dvd of the week
In 2074, mobsters use time machines to send their enemies 30 years back in time to be killed and disposed of by loopers. More and more loopers are “closing the loop,” the phrase for being forced to kill their 30-years-older selves in a violent method of contract fulfillment.
But when Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is set to kill his older self (Bruce Willis), old Joe manages to escape. On the run from himself, old Joe hunts down the little boys who possibly are going to become a man known as the Rainmaker, who is responsible for not only the whole rash of loop closings in the future but also the murder of old Joe’s wife.
The mother of one of the potential Rainmakers is a farmer named Sarah, played by Emily Blunt. If you ignore the time travel paradoxes, and you just focus on the practical and moral crisis of the Joes, Sarah, and her son Cid, then you’ll most likely find yourself immersed in one of the best original science fiction films of the last few years.
Johnson’s script, despite its time travelling logic, is complex but taut, managing to hit major themes about violence and loyalty and justice with great economy and with little needless, nerdy exposition.
Johnson uses few special effects to create a fully realized vision of possible dystopian future, and his direction of his actors is similarly focused and unflashy.
Gordon-Levitt, despite being second billed to Willis, is the star, doing both a finely honed imitation (physically and affectively) of a young Willis and a great turn as a sexy, noir hitman full of pathos.
Nicely written review. I also thought it was well done. Acting trumped special effects which is quite a departure from most fantasy and sci-fi these days. Levitt carried the show, Willis could have been replaced by another actor.