Looper is Loopy, alright
13 Oct 2012 12:00 AM GMT
Time travel, the staple diet of science fiction, gets loop-ier in Looper. Given that he’s got a winner of a premise, the director, Rian Johnson, confidently embellishes it with violence. If Joseph Gordon-Levitt gets blunt with his sawed-off shotgun, Bruce Willis gets maniacal with a machine gun. And they —apparently one and the same — are out to outwit each other. We sit back and figure out the wackiness of the plot with an ‘ah-so-that’s-how-it-works’.
The story splits between 2044 and 2074. Gordon-Levitt belongs to 2044 and Bruce Willis 2074. When technology in 2074 makes it impossible to kill peacefully without being caught, the crime masterminds find a way out. They employ time travel — which apparently is both invented and outlawed in 2074 — to transport their victims back in time, where the loopers, paid killers, take care of them. The real action begins when Gordon-Levitt’s character Joe Simmons’ time is up. His employers want to close that particular loop. In steps Bruce Willis, the older Joe Simmons. Strapped with silver, he is sent back to 2044 to meet his younger self. Wily Willis escapes, taking advantage of the momentary pause of Gordon-Levitt when he discovers he has to shoot himself. Now both fugitives have to get out of the mess that would only get messier with every passing minute. Willis figures out the only way both could emerge out of this battle alive is by tackling the source — the Rainman, the man who reigns as mafia lord in 2074. In 2044, Rainman is afterall a helpless kid.
When the science part is spelt out to us dummies, we are let loose gleefully into the future worlds that the director envisioned for us — where bikes fly [but still have that reverberating boom] and farms are watered by artificial rainmakers. Touchscreen gadgets gets sleeker. And the violent world of the criminals gets bloodier. Telekinesis is thrown in for more chaos. Good fun to watch.
The story splits between 2044 and 2074. Gordon-Levitt belongs to 2044 and Bruce Willis 2074. When technology in 2074 makes it impossible to kill peacefully without being caught, the crime masterminds find a way out. They employ time travel — which apparently is both invented and outlawed in 2074 — to transport their victims back in time, where the loopers, paid killers, take care of them. The real action begins when Gordon-Levitt’s character Joe Simmons’ time is up. His employers want to close that particular loop. In steps Bruce Willis, the older Joe Simmons. Strapped with silver, he is sent back to 2044 to meet his younger self. Wily Willis escapes, taking advantage of the momentary pause of Gordon-Levitt when he discovers he has to shoot himself. Now both fugitives have to get out of the mess that would only get messier with every passing minute. Willis figures out the only way both could emerge out of this battle alive is by tackling the source — the Rainman, the man who reigns as mafia lord in 2074. In 2044, Rainman is afterall a helpless kid.
When the science part is spelt out to us dummies, we are let loose gleefully into the future worlds that the director envisioned for us — where bikes fly [but still have that reverberating boom] and farms are watered by artificial rainmakers. Touchscreen gadgets gets sleeker. And the violent world of the criminals gets bloodier. Telekinesis is thrown in for more chaos. Good fun to watch.
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