The narrative begins in Kansas, year 2044. A specialized assassin, known as a “looper,” played with sheer bravado by Joseph Gordon Levitt, is hired to dispose of humans that are sent from thirty years into the future. The director applies a repetitive montage of the killings, which expresses Joe’s dull work. Joe stands in the field, checks his pocket-watch, a jump-cut of a body appears in front of him, and BANG—one shot from a shotgun and his silver bars are waiting for him on the guy he just killed. The repetitive nature of Joe’s work deemphasizes any romantic vision of being a stone-cold assassin for the mob. The film is more concerned with motivation and atmosphere, rather than stylized, slam-bam action set-pieces.
When we think of “assassin,” we think of super-cool movie villains, who pullout fancy sniper rifles, silencers attached, shooting from an open window. Director Johnson goes against the grain, avoiding action-movie prototypes. Levitt’s character is the quintessential lone-wolf. His narrative voice-over in the beginning evokes film noir conventions from the 40s. Furthermore, Looper is a unique hodgepodge of noir, sci-fi, action and a touch of horror. When the film introduces the concept of telekinesis, it suggest a sci-fi element, but towards the end, the idea develops into something bloody-horrific—a special nod to Brian Depalma’s Carrie (1976).
When Joe’s future self, played by Bruce Willis, is sent back in time to be killed by Joe in the present, he hesitates, and Willis gets away. There’s a point where the unfolding of the story stops, and we see snippets of Joe’s growth into the future. Then, the story resumes, looping back to where we left off, but this time around, the audience has a sense of what Willis’s character is like. Levitt and Willis have a symmetrical relationship, yet their motivations for surviving are different. At first, Bruce Willis’s character seems like the hero in the situation, but as the film progresses, we realize that his mission is just as bleak and evil as the terminator’s hunt for Sarah Connor in The Terminator(1984).
Levitt, constantly fighting off the mob and his future self, seeks shelter in a farm house, where Sara, played by Emily Blunt, resides in isolation with her son. Levitt’s character develops a relationship with Blunt; the momentum slows down. The style, both in editing and pace, becomes more relaxed. It’s like a break from the chaos, so the audience can sit and really get to know the main characters. The scenes at the farm might seem a little too convenient for the plot, but the romance between Sara and Joe brings backbone to the story.
Looper had me worried that I was going to chase the time-travel plot, like a dog and his tail, but the screenplay’s dynamite resolution brought harmony to every paradoxical idea that was floating in my head. Looper is a remarkable head-trip of a film.
***1/2 (out of four stars)
