It's not every day you see a irresistible trailer and it surpasses your lofty expectations. A highly ambitious undertaking by director Rian Johnson who masterfully executes and delivers on all fronts. In the year 2044, the US economy collapses giving way to widespread organized crime. In 2074, time travel is invented but immediately prohibited. Because of advanced tracking systems in place, disposing of murder victims isn't possible, which in turn creates a "new" market and profession. Hence "Looper." Tilted camera angles, upside-down shots, super slow-motion; Johnson toys with experimental cinematography with formidable results. A fantastic time travel sci-fi thriller that is firmly character based, and not just solely relying on special effects or time travel. Rian's directing art house style is evident but it's also blended with some mainstream elements not seen much in previous films such as "'Brick". What flaws this film may possess can be easily absolved because the overall experience is extraordinary.… Expand

Looper is a really good sci-fi/action thriller. Although the second half of the film tapers off towards the end, the film is held together by a solid concept, great direction, and good performances, even if some things are left unanswered.

Amazing movie!!!!!!!! Nice story and good actors

I know I'm in the minority here, but I HATE this movie! After watching it I was actually angry. I felt like the writers and the director had just smacked me. This movie really did show ALLOT of promise as it built itself up rather nicely, establishing a "kind-of" realistic near future. But then they introduce the whole time travel element. At first it was a creative new use for it. But the longer they developed it, the more it the logic surrounding it fell apart. Basically they have created a form of time travel that completely ignores its own rules to the point that you would have to be a a half brained idiot to not see it. Basically the movie is saying: Shut up, stop thinking and enjoy the movie. Overall: This had the chance to be a really good movie, but any ingenuity was raped out of it by lazy writers and a director with no direction.… Expand

My favourite film of the year although not for everyone. The best way I can describe it is like a mash-up of Twelve Monkeys, Terminator & Drive. It's basic yet very graceful. JGL pus in a great performance & the story is really good but this is definitely a marmite film.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The title is a Mars bar and just like junk food this film delivers that useless energy. In its fantasy came a world that could never even be explained, logically or even with any degree of attempt. Maybe in 1930's there is an era of which this film is modeled from definitely in no foreseeable future. This aside the plot is littered with gaping holes. Paradoxes were given as much thought as some illiterate explaining the theory of relativity and resulting in suicide. Quite literally those braincells where already popped from it's crackheads abusive direction. Poor at everything, what SCI-FI I ask, it really didn't even try to be scientific. Bums with guns, and silver equals gold.… Expand

Just like Terminator mixed with some Die Hard. It is a really good movie. A must watch for people who like action and TriStar movies should defenetly watch this!

In 2 words, this film is so-so. It wants to be a Hi Res concetpt sci-fi film, but the plot doesn't hold out for that, and the splatter violence and appalling and unnecessary language give away the fact that there isn't enough in the story or the characters to keep it going. If you've paid oyur money and bought your popcorn, it will tick over, but you'll forget it within minutes if you have any semblance of intelligence. And if you have any sensitbility, you will actively WANT to forget it. It's just poor and nasty, at its heart.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. You either hate this movie or you are retarded. This movie has made you expect something good but it screwed you. The time traveling makes no sense at all. When in the end the main character shot himself his older version should disappear IMMEDIATELY not thinking and have a bad disappear effect. The fact that the kid was introduced at the beginning of the end and his powers were only introduced at the end with no explanation at all, makes me thing what the hell the writers were thinking. To include time travel in a movie is not new (see back to the future) but at least in that movie they explained how it was "possible" as you should in science-fiction. This movie did NOT! This was just a major disappointment and you will start to hate the kid and at the end he lives.… Expand

