Looper Review
It isn’t often when a film grabs you by the collar and growls “You’re coming with me!” Looper doesn’t muck about. You are introduced to the world, the scenario, the set up, the characters, the silly ideas behind it and lets you, the audience, have a good soak in it all to really adjust. All the while the pace is forever moving forwards.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Joseph Simmons a young and successful Looper. Basically he is called upon by his bosses in the future who send people back to the past to be eliminated. Levitt needs only be on time and be ready with a shotgun in hand to instantly take out whatever subject is sent back to him. Once that job is done he only has to dispose of the body. He can then take his blocks of silver as payment and save for his future while he parties on down in the evening with his friends and co-workers.
But one day he is brought literally face to face with himself. His future self (Bruce Willis) is sent back and the two end up in a game of cat and mouse as they chase themself all over the city and beyond.
Bruce Willis (seen this year, so far, in The Cold Light Of Day, Moonrise Kingdom, Lay The Favourite, Expendables 2 , and almost GI Joe: Retaliation), and Joseph Gordon Levitt (see this year in 50/50, The Dark Knight Rises, Premium Rush with Lincoln yet to come this year) clearly two of the busiest men in Hollywood strike gold with Rian Johnson’s Looper.
What’s most frustrating about Looper is simply the fact that the opening half of the film seemed to have it cemented as “Film of the Year” but suddenly and without warning drops suddenly to a three star second half. Not only does this take the crown of the film’s head, but it also potentially drags it screaming away from potential lists of significance.
Looper is brilliant in its first half. Levitt and Willis are both on top form – their interaction on screen is nothing short of majestic. The choices the film makes – even in its second half – are brave and unexpected. What is killing the film is the sudden shift in gear and relocation to a farmhouse. Here onwards the film is plodding, slow. And it takes this amount of time before you realise that the film’s plot has also shifted focus for the rest of the duration which leaves much of what was set up in the first act rather superfluous.
As for the time travel – well let’s not get into that one. Anyone with half an ego on the subject matter will point out the time holes and lack of logic – especially concerning the Levitt/Willis character arc. But full marks go to director Rian Johnson for shooting such an exciting and idea-riddled film. It’s only crushing it didn’t power through to the end.
Steven Hurst