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Looper

24/11/2017

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Picture

Genre: Sci Fi / Thriller / Action / Crime
Rating: R
Warnings: Mild Nudity, Mild Drug Use/Withdrawal, Gore/Violence, Brief Body Horror

To get it out of the way, the warnings: there are potentially gratuitous scenes of female nudity with a stripper and a sex worker; the main character uses drugs and is twice seen experiencing withdrawal symptoms; a lot of people get shot and one person gored; there is one focused scene of old, healed mutilations appearing on a time traveller which includes sudden disappearance of body parts.

​Get past this if you can, though, because this film is amazing. It's no wonder people rave about it. Looper has a strong plot, a simple but solid science fiction concept and well-rounded characters. The time travel is complex enough to keep you intrigued but not so complicated as to need diagrams.
With the sheer amount of films being made, the hit-and-miss of watching indie films, and all the ways that films can be disappointing, it was truly amazing to see the credits appear and know I was truly thrilled. Picking for flaws left me only with some criticism of the characters' actions. The plot is airtight and the questions the viewer is left with are all intriguing and non-central. Even the casting of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis as the same person manages to work perfectly.

The blend of genre work well for fans of any. The science fiction elements are easy to understand and grounded in real life. Time travel is here, of course, but it's simple; one way with explained timelines and without any technicalities in the plot at all. The futuristic setting of the present is not too far off, eyeball drugs and flying motorbikes aside, and the further-futuristic setting of the future is brief. There's some telekinetic powers, but as explained and logical as they can be without drawing too much attention from the time travel. The action is interspersed with conversation, exposition and character development: Nobody shoots without motivation, even if they shoot a lot of people. The main character is an assassin and the antagonists are gangsters without feeling like stock characters.

Some interesting questions or just concepts are brought up. The film is set in 2044, but there are only 2 types of gun seemingly in existence and only two new technologies. How did we get there from here? Time travel is invented and immediately banned in 30 years, but the first contact with the past is not explored at all. How did that happen? How were the loopers set up? Sara's past and her sister's death is skirted over when it comes up. What happened? After the end, we don't know if it all ends up okay. What becomes of Joe? A perfect ending to a pretty perfect film.
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