I joined Metacritic, as a public service, to review this movie and hopefully prevent someone else like me, who generally relies on the consensus of professional critics, from making the mistake of watching this tripe. THIS IS NOT A GOOD FILM, IN THE LEAST. Compounding the film's incoherent, inconsistent treatment of time travel -- the writer explicitly telegraphs, during one of the scenes, that the viewer need not attempt to make any sense of it -- are myriad additional (glaring) plot holes and unanswered questions. The "development" (such as it is) of JGL's "character" (such as it is) is utterly, maddeningly unbelievable. (The only way even to begin to make sense of him is as a walking mommy complex.) The penultimate action sequence is simultaneously so out-of-place and fantastic that it beggars contemplation, much less belief. And those are just the movie's three most fundamental defects; there are many, many more. It seems to me that the writer, when developing the screenplay, first conceived of the "clever" ending (which is actually clever only insofar as one is profoundly stoned) and then sloppily constructed a storyline to get there. I am honestly *befuddled* by the strong critical reception of this movie, *befuddled*. See also the reviews by Oxcart, JonnyRaves, mess888, and (especially) SebDangerfield. Do not waste your time or money on this one.… Expand

This movie has everything you would want in a time travel film, action drama and well TIME TRAVEL. Now i wouldnt say its the best film of 2012 or it sould win best picture but it is a great film and maybe sould be nominated for original screenplay. From the begining to end it is a rollercoaster that has countless loops. It keeps the audiences attention and never lets go. Now for the action, it is great, just enough to hold the audience over. During the movie you will be thinking alot about the time travel in this movie and it can be a little bit confusing but think about it its just a movie about time travel thats all it is too it. Overall this is one of the best timetravel action films i have seen also my top 5 films of 2012. 9/10… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Life seems to have a clear beginning and end, but I don't see why almost every movieplot needs to follow the same format. Not saying that all movieplots litteraly begin with the birth of a character and end with their death, but instead I'm suggesting they begin with the so-called "Hollywood Beginning" and end with its short-bus brother the "Hollywood Ending." I define the "Hollywood Beginning" as any plot that force feeds milk down our throats until we understand what's going on, while its counterpart the "Hollywood Ending" ensure's us that the plot is over and not continuing on secretly after you leave the theater. What I like about Looper is the beginning. Without any leadup, it drops you into the middle of the main characters somewhat unique situation (Just watch the trailer and you'll find out what that is). A dangerous move for most far-fetched plots, but Looper is paced well and acted clear enough so the we naturally get on board with what's going on and even start to feel for the main character and the people around him. Brilliant. What I don't like about Looper is the latter half and the god awful ending. It takes everything that was semi-unique and compelling about the first 30 minutes and tosses it out the window with a lit molotov **** in its mouth. The only shred that remained was a "It's me against a brigade of unfair big cocks" plot, or in other words, the "Minority Report" plot.. So, to the same effect of sticking your mom in the ring to fight Mike Tyson, we have to watch our main character put up with his future brainless, professional death machine self, who wields uzzies like he's on the set of the next Die Hard installment. The beginning of the movie was so good because the daily life of a looper sounds so enticing, of course you'd inevitably have to think about the possibitly of killing your future self. A movie based around this idea alone is doomed to follow a path that leads to a big pile or already been used toilet paper. But a movie based around the life of one looper who has to deal with drug addiction, daily executions and the disposal of such victimes, coping with co-workers who shot their future self, or even didn't shoot their future self, is already enough character-plot crap to jam into a 2-hour flick.… Expand

Movie requires a small amount of suspension of disbelief; negative reviewers got hung up here. Director did a fantastic job hinting just enough to understand everything going on, along with creating characters the audience is interested in. Highly entertaining, best movie I've seen in a long time.

