Looper
September 30, 2012
4 stars out of 5
A quite fascinating visit to the land of time travel, designed by writer/director Rian Johnson and realized with the help of stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (playing against type), Bruce Willis (playing Bruce Willis) and Emily Blunt (plus a great cameo by Jeff Daniels, playing against type). More and more, movies of this genre are resorting to what I call the "Groundhog Day" solution: don't bother explaining, and let the rules gradually emerge. That's what happens here. The one thing missing from all the professional reviews of this film is that it is ultra-violent. Not Saw ultra-violent, but people explode and fall apart in pretty disgusting ways. It turns out to be a love story at heart, which is the best kind of time travel story. After all, Groundhog Day, and, for that matter, the Christoper Reeve vehicle Somewhere in Time were love stories as well. The writing is very good, the story is gripping, and, at two hours, it is 30 minutes longer than it needs to be.
A quite fascinating visit to the land of time travel, designed by writer/director Rian Johnson and realized with the help of stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (playing against type), Bruce Willis (playing Bruce Willis) and Emily Blunt (plus a great cameo by Jeff Daniels, playing against type). More and more, movies of this genre are resorting to what I call the "Groundhog Day" solution: don't bother explaining, and let the rules gradually emerge. That's what happens here. The one thing missing from all the professional reviews of this film is that it is ultra-violent. Not Saw ultra-violent, but people explode and fall apart in pretty disgusting ways. It turns out to be a love story at heart, which is the best kind of time travel story. After all, Groundhog Day, and, for that matter, the Christoper Reeve vehicle Somewhere in Time were love stories as well. The writing is very good, the story is gripping, and, at two hours, it is 30 minutes longer than it needs to be.