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Looper (USA 2012) – Hunted by The Future. Haunted by The Past
In the year 2042, a Looper – a paid assassin working for the mob, whose job is to kill targets sent to them from the 30 years into the future – receives a new victim to eliminate. His future self.
© TriStar Pictures / Concorde Filmverleih
Geraldine Blecker (Frankfurt) – Look where you will, you’re unlikely to find a negative review of Rian Johnson’s sci-fi thriller, since it opened the Toronto Film Festival to critical acclaim last month. No-nonsense storytelling, relying on performance rather than CGI, heavy on the violence – but never gratuitous. A plot worthy of Philip K. Dick and super-smart dialogue all combined to create one the best films of the year.
The year is 2044; the place: Kansas: The economy: recessed. Time travel has not yet been invented, but already exists 30 years on. There it has been outlawed, despite which the mob makes good use of it – sending their targets back in time to be eliminated by the “Loopers”. These ruthless killers, whose job it is to get rid of the “garbage from the future”, stand ready and waiting, weapons cocked, as their victims – arms tied and hooded – materialise out of the ether.
Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is one such. All in a day’s work, he liquidates his target, collects his pay – in the form of silver ingots attached to the victim’s back – and disposes of the body. All neat and tidy. There’s only one rule: the target must never to escape.
The Loopers would seem to live charmed lives: high earners in an otherwise dystopian landscape, with plenty to spend on wine, women and drugs. But all good things must come to an end and so it is for the Loopers, too. After 30 years, the “loops are closed”, when the Looper is sent back in time to be eliminated in his turn. All part of the package and the price they pay for living the high life.
It’s only when Joe is suddenly confronted by his older self (Bruce Willis) – who is well-prepared and manages to escape assassination – that things get tricky. For Joe Snr. has seen the future and knows where it’s going. And he has come back with a mission, determined to change that which is still to come. While Joe Jnr. has seriously screwed up, as is graphically pointed out to him by his boss (Jeff Daniels). If he wants his 30 years of good times, he better find the target, wipe him out, and finish the job. The sooner, the better…
So begins the chase. Filled with exciting twists and turns, action and suspense; spiced with clever dialogue and two masterly performances from Willis and Gordon-Levitt – who convincingly play the same character, forty years apart. The pace is not even slowed by the sudden introduction of a B-plot, featuring Emily Blunt and her small, enigmatic son – for everything has a purpose and Rian Johnson neatly pulls all the threads together. The mixture of futuristic and retro – compliments to production designer Ed Verreaux – and such innovative touches as psychotropic drugs administered directly into the eyeball, and hard currency in the form of gold or silver bars – adds to the novelty.
Shot in Louisiana and Shanghai for an undeclared – but what must be a relatively modest – budget, Rian Johnson (BRICK, THE BROTHERS BLOOM) has written and directed what is, for me, one of the year’s best films to date – and certainly the finest and most exciting sci-fi thriller to hit the screens in a long time. Go see – you won’t be disappointed!
LOOPER (USA 2012); TriStar Pictures: Running time: 118 mins; US release: September 28, 2012; German Distributor: Concorde Filmverleih; start: October 3; Writer/Director: Rian Johnson, Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Jeff Daniels, Paul Dano; Rated R (for strong violence, language, some sexuality/nudity and drug content)
Joe Snr. & Joe Jnr. discussing the Scientifics of time travel.
© TriStar Pictures / Concorde Filmverleih
