93% Looper

"Looper" is just a popcorn movie, but it's a damn good one. It wins my vote for Best Popcorn Movie of 2012 so far, easily besting "Prometheus" and "Marvel's The Avengers." (It's been a particularly bad year for popcorn movies.) "Looper" was directed by Rian Johnson, a relatively young filmmaker with only two other films under his belt: "Brick" (2005) and "The Brothers Bloom" (2008). "Looper" is his first attempt at a popcorn movie. He is so good at it that he just may become the next Christopher Nolan, who made cinema history by bringing arthouse depth and braininess to action movies. (One could even go so far as to say that Nolan defined a movie era, the early 21st century, the way Steven Spielberg did in the late 1970s and early 80s.) The storyline of "Looper" is quite unique. In about the year 2070, a criminal syndicate takes care of problem people in a unique way. Instead of killing them, it sends them back in time, to the year 2040. In that year, an assassin, called a looper, is waiting for them and immediately kills them. Interesting problems arise when the looper doesn't make the kill. Also interesting is when a looper has to kill the older version of himself. This is known as "closing the loop." A looper played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt gets into just this predicament, when he is ordered to kill the older version of himself, played by Bruce Willis. Needless to say, Gordon-Levitt doesn't immediately kill Willis. They get to talking, and Willis explains that there's a psychopath who has taken over the syndicate in 2070. Willis wants to find the younger version of that psychopath and take him out. The problem is that psycho will now be about 8 years old. So Willis and Gordon-Levitt will have to kill a child. Making matters worse, they're not sure which child it is. They only have a birth date and a hospital. They must kill every boy born in that hospital on that day. Yes, there's a deep under-current of grimness to the film. Any time you stage the murder of children in a movie, audiences shudder to the depths. Eventually they find the boy they think is the psychopath, and that's when the film gets very interesting. Emily Blunt plays his mother. She realizes that her son is troubled and is determined to heal his emotional wounds. The key is for her to stay alive long enough to make a difference in his life. I won't reveal how it turns out, but I'll say it was a very satisfying cinematic experience. Rarely have I felt so invested in a child's healing and survival. Johnson does a remarkable job portraying this boy's psychic wounds and tapping into the unique healing power of a loving parent. Bravo to Rian Johnson. I can't wait to see what he does next.

October 1, 2012

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/looper/

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