Joe is a Looper in the year 2044.  Loopers work for a crime syndicate in 2074 who sends people back 30 years to be killed and disposed of.  When a Looper contract is up, his old self is sent back with a big payday and this is known as “closing the Loop”.  When Loopers don’t close their own Loop, it can cause problems.   A new crime boss in the future known as The Rainmaker is closing all of the Loops.   Joe is living a carefree life between kills until he is confronted by a version of him from 2074.   Before he is able to kill his older self, Old Joe gets the jump on him and escapes.  

LOOPER is an intelligent sci-fi film with plenty of action and a premise that is worthy of another sci-fi classic known as PRIMER.  It is an almost perfect film except I would have written the ending a little differently because I think there was more than one solution besides the one Rian Johnson chose for the climax.   It is twisty little action movie in a world where the gap between rich and poor is even greater than today in addition to the timeless nature of a world deep in Depression.  You see the timeline of old Joe’s life until when he met young Joe.   Rian Johnson had make-up effects change the way Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s face looked so that he looked a little closer to Bruce.  Little clues and detals are layered through the film (ten percent of people having telekinetic abilities isn't just a throwaway detail).   I enjoy Johnson’s films even though they’re not quite perfect, but I wonder what he could do with even a bigger budget.  Still LOOPER is one of the better sci-fi movies to come out this year.  I wonder what the blu-ray will bring since China has a longer version with more scenes that take place in Shanghai.  I hope they offer two cuts of the film because I am curious how this intelligent and twisty film will hold up on a second viewing.

This movie review is (c)10-2-2012 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com