In the Looper?

    Joseph Gordon Levitt is quickly becoming a bigger name. Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, and now Looper. The time travel thing has been a science fiction staple for years. It is a concept that people love, but it can also become very complex when we start to consider possible outcomes. The idea of going back in time to alter the future never seems to get old in Hollywood and Looper is the latest attempt.

 

    In the future the mob rules and illegal time travel is there new way of eliminating problems. Problems meaning people. Loopers are guys who, for a few bars of silver, literally blow away returning marks with a large shotgun type weapon called a "blunderbuss." They work until their contracts are cancelled and their future selves are sent back for elimination. They are awarded with gold bars and thirty more years of life. JGL plays a drug addicted looper who has some issues. He wants to save enough money to go to Paris. He's in love with a stripper, and is pretty good at his job. Eventually ,after trying to help a fellow looper, his own contract is cancelled. He meets his future self and has to hunt him down. Easier said than done because his future self is bent on killing the future mob boss while he is still a boy. The older version believes that doing this creates a better future. Throw in the fact that some people are born telekinetic and you have Looper.

 

 

   The concept is actually kind of cool. You have to pay attention. JGL seems to get better with every movie. He and Bruce Willis are an interesting paring. I don't think they really look alike, but there is enough resemblance to make the film work. It's an interesting movie considering both of them are right in their beliefs. You never really know what repercussions your actions will cause and the movie plays off of that.

  I liked Bruce Willis. He is starting to show his age, but he still carries the swagger for this type of role. I guess not everything can be Die Hard. He is ruthless when he needs to be, but still maintains the level of humanity. Jeff Daniels is great as the looper boss. He is so awesome on The Newsroom and you can tell he took this gig just to have some fun. I was also very cool with the over all concept of the film. The little boy was adorable. He reminded me of Ray from Jerry Maguire. The telekinetic effects were good for the limited budget.

 The film was missing a more dynamic follow up cast. I wasn't impressed with Emily Blunt. It just felt like this simply wasn't her type of movie. She didn't come across as believable to me and I'm sure some will disagree. I wasn't impressed with Piper Perabo either. She never really seemed to look comfortable in her stripper role. She bares a lot, but I wasn't buying into it. I feel the two biggest problems were pretty obvious. The first was the futuristic world. It seemed too small. The world in Total Recall looked better that this. It was too Children Of The Corn and it should have been more Blade Runner. Hell, I'd settle for Minority Report. The over all look was lacking.  The second major flaw was a villain. Jeff Daniels is cool, but not a menacing villain. When one is being hunted the audience should be afraid of the hunter, but that doesn't happen here.

   Looper is better than most would expect. It can get a little confusing, but it also is a little entertaining. I wouldn't call it a blockbuster, but it certainly isn't "lackluster."