In 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent 30 years into the past, where a hired gun awaits. Someone like Joe, who one day learns the mob wants to ‘close the loop’ by transporting back Joe’s future self.

Directed: Rian Johnson

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

What we think: The build up to this film and all the hype surrounding it was pretty huge. It was labelled as this years Matrix, and that is always going to be a bold statement to live up to.

After leaving the cinema I was still unsure whether or not I actually enjoyed it, yes it’s a Sci-fi but one that is of different ilk to the likes of Minority Report and Blade Runner for example.

It’s as confusing as Inception if you don’t pay close attention to it, if you do pay attention then it’s a brilliantly scripted plot with some very good performances from both Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis.

Joe (Gordon-Levitt) is a looper, tasked with getting rid of mob targets who are sent back from the future, with a no-nonsense and no questions asked attitude. When the mob wants to close a loop they send back the looper’s future self complete with gold bars to ensure they enjoy the next thirty years before the inevitable happens.

When Joe’s future self (Willis) escapes, which is the only rule, Joe has to hunt him down before the mob find him first. It’s a clever story, but don’t expect an illustrious futuristic bound escapade. It would be hard to tell from looking at the surroundings that this was even set in the 2040′s let alone when the scenes move thirty years in the future, flying bikes being the odd exception to the rule.

Bruce Willis remembers a time when he had hair

It’s not just the young Joe that has his problems, old Joe has come back from 2074 with a set of his own. A montage set in Shanghai which if we tell you anymore would really spoil things, adds another piece to the jigsaw. It has something to do with a character called The Rainmaker who has seemingly been closing a lot of loops recently himself, but we’ll stop there.

Gordon-Levitt compete with facial prosthetic to make him look like a young Bruce Willis plays the role very well, he’s a talented individual and it shows. Willis is grizzled and still managing to keep the pace up, looking as comfortable as ever when there is a gun fight to sink his teeth into.

The film for me takes a strange turning point when it moves to the farmhouse, there is time for some real drama between Sara (Emily Blunt) and young Joe, but it goes  from science fiction to some kind of supernatural horror. I personally, in reflection didn’t like the ending all that much, it boarder lined on the absurd.

Looper will certainly hold it’s own against other time travel films past and surely to come, but the best film of the year this is not, of course as always that is just a matter of opinion.

View the trailer

What did you think of Looper? Leave a comment and let us know!