Zombie Column: Looper

Evan's back in town for this weekend, so we had to go see a movie. Okay, we didn't, but we wanted to go see one. With a good slate of mindless movies already out (Resident Evil, Dredd 3D, Taken 2), we set our sights on higher fare, and went to see Looper. Evan had been adamant about going to see it, and I came around to his point of view. Everything I heard about the movie was good, so I was pretty pumped about it.

I won the preview game, guessing a bit on Paranormal Activity 4 (pass), and nabbing Cloud Atlas (I just finished the book, just so I could see the movie - it looks that interesting). We both missed Parker (with Jason Statham!) and Broken City (with a bunch of people). We had each seen those last two previews, but just couldn't remember the name of those movies. Parker's on my list of movies to see (again, Jason Statham!), but we'll pass on Broken City. Evan made the comment that it looks like one of those movies where they put all the good stuff in the trailer. I can't disagree.

For the actual movie itself, it's brought to you by four different companies. I don't know why there are so many involved, unless each main actor had their own houses that had to be involved. Anyway, the main plot of Looper is thus: time travel will be invented some time between 2044 and 2074. It will immediately be outlawed, used only by giant criminal syndicates. They use it to send victims (tied up and blindfolded) back into the past, there to be murdered by the eponymous Loopers. Apparently it's too hard to eliminate people in the future, because they're tracked all to hell and back. But kidnapping and sudden disappearances are fine. Don't think about it too hard. Eventually, the Looper himself (or herself, although we only ever see male Loopers) is sent back to be murdered by himself. Again, don't try to think about it too hard. That's called closing your loop. Each victim is also sent back with a small payment to the Looper. Closing the Loop has a much bigger payday, but starts a ticking clock, counting down the Looper's life.

If you've seen the previews, you know that the trouble starts when Joe (our hero) can't kill his future self, letting his Loop run. Whoops. Massive problems ensue, because future Joe can get up to all sorts of shenanigans while he's in the past. This means that present Joe is in all sorts of trouble with his boss, who was sent back from the future to watch all the Loopers. Got it?

I could probably talk about the plot, but that would confuse you further. However, the plot does resolve itself into something slightly less confusing. It plays out differently than you would think. However, try not to think too deeply about causality or temporal paradoxes after the movie's done. You can accept the film at face value, and it's a pretty good way of saying "here's how you change the future". And even one layer down, the implications are pretty decent. But digging deeper and you run into problems. Time is like a Mobius Strip, and you can try and change it, but you'll eventually wind up back where you started, after travelling down an alternate reality for a while.

So, Looper broke my brain. It's still worth seeing. The music isn't fantastic, and there wasn't enough action for my tastes. But it's still a great movie to think about, especially for the awesome impression of Bruce Willis that Joseph Gordon-Levitt pulls off. They squint and growl the same way! I'll put it at the top of Blu-Ray movies, although I bet Evan gives it at least nine stable time-loops out of ten.