the two lives of Joe and Future-Joe but upon reflection it was cool to see the two being the same person. Clitz from Girl Next Door was always a fun character to watch, and the scars on the body was a nice touch to correlate the present-future perplexity of the loopy loops.

Loved the idea of TK! Hope we mutate soon (2044!!!) but until then, it was an imaginative movie that brought some fun ideas of theoretical, future criminal disposal and Joseph is really getting some new movie roles !

Also, is Jesse (guy who got the TK explosion) from Sarah Connor Chronicles?? Well anyway, the movie had a touch of Star Trek tech in the futuristic sense so i definitely had a good time watching it. Would watch it again definitely to catch subtleties.
- http://moviestinger.com Vinnie Leduc
  
  Yep, he’s from Sarah Connor Chronicles
Xen11

How you could give this anything less than 5 out of 5 is beyond my comprehension. This is a classic and a contender for Best Film of the Year.
- GossipGirlXOXO
  
  The reviewer is right, especially about the ending. Good ride, good film, one of the best sci fis this year, but not the best of the year or close. JGL is hot, even with his Willis nose!