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.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Audio commentary with Writer/ Director Rian Johnson, Actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt which is a fun and informative track about the making of LOOPER.

23 deleted scenes (with optional audio commentary by Rian Johnson and actor Noah Segan) that features some scenes cut for pacing reasons including a couple of scenes in shanghai and a few additional scenes with Kid Blue.   Rian found that scenes with Kid blue slowed the film down and took some drama out of it while Bruce’s performance as Old Joe was better with fewer words.  Also watch for the extended scene in the diner with a longer explanation about time travel.

LOOPER: FROM THE BEGINNING- promotional making-of featurette where actors tell why they wanted or liked working with Rian while showing a brief look behind-the-scenes

THE SCIENCE OF TIME TRAVEL- Rian Johnson, the cast, and Brin Clegg (an author of a time travel book called Build Your Own Time Machine) talk about time travel and the rules of time travel (according to the film).

SCORING LOOPER is a three part featurette on the music of the film with composer Nathan Johnson.

Also included is an animated version of the LOOPER trailer, a download code for the digital copy of the film, and previews for other Sony Pictures releases.  I wish they had included the trailer for LOOPER on the disc too

FINAL ANALYSIS:  LOOPER is a clever sci-fi movie that continues to prove Rian Johnson is a director who continues to hit on target with his films.  The deleted scenes are the best extra.

This review is (c)1-5-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com