Just as a heads up, I set this review off in a Spoiler box, but I'm pretty sure I didn't spoil anything about LOOPER. That's more of a wish that you see the film as unspoiled as possible, then come back and read this to see if you agree. Whatever you decide to do, enjoy…
There are times when you watch a film, and you can feel the brain power working in conjunction with the heart and soul of the filmmaker. It's that feeling that washes over you, when the movie is working in every way because its creator cares deeply and has worked over the material so carefully and with such a detailed eye that the film has no choice but to be damn-near perfect.
And then it's time to consider the performances. In a perfect world, great source material stays great no matter who the actors are, but we know we don't live in a perfect world. And what happens in writer-director Rian Johnson's LOOPER is that the performances serve to magnify the finest qualities of the screenplay and sweeping visual style. Johnson has made a modern classic in the science fiction genre, but he's also made a wonderful work that combines elements of westerns, family dramas and gangster pictures where some of the bad guys are actually the good guys.
In most other films, the character of Joe (played as a younger man by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and older by Bruce Willis) is the villain. He's a heartless assassin (known as a Looper) working in the near future who has been assigned the task of killing hooded men transported from the future at an exact time and place and disposing of their bodies clean and easy.
Part of the deal in being a Looper is that your last kill will feature a bigger payday, and you'll actually be killing your future self. At that point, your job is done, but since Loopers have spent years of their lives training to do this, when they go out in the world, they aren't really qualified to do anything beyond criminal activity. LOOPER indeed.
Naturally "old Joe" shows up with a hood and manages to escape from his younger self, setting off a world of chaos for Joe's boss, Abe (Jeff Daniels), a man from the future who organizes the hits and has become the criminal kingpin of this future version of Kansas City. Turns out old Joe is in the present for a reason—a reason I will not tell you. But young Joe ends up hiding on the farm of a woman (Emily Blunt) and her perpetually sad child (Pierce Gagnon), while Abe's posse (led by Noah Segan's perpetual fuck-up of a goon Kid Blue) seek him and old Joe out.
Johnson (BRICK, THE BROTHERS BLOOM) certainly doesn't dismiss the idea that having a man from the future on the loose could potentially screw up the future. But he also doesn't allow the plot to get lost in discussions of alternate time lines or exactly how the future's time machine works (time travel won't have been invented for 30 years), but he offers us something even more interesting—the idea that anything young Joe does in the present impact the mind and memories of old Joe. So Willis is basically running around with a fuzzy brain ache for most of the movie.
One of the more satisfying elements of LOOPER is its dedication to character. As the film goes on, we learn bits and pieces about Joe's past, future, and the set of values he carries with him to make it through life. He's a junkie, on top of being a killer, and he's dating a stripper (Piper Perabo) who he thinks loves him. So his life is looking good. But we also learn about Abe and Blunt's Sara and her sad and sometimes terrible connection to the boy. And every single actor in this film just nails it.
Gordon-Levitt (in light makeup to look slightly more like Willis) plays such a horribly dark character that we have a hard time believing he ever ages enough to live to have his loop closed properly. There's a scene with him and Willis in diner that almost makes the earth move it's so good. This might be the best work in Gordon-Levitt's career. Willis hasn't seemed to care as much about a role in years. And we see him do things in this movie that we've never seen before—horrible things that may not sit right with some of his biggest fans.
I want to spend a second talking about Noah Segan's work here. Many of you probably don't know the name (although he is in both of Johnson's other films, as well as films like DEADGIRL, CABIN FEVER 2 and the great UNDOCUMENTED), but when you see him as Kid Blue, you'll understand what it means when critics call a performance a "star-making turn." That's what he brings to this part. Kid Blue is a mess who wants to impress his boss, but he's also a child ("I just wanted you to be proud of me."), and the father-and-son parallels he and Abe share with the two Joes are absolutely clear and perfect.
I don't want to talk too much about the scenes on Sara's farm, but it's wonderful that a fairly violent science-fiction action movie settles down for long stretches and offers up beautifully realized introspection and vast amounts of character development. It's like Johnson hates genre films with flat characters as much as the rest of us. It seems almost too good to be true.
I've now seen LOOPER twice, and the second time through was something of a revelation. When I didn't have to dedicate so much time to following the plot, I got a chance to enjoy the patterns, the visual cues, the recurring themes so much more. I could sit back and allow the gorgeous Midwestern landscapes to help me breathe in this great tale of redemption and ruthlessness in a future where people have effectively given up on each other. It's a recognizable version of our world, and Joe is the product of his environment. Time will tell (only three months left in the year), but I'm guessing LOOPER will easily land in my Best of 2012 list, right up near the top. This is the only movie you need to see this weekend... and then go back in time and see it again.
