Saturday, October 13, 2012
Looper (2012)
Rating: 3.5/4
(Minor spoilers)
What do you think happens when Cause and Effect are out to get each other?
Looper(2012), which is writer/director Rian Johnson's answer to it, is a tight little package with an interesting premise, an exhilarating and fresh exploration of the premise, brilliant characters and original thrills, that succeeds in holding your attention for the whole 2-hour run-time (and maybe even a little more, including retrospection).
Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a hitman whose targets are sent from the future. He is making a killing (pun intended) and everything is going great until the day arrives when he has to close his own 'loop', i.e. to kill his future self (Bruce Willis). Early on in the movie, in what may be the movie's most inventive episode, we come to know of the gruesome things that can happen to those who do not close their loops.
The movie does not presume to explain the age-old paradoxes of time-travel; it gives them a nod here and there but moves on, employing time-travel to allow some devilishly ingenious relationships to develop between people with motives they would kill or die for. This, more than any other trait, sets this movie apart.
Seen out of context, the action sequences would seem pretty tame and short; but within the 2-hour window, they provide the perfect occasional jolt for that little craving at the back.
There was nothing in the acting or the direction that caught my unwarranted attention, which probably means they were flawless. What I did notice however, was a striking similarity between Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Robert DeNiro doing his trademark smile. Is it just me, or has anyone else observed that?
Is Looper this year's Inception?
Plot-wise, Looper is a closer cousin to Minority Report(2002) (and even Macbeth to a degree) than to Inception. Like Inception, the most fun in Looper is in picking up the crumbs and figuring out things by ourselves; but unlike Inception, Looper is not a mindfuck - there are not too many things that need figuring out.
So - stating my opinion here - it is not up there with Inception (or Minority Report for that matter), but it comes pretty close.
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