It’s almost mid-20th Century, and Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, in a role that was written specifically for him, yet, interesting to note, it’s his face that is altered to look like actor Bruce Willis who is portraying the older version of himself rather than vice-verse) is a looper—a assassin who kills men sent to him from the future. The whole clandestine operation comes full circle when a looper is sent his older self to kill. Trouble arises when a looper fails to fulfill this element of his contract. Bruce Willis plays the aged Gordon-Levitt who travels back in time to kill his boss, raising all kinds of unanswered questions. For the most part, the concept is sound and remains mostly uncluttered. However, whenever a film must rely on narration to explain its rules, exceptions, etc, one is forewarned that they must be wiling to throw the movie more leeway than usual in order to enjoy the proceedings. That being said, this is one film that didn’t close all the loops on its plot-holes.
For me, the main selling point is Emily Blunt. Blunt plays Sara, a farmer Joe comes across with secrets of her own. Blunt gives her rural character a slightly deep twang. Her Sara is lonely, defiant, inconsistent. She’s doing the best job she possibly can considering her abnormal circumstances. If Blunt had been born a few decades earlier, she would probably be having a completely different career, but considering her talent and the opportunities available, this is a movie that you might expect a younger Cate Blanchett to show up in. Blunt’s the glue of the film, along with a surprisingly, eerily mature turn from Pierece Ganon, a pint-size kid who plays his role decades beyond whatever his age is.
It’s also interesting to note Looper’s budget of $30M. As you can expect for a science-fiction movie of this price, the production values aren’t exceptional. There is a minimalist feel to the atmosphere, especially considering that the main setting is a farm. With its strong opening weekend, it’s looking likely that Looper will be a solid hit, though its worldwide grosses may turn it into something even more profitable. It’s also a sign of the times, I reckon. Original material is sparse, and 2013 promises a slew of sci-fi movies. With its success, we may be seeing more of the like.
Movie Spoiler Summary
Movie Spoiler Summary
The main setting for the film is Kansas 2044. As Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) explains, “Time travel has not yet been invented. But, thirty years from now, it will have been. It will be instantly outlawed, used only in secret and by the largest criminal organizations. It’s nearly impossible to dispose of a body in the future, I’m told, for tagging techniques, and what-not. So, when these criminal organizations of the future need someone gone, they use specialized in assassins in our present called “loopers.” My employers in the future nab the target, they zap them back to me—their looper. He appears, hands tied, and head sacked and I do the necessaries, collect my silver. So, the target is vanished from the future, and I’ve just disposed of a body that technically does not exist.”
So Joe is in the profession of killing people from the future who are sent back into time (to 2044), when time travel does not exist. He uses an old-fashioned stopwatch to time when his “jobs” arrive. He travels out to a field and waits for them to appear on a blanket he’s laid out. Out of thin air, fully clothed with a sack covering their face, they appear on their knees. Joe, and others like him, blow the target away (usually a male) with a blunderbuss, because even though this is the middle of the 21st Century, there’s nothing like technologically advanced machinery from the 1600s. Kid Blue’s explanation: “Do you know why this peashooter here is called a ‘blunderbuss’? Cuz’ it’s impossible to hit anything further than fifteen yards, impossible to miss anything closer. It’s a gun for fuck-up turkeys.” (Okay, I see.) Joe then rips open the back of their jacket, revealing his payment: a stash of silver ingots. It appears, Joseph Gordon-Levitt also had his eyebrows dyed black, his lips thinned with makeup, and he tries to channel Bruce Willis with all of his might.
Otherwise, Joe spends his time practicing French while eating at the same diner. His favorite waitress Beatrix (Tracie Thoms) tends to him each time. This is his life. Sometimes, he takes his Maserati (?) out and parties with his fellow loopers. The city they live in runs rampant with violence. One of his friends Seth (Paul Dano) is one of the 10% of the population who has TK, or telekinetic powers. At the club La Belle Aurore, a looper celebrates his retirement, as he has closed his loop. Joe explains: “There’s a reason we’re called ‘loopers.’ When we sign up for this job, taking out the future’s garbage, we also agree to a very specific proviso. Time travel in the future is so illegal, that when our employers want to close our contracts, they’ll also want to erase any trace of their relationship with us ever existing. So, if we’re still alive thirty years from now, they’ll find our older self, zap him back to us and we’ll kill him like any other job. This is ‘closing your loop.’ You get a golden payday, you get a handshake, you get released from your contract. Enjoy the next thirty years. This job doesn’t tend to attract the most forward-thinking people.” While driving, Joe almost runs over a boy.
