Stay In Touch!

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/OurHonestView

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OurHonestView

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ourhonestview

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Review: "Looper" (2012), Joseph Gordon-Levitt Loops into Mainstream Status!


*First things first if you haven't actually seen the movie you probably don't get the joke in the title of the review!*

 Ever wonder what it would be like to have a conversation in a diner over breakfast with your future self? And have you ever wanted to ask you future self what will happen to you in the future? If you answered, "yes" to these questions then you probably want to check out "Looper" featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis. 

This movie is set about 30 years in the future where the economic crisis is tenfold then it is in 2013. Causing crime organizations to take hold of the collapsed economy. Now thirty years past the movie setting the mob uses time traveling to send people they want to get rid of back to the present time in the movie to be killed and disposed off. Effectively eliminating them from the timeline. The men that kill these people are "Loopers", who get coördinates and wait for their hit to arrive right in front of them, bag over their head, hands tied and mouth gagged. The hits are immediately shot, and the Looper takes the price, which is tied, to the back of the intended target. When Looper's contracts expire they're future self's are sent as targets and killed. Thus ending the Looper, they call this closing the loop. How clever of them. This also gives the Looper "X" amount of years to live their lives freely until this time happens, since time is described only as a "Circle." 

Levitt's character is Joe, a drug addicted man who uses a blunderbuss gun to kill his targets. However his choice of gun limits his ranger to within 15 yards. Joe's goal is to learn french and save all his earnings so he can run away before the loop is closed. To stray away from the movie for a minute, lets talk about Levitt's career this year. He has been an independent movie phenomenon for many years, then gaining mainstream status in Christopher Nolan's "Inception" (2010). He would go on to crush 2012 being in four of my favorite movies of the year; which in bowling they would call his success a "Hambone". These films where; "The Dark Knight Rises" another Nolan film, "Premium Rush", "Looper" and finally "Abraham" sealing the deal as one of the top stars of the past year. I can't wait to see what 2013 bring for the young talented Joseph Gordon-Levitt. 

Back to the movie the action picks up fast, which is great, we meet Joe's best friend Seth who panics when he realizes his target is himself, and the target flees. This leads to Joe ratting him out to save him and the Mob tormenting and torturing Seth's body so the scars show up on the future Seth's body. They then send him a message to where to meet. Which is ultimately a trap and I'll leave your mind to guess what happens next. During Joe's next hit its non-other than future Joe, aka Bruce Willis. However Willis' arms are untied and he has no bag over his head. Willis or future Joe quickly subdues present Joe giving him a warning to run away. We then see a montage of Joe's future as a looper and leads up to the thirty years where loops are being killed. Joe has retired and found love, which is why future Joe is so reluctant on present Joe living. A mob master named Rainmaker sends future Joe back in order to close the loop but reasons unknown. Present Joe burns a message into his arm for future Joe to meet him, however the two Joe's have different reasons to go on. Present wants to kill his future self to close the loop so he can move on. 

While future Joe wants his past self to run away so the life he has lived will stay in the circle and unchanged. To do this however he must kill the Rainmaker as a child, so that the future he has experienced will be altered. Future Joe gives his past self a map listening three possibilities to where the child could be. Present Joe finds a farm as one of the places, and meets Sara (Emily Blunt) a farmer who takes care of a child name Cid (Pierce Gagnon), claiming to be Cid's mother. However Cid is a genius and knows that his real mother died years prior and remembers. We later learn that the map had numbers, which happen to be Cid's birthday. 

Later after being close to Sara and Cid present Joe tries to protect them from the Mob however a Gat or looper goes to kill them. Cid falls and releases a huge blast of telekinesis energy revealing he suffers from TK a disease in the future that gives certain people telekinetic abilities. Cid kills the man and it is revealed that Cid by mistake killed his mother in a similar scenario. The Rainmaker however is described as a man who watched his mother die in front of him, had a synthetic jaw and killed all mob members himself, hence why he wanted to get rid of the loopers. Present Joe now wants to kill Cid to prevent the Rainmaker however Sara convinces him that Cid can be good. While this is going on Willis is captured by the Mob however easily kills them on in a rage. Similar to "Expendables 2" (2012) or any of the "Die Hard" films, I suppose a great quote would have been "Yippe Kai Yay Mother-Loopers" He then finds the location of Sara, present Joe and Cid and goes after them. Cid releases another blast of energy when future Joe goes to kill Sara. He is shoot in the jaw, which causes him to use more energy, which would explain why the Rainmaker hates loopers, and has the power to stop everyone. Which leads to the question is the Rainmaker a bad guy? All about you’re perceptive of the film. 

THEN shocker Sara who is revealed to be Cid's aunt has TK and is able to use it to calm Cid down. This causes future Joe to attempt to kill Sara again, which causes Present Joe to realize that all four of their lives are entangled in a messy circle and the only way to end it is to erase himself, otherwise he creates the Rainmaker in every scenario in life which explains their future relationship. I'll skip a the spoilers now, however the film ends with the image of Cid as a child, which begs the question; is the Rainmaker a bad guy? 

All about you’re perceptive of the film. Another possible answer was, Sara was right when she said Cid could be a good person with his powers wronging the ones that caused others pain. With an amazing story that you never truly no villain except to who you perceive as the villain "Looper" hits the idea of time travel out of the park. Using Willis memories to change the present that Levitt lives in to change the future is a confusing concept at first but truly makes sense and is unique. When you become entangled in a circle everyone in this circle is affecting and there is no way to fix it but to erase it. Going back to what I said earlier the villain is never clearly defined. Willis and Levitt are set on the Rainmaker who kills loopers as the villain. 

However one could argue that the loopers such as Willis and Levitt are the villains, seeing also as they are defeated in the end. Something I also loved in this movie is how flawless they make it feel that Levitt truly grows up to be Willis, through the montages and memories of each character. Also the fact that they are superb actors also helps. Though who are we kidding Nightwing can't grow up to be John McClane. Now back to that question I asked earlier, you may want to change your answer to "no" seeing as maybe not knowing the future is safer for everyone. 

Greatest Review's gives "Looper" (2012) 4 1/2 stars out of 5. For a riveting story, great character choice and development and have course a great concept! We at Greatest Review's look forward to the 2013 careers of Willis and Levitt. I also have to give a shout out to the fact that Emily Blunt does an amazing job concealing her British accent for a southern one. And also the seven-year-old Pierce Gagnon is amazing as Cid and is truly talented. We can't wait to see him in the future (Or can we).
 Remember to "Like" us on Facebook. Be a Fan https://www.facebook.com/GreatestReviewsOnTheNet 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>By: Gabriel Roderick

No comments:

Post a Comment