Review of Looper

Time travel is a motif I love. It is so complex and confusing that I revel in discovering how different movies, shows or books will tackle the problem. I went into Looper with this same hunger since the film is centered on the interaction of Young Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Old Joe (Bruce Willis), both hit-men for the present and future mob. I know what you’re thinking, “There’s no way they could have chosen a more awesome duo.” You are correct.

The movie opens a bit slowly, introducing a cyclical Joe and his junkie lifestyle, surrounded by the not-so glamorous world of the mob. As far as catching my attention, I was remarkably uninterested after the first ten to twenty minutes. Drugs, girls, swearing, money, violence—definitely a boy movie to start. However gruesome it began, the general appeal pulled through when Joe realizes his life could go in two starkly different directions if he chooses to close his loop and kill his older self, or let Old Joe go.

For the rest of the movie, Young Joe struggles with the consequences he might face for letting Old Joe out of his sight while Old Joe uses his freedom to try and close the loop in a different manner: Take out the mob boss that doles out hits. The one hitch is that the mob boss of the future will be just a child in the present. The concept of these different types of loops keeps the intrigue strong for the remainder of the movie.

Meanwhile, the story becomes a character study of Young and Old Joe as well as the individuals they run into and how the are affected by their pasts. In each age, Joe is a troubled man who desperately wants to rectify his mistakes and it doesn’t take much to realize this in itself is another loop. One Joe creating and shaping the other. The scifi-thriller, time travel plot takes a backseat to some unexpected but cleverly foreshadowed twists that capture an otherwise bored audience. What Looper lacks in its primary plot, it makes up for in its subplots and superb ending. And again, no better duo could have been chosen to lead the film.  B-