A crackling and hypnotic concoction of sci-fi, thriller, action-adventure, black comedy, and romantic and family drama, “Looper” temporarily dislodged “Little Big Man” as my favorite movie of all-time 10 years ago.
Illogical
Some critics chided “Looper” for not making sense, which is technically true but, based on that logic, NO science-fiction movie ever made can make sense. If you infuse the logic of sci-fi into the real world, sci-fi will lose every time.“Looper” succeeds where virtually all others fail because it establishes its own set of rules early on and sticks with them for the duration. Never is there an 11th hour tweak in the script to wedge in a wrinkle that wouldn’t otherwise fit. The plot is air-tight for the entirety; every word, knowing glance, blink, silent passage, and visual deftly propels the narrative. Any serious aspiring screenwriter should watch this movie as many times as possible.
“Looper” is the third feature from writer-director Rian Johnson and is closer to his first effort (“Brick”) than his second (the vastly underappreciated “The Brothers Bloom”). Following “Looper,” Johnson hit a stone wall as a hired gun for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” but returned to sure footing with “Knives Out” and its just-released follow-up “Glass Onion.”
Young and Old Joe
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis play younger and older versions of the same character. The young Joe is a mob hit man living in 2044 Kansas and the old Joe resides in 2072 Shanghai. From what we can gather, time travel was invented or discovered around 2060 and immediately outlawed so as to prevent any possible tinkering with the past.As is often the case, the law doesn’t apply to organized crime, and they use a bootlegged version of the technology to toss their current problems back in time. The loopers, or hit men, stand at the ready, usually in a desolate field, and blow the victims of the criminals discards away the second they arrive. The looper’s paycheck (in the form of silver and sometimes gold bars) is taped to the victims’ backs when they come back in time , and all they need to do afterwards is burn the bodies. Providing you don’t have conscience, it’s a relatively easy gig.
Not Too Much
If you feel you’ve been given too much plot, trust me, you haven’t. Everything above takes place within the first 15 minutes, and you’ll still have to wait another 15 before old Joe makes his first appearance. Even at the half-hour mark, Johnson’s story is still in its birthing stage and there are at least four more major characters that have yet to be seen.
Influencers
As brilliant and innovative as Johnson’s screenplay is, seasoned movie fans will note more than a few similarities to other filmmakers and authors. There’s some Stephen King, a lot of Philip K. Dick, the afore-alluded to Orson Welles, David Fincher, Ridley Scott, Stanley Kubrick, James Cameron, and Terrence Malick. Johnson doesn’t pinch or pilfer as much as he filters and derives inspiration.There’s nothing new under the sun, but with “Looper” Johnson paints that star with a slightly different shade of yellow and he has crafted one of the grandest examples of storytelling this medium has ever produced.
