Saturday, October 20, 2012

Looper

I am now going to institute a rating system and a "quick read" to my blog. For those that don't have the attention span god gave a grasshopper I will summarize my opinion of a movie up at the top along with my "bucket of korn" rating system. One bucket, don't bother, two buckets, you might want to wait for the DVD, three buckets, worth the price of admission, and four buckets, get your ass down to the theater RIGHT NOW!

That being said, Looper gets three buckets of korn. While I feel there are some serious unanswered questions and some serious holes in the story, it was still a very entertaining movie. go see it. (That was the quick read, read on if you want my fully fleshed out opinion).

Remember in my review of Premium Rush I said that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is officially a star now? Looper, his new vehicle does nothing to diminish or tarnish that star. All it really says is that he looks NOTHING like Bruce Willis no matter how many hours he spends in makeup. That being said, Looper is one lovely mind screw and if you love mind screws then this is the movie for you. That doesn't it's not without it's holes and flaws like why the movie takes place where it does is beyond me. And why the lovely Emily Blunt is cast as Sara, a midwesterner and forced to hide her wonderful English accent I feel is a crime. The movie, written and directed by Rian Johnson, the man behind the great Brick which also starred Gordon-Levitt takes place in the future where apparently paper money no longer carries any weight(which makes me wonder why people are still playing with quaters). Gordon-Levitt plays the looper Joe, he's a hitman in the past which is the present and he kills guys the mob from the future wants dead. So they send back these loose ends and the looper erases the target.


Joe is also a drug addict but he's a drug addict with an eye on the future, like that ever happens. He works for Abe who is played bt Jeff Daniels. Abe was sent back from the future to run Joe and the other loopers, to make sure they stay in line. Abe owns a nightclub/strip joint (cliche's abound) which is his headquaters. He's got a good team of young men who get little bars of silver upon killing the target from the future. Joe is saving his for a day when he can retire but there's a few problems. Firstly there is no real retiring and secondly, all the loops are being closed. Meaning loopers are basically loose ends and the mob doesn't like loose ends so they send back the future looper to the past who get's taken out by his present self. Still with me? Good. Upon killing yourself you are out of the game, blessed with a huge payday (bars of gold strapped to your future self), and you get to party until you die.


That's called "closing the loop" and it rarely ever happens but suddenly it's happening to all the loopers on the orders of the new boss of the mob. He's known as the Rainmaker and he wants all loopers killed. Joe himself gets sent back but present Joe can't kill future Joe, played by Bruce Willis because future Joe is too slick for present Joe and he get's away. Future Joe didn't come back without a plan and once he gets away from himself he intends on making that happen. I'll leave it there for now, don't want to give everything away but Looper could have been better at many points along the way. It could have been a less convoluted story line as well but hey, someone thought it would make a good movie. I know it had the potential to be a better one than it is but that doesn't mean it's not entertaining. See you at the theater!

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