Time-Travelling Sci-Fi Extravaganza

Looper, the movie tipped to be ‘the next generation’s Matrix’ was a superb film, if a little overhyped. Rian Johnson helmed this sci-fi extravaganza and also partook in writing duties. Set in the near future, time travel has been invented and made instantly illegal. This prompts mobsters to control illegal use of said travelling through time, using it for their own ends, (damn those gangsters) they send people back to be killed by Loopers, the man standing at the other end waiting to blast them with a shotgun. In this case, the man toting a bad-ass futuristic blunderbuss is Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Gordon-Levitt expertly plays his Looper role, killing mercilessly for his mob bosses, only when Bruce Willis presents himself in front of him, who is Levitt’s character Joe from the future does he hesitate. To pull this off, Levitt wears a prosthetic nose, contact lenses and does an amazing Bruce Willis impression. This was why I was apprehensive about Looper, how wrong I was. The pairing is not only good, but is completely believable. It turns out that Willis’ Old Joe intentionally comes back to commit an action that will alter his and consequently Levitt’s future. Emily Blunt plays a farmer who plays love interest with Levitt. Her character Sara also has a telekinetic son. There is also a great turn from Jeff Daniels as the local crime boss. Rian Johnson has done supremely well, for a director that had only made a few independent films to now make this classic is incredible. Looper, although a very good and thought provoking film, it is not the next generations Matrix. What it delivers though is one of the 21st century’s best sci-fi films.