Looper: You've Never Seen a Vicious Cycle Like This Before

Looper is one of those "surprise" films; a movie that you walk into with pretty modest expectations and walk out of completely blown away.  It is easily one of the best films of 2012, and quite possibly one of the best sci-fi films to date.

Looper is the story of Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).  Joe is a "looper": a hitman in 2044 whose sole job is to execute people from the future who are sent back to his time.  Things get complicated when Joe's next victim is himself (his older self is played by Bruce Willis).  

There's much, much more to the story than that, but I don't want to give any of the films many surprises and fine details away.  One of the great things about Looper's story is the fine attention to detail given to the plot, the world, and the characters that inhabit it.  This is not some cheap sci-fi CGI extravaganza that relies on action and visual wizardry to cover the gaps in plot or deficiencies in character.  Rather, Looper represents the genre at its finest; compelling and fantastic, out-of-this-world, but still emotional and undeniably human.  Calling Looper a time-traveling sci-fi film would be like calling The Dark Knight a superhero movie; accurate, perhaps, but also so much more.

Looper's excellent script is brought to life with excellent actors.  2012 is proving to be the summer of Joseph Gordon-Levitt; this is his third high-profile film this year (in addition to The Dark Knight Rises and Premium Rush), and all three films are excellent.  Bruce Willis does an interesting "meta-acting job": his character is a life-long, career killer, and Willis himself has a long resume of portraying such characters. By tapping into this, there is a lot of authenticity to his performance; when he fights his way through a pile of goons, I can very easily believe that I'm watching a grizzled warrior dispatching younger foes with his decades of experience.  Of particular note is Pierce Gagnon, who plays a small boy named Cid, whose future is of great importance to Joe.  It's rare to find a child actor with enough range to be both cute and scary, and Pierce does both with natural aplomb.

There is very little that can be held against Looper, and most of that is a stylistic choice. Writer/director Rian Johnson depicts the world of Looper in a dark, gritty, film-noir style.  This shouldn't be too unusual for fans of his previous films (particularly 2005's Brick), but moviegoers walking into this movie looking for light action/adventure may need to adjust their expectations.  This film is more Blade Runner than Star Wars.

But, again, that is less a criticism and more of a description of this incredible film.  Looper is a smart, exciting film, with enough gunplay for the action fan and enough philosophical quandry for the intellectual. The movie is an easy recommendation for anyone who loves going to the theater.  4 1/2 out of 5 stars.