REVIEW: Looper (2012)

Described as this year's ‘The Matrix’, Looper is a sci-fi epic about time-travel, gangsters and some awfully messy paradoxes. A monologue from Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) opens the film explaining how time-travel has yet to be invented, but thirty years from now, it exists. However, time-travel is illegal and is used by gangsters who wish to have their ‘hits’ disposed off.

So enters Joe, a hitman who leads a fairly simple life: wait for the hit to appear, take care of the hit, receive payment for the hit and so forth. Life is easy. That is, until his future self (Bruce Willis) is sent back to “close the loop”. And so the films events are set into motion.

Looper has an all-star cast which fit the bill brilliantly. JGL delivers on his leading role particularly as a younger version of Willis, although he is criminally underused in the second half of the picture. Willis is as good as ever, and he makes it easy to sympathise with his the older Joe. Emily Blunt plays a major role in the title and while she doesn’t stand out amongst her male counterparts, her performance is strong and believable as a desperate mother who unconditionally loves her troubled son.

Although sparse, the action scenes are extremely tense and will keep you on the edge of your seat. One particular scene at a diner sees the predictable young Joe up against the more experienced old Joe. Some might say that a few of the scenes are a little too cold-blooded (an escapee hit whose limbs disappear right before his eyes is quite disturbing) but due to the low frequency of such scenes, it never feels like it’s overdone.

There are, however, some major concerns with the plot. Time-travel is a subject that has to be handled carefully, otherwise it’ll leave itself right open to many plot-holes and paradoxes. Looper doesn’t handle it as well as it should do, and unless you’re willing to look past these issues then you shouldn’t have a problem with this.

However if you’re like me, then it could be an issue. I won’t spoil the ending for you, but it left me scratching my head. I understood the plot, but I was left wondering about the ‘ifs’ and ‘maybes’ that should have happened. The plot is pushed along at a nice enough pace that you may forget the inconsistencies, but once the picture has finished, your thoughts will end up coming back to them.

Verdict: overall, a well-acted and thought-provoking film. Some major inconsistencies that will leave you questioning the film long after the credits roll.

Score: 8.0/10