Joe’s life continues as it has always been, until Seth bangs on his window in the middle of one night. As it turns out, Seth failed to close his loop when presented the task, and now Abe (Jeff Daniels) has been sent from the future by The Rainmaker wants his hide. Abe “is from the future. He was sent back here by the mob in a one-way ticket to rob the loopers.” When Abe’s right-hand man Kid Blue (Noah Segan) shows up at Joe’s doorstep, he hides Seth in his safe holding all of his silver ingots. Abe calls Joe into his office and Joe gives up the combination to his safe. He also gives him advice regarding his linguistic interests: “I’m from the future; you should go to China.” The older Seth (Frank Brennan) notices directions inscribed into the skin of his arm. His fingers start to inexplicably disappear. He begins to mutate and just as he makes it to the location he has been instructed to find, Kid Blue appears and kills him, with the inside of his destination harboring a surgical table.
Joe visits his favorite prostitute Suzie (Coyote Ugly’s Piper Perabo), and out of guilt for betraying his bestie Seth, he offers her and her son some of his savings. The independent woman declines. Back at his apartment, nothing is left of Seth in his safe but a smear of blood. At work the next day, Joe’s target is late. When he finally appears as the older version of himself (Bruce Willis), older Joe knocks him out cold and escapes with his truck. Joe walks back to the city to find his apartment ransacked. He spots a lit cigarette and Kid Blue shows up and starts collecting silver. Joe locks one of Abe’s gat men in his safe, but ends up falling from the ladder on the side of his building.
Reverse to earlier when older version of himself shows up in field, and Joe shoots him dead. (You have to accept that there are two time continuums: 1) Joe closes his loop, and 2) Joe growing older to be the man who escapes the closing of the loop.) Then, we’re treated to Joe moving to Shanghai (Year 1), not Paris, apparently. Through montage we watch Joe age from being Joseph Gordon-Levitt to Bruce Willis over thirty years, who meets his wife (Qing Xu) later in life. There is a moment at one point of Joe crushing a chip with a rock. Then, bandits break in and set his house on fire. He’s taken blindfolded into a warehouse operated by Abe. Older Joe takes the bandits down Die Hard style and enters the time-machine a la Terminator (except, he conveniently keeps his clothes on).
We revisit the first moment Joe encounters himself and the older version makes off after clocking him unconscious. Older Joe steals supplies at drugstore at gunpoint. He has a vision to destroying the chip with a rock. Older Joe spots younger Joe escaping his botched job (the one where older Joe escaped). An irate Abe send Kid Blue home for allowing Joe to escape. Joe is now on the lam and older Joe travels to the library to collect three addresses, one of them being the residence of The Rainmaker, as older Joe’s plan is to kill him, so he won’t instruct his bandits to kill older Joe, allowing him to live happily ever after with his Shanghai wife. (But, opens a Pandora’s box full of nagging questions.) Older Joe pulls up his jacket sleeve to see that the message “Beatrix” has been permanently inscribed on his arm. (Why did he have to remind himself the name of his favorite waitress if had always remembered? Oh, yes, the two time continuums.) The message was from time continuum #1 older Joe to remind himself where he can find time continuum #2 Joe. There are some flash forwards to Shanghai, as older Joe schools his younger self on how to properly live life. But, it begs the question: if time continuum #2 older Joe's mission is dispatch The Rainmaker, then this meeting is irrelevant. He shares a piece of identifying information of The Rainmaker with Joe. Kid Blue shows up at the diner and both he and Joe try to kill older Joe. Older Joe manages to escape on a small hovercraft called a ‘tracker.’
Halfway through the film, we arrive at Sara’s (Emily Blunt) farm. (Yes, there are a lot of biblical names in this movie.) She lives there with her son Cid (Pierce Gagnon), who falsely believes that she’s his aunt who raised him until his mother’s death. The boy speaks in a way and has a look about him that he is wise beyond his years. What we’ll later find out is that he has an extreme form of TK and when he gets angry, as we’ll, see, he gets all Carrie White on everyone’s ass (he even will have a scene with blood on his face—though, not from a pig). Abe punishes Kid Blue for “fucking up” yet again. Joe ends up ingratiating himself into the farm lives of Sara and Cid, while mayhem transpires in the city. In a sewer, older Joe has a flashback/forward to Sara. Joe shows Sara map of her house. She verifies its location and shoots him. Older Joe references the wound on his chest. Joe tries to explain to Sara about time-travel, but she already knows about loopers.
