"This time travel crap just fries your brain like an egg."

Hello Everyone :-)

I’ve very nearly finished writing up all the films I’ve seen in the past month! Today we’re having a look at ‘Looper’.

In 2044, the United States has suffered economic collapse, causing severe social decay and growth in organized crime. In 2074, time travel is invented, but is immediately outlawed. Tracking technology has rendered it virtually impossible to dispose of bodies secretly, so crime bosses use illegal time travel to send those they want killed back to 2044 where they are killed by the titular "Loopers": assassins paid with silver bars strapped to the victim. When crime bosses want to end a Looper's contract, they send his future self-back to be killed by his younger self, referred to as "closing the loop".

In 2044 Young Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) works as a Looper in Kansas. During a contract Young Joe finds himself face to face with his future self (Old Joe, Bruce Willis). Instead of killing him on sight he hesitates and Old Joe escapes. Old Joe is hell bent on saving his future but Young Joe wants to close his loop before his Boss closes it for him.

Science Fiction is probably my favourite genre, not just of films, but any story-telling medium. The wonderful thing about Sci-Fi is that it gives film makers the opportunity to comment on social issues and ideas in an exciting, inventive way. In the same manner that parents mix chopped up vegetables in with their children’s mashed-potato to fool them into eating them, the makers of ‘Looper’ stealthily hide more profound messages and ideas in something that is, on the surface, a futuristic action thriller.

The film is visually stylish but not clinical in the way that the recent ‘Total Recall’ remake was. Its sets and vistas have a very ‘lived-in’ feel to them which works perfectly with the idea that it is supposed to be a time of massive financial turmoil. It’s depiction of societal breakdown bought to mind ‘Children of Men’ and believe me I do NOT use that comparison lightly.

Bruce Willis has repented for his god-awful appearance in ‘The Expendables 2’ earlier this year by pulling this gem out of the bag. It’s a dark and surprisingly small role but Willis puts in a great performance.
Emily Blunt is brilliant as Sara, which is all I’m going to say about her. If you want to see the film and haven’t heard anything about her character, I implore you, please don’t! The less you know, the bigger the payoff.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is having a pretty good year isn’t he??? Great turns in ‘50/50’, ‘Dark Knight Rises’ and now this. Prosthetic nose aside (it distressed me to look at it initially but I hardly noticed it by the end), Gordon-Levitt rises to the unenviable challenge of being Young Joe. He is an ostensibly hedonistic, unlikable character who is given a properly fleshed out story arc and believable motivations.

‘Looper’ doesn’t well on the physics of time travel and it’s the better for it. There are times where I revel in unraveling wibbly-wobbley timey-wimey plots (I had hours of fun with the recent River Song story arc on Doctor Who) but in ‘Looper’ it’s just not necessary. Initially I felt a bit daunted and though this was going to be another ‘Inception’ style head-scrambler but the audience is only really asked to understand the idea that the young Looper has to dispatch his older self.

The beating heart of ‘Looper’ lies in its emotional themes. It isn’t the first film to tackle the ideas it does but it’s certainly the boldest. There a certain elements of ‘Terminator’ in there and previous episodes of 'Misfits' and 'Doctor Who', but what sets ‘Looper’ aside is that it puts these troubling, moral dilemmas up on the screen, front and centre, instead of skirting round them. There is no denying the hard edge that this film has. It is unflinching both emotionally and in its wince-inducing scenes of bloody violence.

I was aware of the Rian Johnson’s (writer and director) work because of his involvement with the band The Mountain Goats but I’d never seen any of his feature work before. Based on the evidence of ‘Looper’ I’ve very excited to see where he goes next.

As I’ve said before; cerebral, emotionally engaging science-fiction is becoming a bit of a dying art but films like ‘Looper’ reassure me that there are still people out that that dream big and tell wonderful stories. I loved it.

So, as the Autumn draws in and everything is cold and miserable let’s have some...

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)
1. New Les Mis posters! One is called ‘Russell Crowe is sad’ and the other one is entitled ‘Look at Hugh Jackman’s Beautiful face’. Les Misérables is out in the UK on 11th January 2013 :-)

2. There is a sequel to ‘Woman in Black’ is going to be directed by one of the guys that directed ‘Misfits’! Tom Harper directed some of the episodes from series 1 and the Christmas Special from series 2 (which I loved). In all honesty I’m not sure if ‘Woman in Black’ needed a sequel but it’s happening and I think, based on his past work, Harper is up to the challenge. That doesn’t mean I’ll be going to see it though, I don’t think I’m completely over my horror-phobia!

That’s all for today!

Goodbye till next time :-)
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