Director: Rian Johnson
Writer: Rian Johnson
Cast: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Jeff Daniels and Piper Perabo
Studio: Tristar Pictures
Cities have continued to expand upwards and outwards but they themselves are filled with tent cities in which a large vagrant class live. Life is cheap and hard in this world in which the have’s and have not’s are much more separated than today. There is enough in the film to make to world feel as though it is our near future and the technology on display feels as though it is a few logical steps along the road. I especially liked the ingenious solution to running cars after the inevitable the oil crisis and there’s also a great line about China in there which had a lot of people laughing.
Time travel is background dressing in “Looper”. It is explained in fragments, not giving you a clear cut explanation how it works, yet not dumbing it down as a cheap plot devise either. Johnson paints a not so glamorous take on the future. The look and feel is rather dark and bleak, rather than a flashy, technology driven future, we see in most science fiction epics. The story is small in scope and just deals with the characters at hand. Every scene, plot point, and action, has a purpose to how the film will eventually rap up, in its ambitious conclusion.
“Looper” succeeds wonderfully in drawing you into it’s own world – a highly stylised and beautifully shot vision of the future. Perhaps what gives the film it’s own identity is the use of film noir elements which are fantastically thrown into the mix. A morally complex plot, a criminal underworld and a protagonist who wouldn’t look out of place in a 1940s flick give the film some weight and are a throwback to one of the golden ages of cinema.
The performances are also exceptional across the board. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has established himself as one of the finest upcoming actors as of late and here he cements his position at the top. The film is an amazing feat and one that is well worth revisiting time and time again. I’d recommend that you run out and watch it now!
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!