Older Joe finds the first address on his list and blows the poor unassuming kid away. (At this point, audience sympathy for older Joe goes down and it’s pretty clear that he’s not going to have a happy “ending”) Joe shares with Sara that Cid is [The Rainmaker]. Older Joe cries while having a flash-forward/back to his Shanghai wife. Sara tends to Joe’s wounds and, later, Cid shares that he believes Sara is not his mother. Older Joe runs from Abe and his gang. Joe gives Sara a ribbit detector (Small frog with a red light in his mouth) as a highly technological (more advanced form than a blunderbuss) way of communicating trouble to each other. She tells him she’s Cid’s real mother. Later, she plays with Cid and he throws a tantrum, because she doesn’t like Joe. He reacts by insisting that “8 x 3 = 32.” He isn’t open to negotiating, so Sara gives herself her own time-out and hides in a safe. Older Joe finds the mother of his second target, who turns out to be Suzie.
One of Abe’s men, Jesse (Garret Dillahunt) shows up to terminate Joe. Cid helps Joe hide. Kid Blue receives footage of older Joe and figures out where he can find him. Laid up in bed, Sara touches her nether regions and smells her fingers. Obviously, the ribbit detector is employed and Joe goes running, right into her lips. Afterwards, she smokes a cigarette and shows off her TK abilities. She calls him out on wanting to kill the older version of himself.
The next day, Joe wakes up to Jesse threatening Sara’s life. A startled Cid falls down the stairs. Older Joe proceeds to shoot the second kid on his list. Back at the farm, there is Hell to pay for the injuries he’s incurred, so a pissed Cid begins to make everything in the house rise. Kid Blue appears at target #2’s house and shoots older Joe. Back at the farm, it’s like a tornado hit the house. Joe freaks out and tells Sara that someone must kill her uncontrollable kid. Joe finds Cid kneeling in the middle of the field with blood on his face (as a homage to Carrie?). He takes pity on him and tells Sara to get out of dodge with her boy ASAP. A proud Kid Blue drags older Joe to Abe. But, older Joe, being played by Bruce Willis, turns the tables and kicks all of their asses.
There is a daytime shot of older Joe on his side, but then we see Kid Blue get up to see the carnage everywhere. Older Joe shows up at the farm, throws him a silver ingot and tells him that he’s free. Kid Blue shows up and there’s a huge shootout. His tracker crashes without him on it, so he’s presumably dead. Sara leaves with Cid and spots older Joe up ahead. Older Joe shoots their truck sending them to flip in the air and land upside down. They miraculously escape unharmed. Older Joe lands a shot on Cid, which sends the boy into another one of his Carrie wraths. Grass levitates and a huge tornado-like phenomenon begins to take shape. While suspended in the air, Sara manages to talk Cid down. She sends him off into the field and the boy escapes on a train. This turns out to be the way things happened until Joe decides to turn the blunderbuss on himself and commit suicide, resulting in his death as well as the immediate disappearance of older Joe. Sara and Cid reunite. She walks over and retrieves Joe’s stopwatch and caress his hair. There are some shots juxtaposed next to each other that may suggest that Cid actually grows up to be Joe. Sara and Cid live happily ever after and Cid presumably doesn’t turn into the evil Rainmaker, maybe even the now virtuous Joe.
We revisit the first moment Joe encounters himself and the older version makes off after clocking him unconscious. Older Joe steals supplies at drugstore at gunpoint. He has a vision to destroying the chip with a rock. Older Joe spots younger Joe escaping his botched job (the one where older Joe escaped). An irate Abe send Kid Blue home for allowing Joe to escape. Joe is now on the lam and older Joe travels to the library to collect three addresses, one of them being the residence of The Rainmaker, as older Joe’s plan is to kill him, so he won’t instruct his bandits to kill older Joe, allowing him to live happily ever after with his Shanghai wife. (But, opens a Pandora’s box full of nagging questions.) Older Joe pulls up his jacket sleeve to see that the message “Beatrix” has been permanently inscribed on his arm. (Why did he have to remind himself the name of his favorite waitress if had always remembered? Oh, yes, the two time continuums.) The message was from time continuum #1 older Joe to remind himself where he can find time continuum #2 Joe. There are some flash forwards to Shanghai, as older Joe schools his younger self on how to properly live life. But, it begs the question: if time continuum #2 older Joe's mission is dispatch The Rainmaker, then this meeting is irrelevant. He shares a piece of identifying information of The Rainmaker with Joe. Kid Blue shows up at the diner and both he and Joe try to kill older Joe. Older Joe manages to escape on a small hovercraft called a ‘tracker.’
