LOOPER B
USA China (118 mi)
2012 ‘Scope d:
Rian Johnson Official site
This film steals from at least a dozen or more different movies,
but does it with such relish that it hardly matters, literally inventing a
futuristic world on a relatively modest budget, where the film features plenty
of satiric wit, sardonic dialogue, weird character development, and constantly
changing storylines that will keep the audience guessing what’s happening next,
with a few mind blowing moments, used effectively in the context of this
particular story. Like the two other
Rian Johnson films, BRICK (2005), still his most original feature, and THE
BROTHERS BLOOM (2008), LOOPER is utterly entertaining, a real popcorn movie,
cleverly making use of genre forms as if the director is trying to amuse himself,
where it just feels like everyone had a blast making this movie, as there are
special effects sequences, but also scenes that rely exclusively on wit and
originality, where the entire movie is a game of cat and mouse, as the mob is
always chasing after somebody. Set in
the year 2044, prior to the invention
of time travel, which occurs 30 years into the future and is immediately banned
but taken over by the mob, who invent a foolproof system of taking care of
their undesirables, as they tie the victim’s hands behind their backs, place a
hood over their head and send them off in a time machine, like PRIMER (2004),
where they arrive at a designated time in the same exact location in a rural
area next to a cornfield, like the New Jersey Turnpike of BEING JOHN MALKOVICH
(1999), where they are immediately wasted by hired killers, known as loopers,
as they extinguish bodies in the past so they don’t exist in the future. These loopers have it tough, because in 30
years, they themselves will be sent back, closing the loop, so to speak,
covering their tracks, so there is no evidence connecting any of these assassinations
to people that don't exist. Joseph
Gordon-Levitt, who appeared in both earlier films by the director, plays Joe, a
completely unphased looper, the kind of guy that doesn’t let anything get to
him, who spends most of his time getting high and chasing after strippers, one
of whom, Suzie (Piper Perabo), he may actually care about.
Like BLADE RUNNER (1982), the future has a dreary and dilapidated
look about it, as if everything runs on second hand parts, where there are
futuristic motorcars that ride off into the air, but the retro look resembles
1950’s motorcycles, where loopers for that matter, bear a resemblance to blade
runners who are forced to track down replicants, where the world would be in
constant danger if they didn’t. Joe
immediately comes under suspicion when the operation learns he’s harboring an
agent (Paul Dano) that failed to carry out his mission, who couldn’t pull the
trigger when he realized the guy he was supposed to kill was himself in the
future. Jeff Daniels as Abe is the world
weary head of operations, a guy sent back from the future to run things
smoothly, who has a friendly enough manner, but can also be ruthless in order
to make his point, where like JUDGE DREDD (1995), he uses a hammer instead of a
gavel breaking the hands of his fellow miscreants when they step out of
line. Joe has an interesting habit of
visiting a coffee shop near the cornfield, where he practices French on the
waitress Beatrix (Tracie Thoms), thinking he will live in France once he’s
retired with exactly 30 years left to live.
What happens instead is the same thing that happened to his friend, as
he’s stunned to see himself as the man to be executed and he hesitates, leaving
both the old and the new versions of himself on the run like rats in a
maze. The man he evolves into is Bruce
Willis as Old Joe, who ends up in China instead of France, discovering the love
of his life, Qing Xu, living a few idyllic years together before his 30 years
are up. Right out of THE TERMINATOR (1984),
Old Joe vows to change the past so that he and his wife may live together on
into the future, but to do that he must execute the boss man of the future,
known only as the Rainmaker, where little is known about him, so it’s hard to
trace his past, but he’d be alive during Joe’s era. While Old Joe is focused on what he needs to
do, he’s continually thwarted by trying to keep young Joe alive, as he’s a
completely undisciplined hardass who refuses to listen to anybody, even himself
in the future.
While Abe has a constant surveillance network out looking
for the two Joe’s, young Joe has crawled through the cornfield to a farm on the
other side, where Emily Blunt as Sara, a rifle-toting farmgirl, pulls him out
barely alive and strung out on drugs. Blunt may be the best thing in the
movie, as this perfectly fits her cool reserve, as she’s fervently protecting
her young son Daniel (Kamden Beauchamp), as if she’s hiding from the world as
well. Daniel is an extremely inquisitive but hard headed kid who’s bright
but doesn’t follow instructions at all from his mother, as he pretty much does
whatever he pleases, inquiring about guns from Joe, while Old Joe has narrowed
the Rainmaker down to 3 children, tracking each of them down, one of whom is
Daniel. But first Willis has to take on the entire network of Abe’s men,
turning into Bruce Willis, the one man wrecking machine from DIE HARD (1988),
continually shooting and blowing everyone up. Meanwhile, one of Abe’s men
has visited the farm and is asking questions, instead finding Joe there, but
Daniel flies into a rage that resembles THE OMEN (2006), where we realize he
may literally be the devil incarnate, using tele-kinetic forces that defy
gravity, moving objects at will until they’re floating in air, much like
INCEPTION (2010), which also starred Gordon-Levitt. Basically the
writer/director has a blast creating a sci-fi funhouse thriller that defies
expectations, continually discovering new grounds, mixing set pieces with onsite
rural locations, changing the visual focus, rotating what characters are
featured, but always getting excellent performances from the principal
characters, turning this into a rollicking ride that continually offers more
surprises. Brilliantly mixing genre sequences, Johnson has turned into
one of the more creative writers on the American front. While this has a
more playful feel than something to be taken seriously, it’s still well
executed, continually using the power of the imagination over high tech special
effects. The effects are there, but the originality shown throughout is
much more appealing.