There are some plot holes and some times you just have yourself scratching you're head because it's not exactly clear how the time travelling works. But everything else of the movie is good and very enjoyable

surprising and unusual, a new way to enjoy the futuristic genre, besides another unforgettable performance of young Levitt and the good creativity of Rian Johnson

Overall, awesome movie. This is some of the best acting by Joseph Gordon-Levitt I have ever seen. It has one of the best plots. This film is not what you would expect. This has become my second favorite time travel film of all time, next to Back to the Future Part II

Starts out great. The opening felt similar to how I saw Blade Runner but somewhere in the middle it drags and what happens doesn't really matter until the revelation. I respect Rian Johnson for pulling off a great atmosphere but I just thought there were a lot of room for improvement in terms of pacing. Overall it is a good movie that shows a lot of potential for discussions. Maybe I just wanted to see more sci-fi.… Expand

This could have been so much better, and that's the biggest disappointment. The idea (given we've had the likes of The Terminator series and Minority Report beforehand) is fine, but at no stage do you ever get to the point of CARING about the characters enough to want them not to get killed.... I cannot fathom why so many critics rate this film so highly- it's bubblegum for a new generation, content to suspend any form of reality for a couple of hours and 'veg out'.

Save wasting your life watching this and rent 'Bourne Legacy' instead- at least you'll see a movie that leaves you feeling happy that you watched it at the end- the same cannot be said of 'Looper'- it left me feeling empty.… Expand

The first negative thing any critic will mention about this film is the plotholes. But you just have to remember that it is a time travel film and there is no escaping it, so you may as well embrace it. Was the Back to the Future franchise any less of a prodigy because of its gaping plotholes?
That being said, this film is far from perfect while clever in a lot of respects (in many instances it does seem like there was a lot of thought put into it), it often comes off as thinking it's cleverer than it is.
The whole thing is one big Terminator reference, and it seems to think that simply being self aware of the fact is justification enough. The pacing is also somewhat off-target and messy, as well as the plot as a whole.
That in mind, it actually manages to provide an experience that is not totally forgettable. The occasional interesting plot device and hidden gem of insight mixed with some attention-grabbing, if somewhat jarring, pacing actually managed to make me take notice of this movie.
In the end this movie won't change your life, but it will keep you entertained and maybe you'll even remember a thing or two about it in a year's time.… Expand

if garfield was sent back in time to past garfield to kill future garfield i bet they would have both eaten lasagna but that did not happen 0/100000 DONT BOTHER WATCHING

Vastly overrated. The film never lives up to its first 20 minutes. (which is high in spectacle and hyper stylish direction)
The deliberately slow burning second half on the other hand, is standard science fiction time travel yarn with a creepy telepathic kid. Watch "Twelve Monkeys" or "Source Code" instead.

There are only a few movies in the world that can make you think. Think about what will happen next or even think about how the story relates to the characters. This movie has both. This Movie was an unexpected thriller, incredibly written and will keep me up at night just thinking about it.

Looper is just simply one of my favorite movies ever. Excellent acting, writing...the works. The little things in the movie make it great. Looking for an original screenplay sci-fi? Look no further than Looper.

This is slightly unfair, as a film itself I would give it 8 maybe, but I must give it 7 due to the consensus, the consensus is this was an amazing film, it wasn't, it was solid but wasn't awe inspiring, it was also this decades Matrix, and it wasn't, it was nowhere near Matrix, I had to be true to myself, I'd rent it before buying it
And Emily Blunt fans, She acts well, but she is the most pointless character ever… Expand

Great movie but had a couple flaws hear and there but a great movie overall. Maybe one of the best movies of the year it had great action.GREAT MOVIE with great actors and a great plot.

This film got snubbed during the Oscars. How in the world did this not even get nominated for Best Original Screenplay?! Seriously you cannot show me a more unique film than Looper. Very few films blow my mind but Looper succeeded in doing just that. Dark, Different, and Entertaining as hell. One of the best movies of 2012.

One of the best sci-fi movies in years. Rian Johnson is a very talented director that previously made the outstanding film Brick, shows the combo of himself and Joseph Gordon Levitt is a winning one.

Awesome movie. Despite a concept over present in modern movies the time-travel; the director succeed to create a world and a plot really captivating from the beginning to the great ending. Except the fact that it would have been really interesting to have a better look at the hero's future, the whole movie avoid the "cliches" and succeed in its initial goal entertain