Halfway through the film, we arrive at Sara’s (Emily Blunt) farm. (Yes, there are a lot of biblical names in this movie.) She lives there with her son Cid (Pierce Gagnon), who falsely believes that she’s his aunt who raised him until his mother’s death. The boy speaks in a way and has a look about him that he is wise beyond his years. What we’ll later find out is that he has an extreme form of TK and when he gets angry, as we’ll, see, he gets all Carrie White on everyone’s ass (he even will have a scene with blood on his face—though, not from a pig). Abe punishes Kid Blue for “fucking up” yet again. Joe ends up ingratiating himself into the farm lives of Sara and Cid, while mayhem transpires in the city. In a sewer, older Joe has a flashback/forward to Sara. Joe shows Sara map of her house. She verifies its location and shoots him. Older Joe references the wound on his chest. Joe tries to explain to Sara about time-travel, but she already knows about loopers.
Older Joe finds the first address on his list and blows the poor unassuming kid away. (At this point, audience sympathy for older Joe goes down and it’s pretty clear that he’s not going to have a happy “ending”) Joe shares with Sara that Cid is [The Rainmaker]. Older Joe cries while having a flash-forward/back to his Shanghai wife. Sara tends to Joe’s wounds and, later, Cid shares that he believes Sara is not his mother. Older Joe runs from Abe and his gang. Joe gives Sara a ribbit detector (Small frog with a red light in his mouth) as a highly technological (more advanced form than a blunderbuss) way of communicating trouble to each other. She tells him she’s Cid’s real mother. Later, she plays with Cid and he throws a tantrum, because she doesn’t like Joe. He reacts by insisting that “8 x 3 = 32.” He isn’t open to negotiating, so Sara gives herself her own time-out and hides in a safe. Older Joe finds the mother of his second target, who turns out to be Suzie.
One of Abe’s men, Jesse (Garret Dillahunt) shows up to terminate Joe. Cid helps Joe hide. Kid Blue receives footage of older Joe and figures out where he can find him. Laid up in bed, Sara touches her nether regions and smells her fingers. Obviously, the ribbit detector is employed and Joe goes running, right into her lips. Afterwards, she smokes a cigarette and shows off her TK abilities. She calls him out on wanting to kill the older version of himself.
The next day, Joe wakes up to Jesse threatening Sara’s life. A startled Cid falls down the stairs. Older Joe proceeds to shoot the second kid on his list. Back at the farm, there is Hell to pay for the injuries he’s incurred, so a pissed Cid begins to make everything in the house rise. Kid Blue appears at target #2’s house and shoots older Joe. Back at the farm, it’s like a tornado hit the house. Joe freaks out and tells Sara that someone must kill her uncontrollable kid. Joe finds Cid kneeling in the middle of the field with blood on his face (as a homage to Carrie?). He takes pity on him and tells Sara to get out of dodge with her boy ASAP. A proud Kid Blue drags older Joe to Abe. But, older Joe, being played by Bruce Willis, turns the tables and kicks all of their asses.
There is a daytime shot of older Joe on his side, but then we see Kid Blue get up to see the carnage everywhere. Older Joe shows up at the farm, throws him a silver ingot and tells him that he’s free. Kid Blue shows up and there’s a huge shootout. His tracker crashes without him on it, so he’s presumably dead. Sara leaves with Cid and spots older Joe up ahead. Older Joe shoots their truck sending them to flip in the air and land upside down. They miraculously escape unharmed. Older Joe lands a shot on Cid, which sends the boy into another one of his Carrie wraths. Grass levitates and a huge tornado-like phenomenon begins to take shape. While suspended in the air, Sara manages to talk Cid down. She sends him off into the field and the boy escapes on a train. This turns out to be the way things happened until Joe decides to turn the blunderbuss on himself and commit suicide, resulting in his death as well as the immediate disappearance of older Joe. Sara and Cid reunite. She walks over and retrieves Joe’s stopwatch and caress his hair. There are some shots juxtaposed next to each other that may suggest that Cid actually grows up to be Joe. Sara and Cid live happily ever after and Cid presumably doesn’t turn into the evil Rainmaker, maybe even the now virtuous Joe.
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