Looper (2012)

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A delightfully creative idea for a science-fiction film; but the true masterful touch to this is that t uses very basic futuristic notions, such as time travel, to create a complex plot around. There are a fair few connections with Blade Runner, especially the world that these two films are depicting, but despite these similarities while watching Looper the audience does not get distracted with parallels as they are so engrossed in the story.

Despite the obvious difficulties with casting Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis as the same character (but different ages) the makeup department worked spectacularly well to manipulate Gordon-Levitt’s face to a Willis-esc mask. The strength of Gordon-Levitt’s performance shines through all the prosthetics and he gives such a realistic portrayal of Willis. It is a slight sham that Willis simply plays his type-cast character, but this is obviously a role he I comfortable with and can do exceptionally well. Therefore these two make a good pairing for this film. The supporting cast is also very strong, and surprisingly so with the use of such young children; Pierce Gagnon plays a wonderfully creepy child and quite a mature performance.

The main flaw with this film is the introduction of a ‘gene mutation’ called TK which allows people to have slight telekinetic powers. This was introduced early on in a very throw-away manor but you could see that this was simply setting up TK to play a more prominent role however there was little explanation for this phenomenon and (not to give anything away) it did affect the films narrative very strongly. The film appears to be based in quite a bleak future earth and therefore this TK mutation seems oddly sloppily added into the narrative, Rian Johnson obviously decided that due to the film being science-fiction he could get away with throwing in this element with little explanation.

There are enough guns and explosions to placate all those who went to the cinema to see an action film but the script is good enough to keep everyone’s attention and make it more than just a fast-paced attraction. Everything seems to be thoroughly thought through so that this new world the audience is introduced to and the dual narrative never becomes confusing. Looper is a film that performs highly in every element of production.