“Looper” is a movie set in the year 2044 in which hired assassins, or “loopers,” kill targets sent from 30 years in the future by the mob. Joe (Joseph Gordon Levitt) is one of these “loopers” who excels at his job and reaps the rewards in the form of money, women, fast cars and social status.
All is well until Joe’s future self, portrayed by Bruce Willis, is sent back and escapes.
Joe’s future self has his own motives besides being killed and begins to wreak havoc in Joe’s present.
Take equal parts of great science fiction time-travel movies like “Terminator” and “12 Monkeys,” throw in a dash of 2009’s “Push,” and viewers are left with “Looper.” The movie gets an “A” for effort but fails to develop a lot of necessary components to make it great. If the story was just about Joe stopping his future self from wrecking the present, that would be simple and make a good movie. Unfortunately, there is a side story focusing on a poor single mother (Emily Blunt) and her 10-year-old son that makes the story drift somewhere else.
What viewers can give “Looper” credit for is not letting the weight of the time-travel mechanic weigh the movie down. Levitt and Willis could have phoned this in, but each makes an effort to take on slight characteristics of the other to make it work. The two work well and almost inspire sympathy if they were not hired killers.
The movie is very well laid out with enough action and twists to sustain itself. Hover bikes and weird weapons are present, but “Looper” always remains grounded and relatable. Every character’s motives are crystal clear, and by the time the last act comes, the writers allow the story to finish without more shocks. While the fictional future is not completely fleshed out, enough is explained so the viewer is not in complete disbelief. Take it at face value: “Looper” is an extremely enjoyable movie with a more emotional core than expected.