Looper Review

Release Date: 28 September 2012

Age Certificate: 15

Running Time: 119 mins

Director: Rian Johnson 

Writers: Rian Johnson

Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt

In the year 2074, some sort of tracking technology has made it virtually impossible to dispose of bodies secretly, so they send the target thirty years into the past. This is where a hired assassin awaits, these people are called Loopers. But the last thing a Looper wants is for the gangsters to close the loop. This means they have to transport the Loopers future self back into the past where they have to kill them like any other target.

The film is a unique twist on a usual time travel film, I like that. It’s only once in a blue moon that an odd film is great. But unfortunately, the film did not seem to click together, something wasn't there, something I can’t really place my finger on.

But first, let us start with the positives then I will point out the things I did not enjoy. When Joseph Gordon-Levitt first popped up onto the screen, he seemed like a man with a tad too much make up on his face. I had to get used to this. He is one of my favorite actors, and he did not disappoint, his performance was the best in the film. Joseph’s life still holds much more. The defining moment in this film was when two versions of the same man discuss time paradoxes over a dinner table. The film is just full of acting masterpieces; this was the best attribute about the film.

A disappointing thing about the making of Looper is that it had a tiny budget of what it was trying to achieve ($30,000,000), when you look on the scale of high end sci-fi, Inception had a budget of $160,000,000; Looper is blown out of the water, it’s minuscule  You could see they had to make cut backs because one minute he was driving an old Mazda, the next he was on a futuristic hover bike.

Another downside of the film is that if the gangsters from 2074 can send the target anywhere in the world, why would they send them to a Looper. Why not just cut out the middle man; zap them in a volcano or in the middle of the sea. These little floors just annoy me in a film, I want to go home and not think ‘hang on...’

Looper is far from perfect; the main thing holding it up is were its acting performances and directing. It had good intentions but fell flat. It was my most highly anticipated film of the year, for it to slap me in the face was very disappointing. 

7.5/10

Play this on loop: