Review: Looper

Released: 28 September 2012
Starring: Joseph Gordon Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt
Director: Rian Johnson
Certificate: 15

What's the story?
Far too complicated to summarise. But there's time travel, Joseph Gordon Levitt meeting his future (violent) self played by Bruce Willis, the most epic infant hissy-fits known to man and Emily Blunt with an axe. Perfect.

What did we think?
It had the look of a semi-decent action flick with a sci-fi concept lassoed onto the side. But that early perception underestimated Brick writer/director Rian Johnson. He's conjured a brilliant and completely original take on time travel science fiction. The story - stick with it - comes first here and bears fruit towards the end.

When is Joseph Gordon Levitt going to make a bad movie? With the exception of GI Joe: The Rise Of Cobra, where he appeared seldom enough for us to forget he was there, the still fresh-faced star of Third Rock From The Sun is building an astonishing success rate with Inception, (500)Days Of Summer and now this impressive sci-fi in his back pocket.

Even with a prosthetic and three hours' worth of make-up strapped to his face to 'Bruce' him up, Gordon Levitt is impressive as a futuristic bag man responsible for clearing up the far-future gangland's dirty laundry - a sequence of victims who are sent back through time to be shot and disposed of by our guy. Johnson cleverly paints the character in shades of grey. Both young and old, he's never a hero in the traditional sense. He's a killer and a criminal after all.

While the many strands are pointed towards the fantastic conclusion, there's certainly a mid-movie lull. But the payoff is worth it. With such an elaborate set-up, you'd never have imagined that Looper would settle among the 'I-wish-I'd-thought-of-that' school of great movie ideas. But it absolutely does. It's clever from beginning to end, scoring great dramatic moments along the way, namely Gordon Levitt and Willis' note-to-self coffee shop pow-wow - a fantastic scene.

Verdict:

Blockbuster thrills in a smart and original sci-fi? Yes please.