The first half was much better than the second half. Once Willis arrives and we got to the farmhouse, I knew how the movie was going to end. The first part about the concept of looters was intriguing but could have used a little more "Blade Runner" styling. The second half degenerated into the Terminator again and was quite predictable. The film should have been focused on the unseen future instead of dragging back into the present. Daniels' character could have been expanded as well. A seven is the most I can rate this one.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The movie gets a 4 effort but that's about it. My main problem with movies like this, is time travel is in all respects impossible. The mind boggling physics of it make it such a sticky subject that only really good movies who attempt it, seldom get it right. Most only on the grounds that the movie is making fun of time travel, Back to the Future comes to mind. The only serious movie that comes to mind that tackles it well, is 12 Monkeys. In that movie the "circle of events" are left to unfold like an infinite loop, old bruce willis is unable to stop the spread of plague, while young bruce willis watches unaware; ad infinitum. But in this movie the plot hole keeps me from really caring about the movie at all, according to the films logic. Here is my best shot at explaining it. In the future, 2074 time travel is created. Also in the future everyone is "tagged" so it's impossible to hide a body that has been murdered. So in order for criminals to hide bodies they seize control of time travel. They do this in order to send people 30 years, to be murdered. Even though " Old Joe's" (Bruce Willis) wife is killed in the future. I wonder what they will do with that body? Now, the thugs who murder these people who are sent back are called loopers (Jason GL), they wait in designated locations to kill those wanted by the "evil higher ups" and dispose of the bodies. That is until they themselves are to be terminated. The loopers are given a bunch of gold and this lets them know they just killed there future self and that is their last kill. The problem arises in the fact that knowing this would inevitably change the future. Knowing that in thirty years you will be taken away to be sent back to the future to be killed by yourself would make any self surviving human prepare for the day when they are to be taken or get out the looper business altogether. The central theme of this movie is that there is mysterious rainmaker who is terminating all the loopers in the future. This person ends up being a kid that old joe tries to kill in order to save himself. But the rainmakers reason for terminating all loopers is because his mother/guardian is killed by old joe. This cannot happened is young joe either kills old joe or kills himself. The logic goes that if young joe kills himself, old joe disappears giving no motivation for the rainmaker to become the rainmaker. Which ends the movie from the beginning. Where the logic breakdowns is that if young joe kills himself, their is no old joe to run amok. Therefore old joe is killed in the beginning alternate scene that explains how old joe, gets old and runs amok's already seen himself get killed. He never has a chance to run amok because in this time line he killed himself. Basically the movie makers wanted to make a circle, square. By giving the movie a happy ending it ruins logic the world is based around. Thus don't waste your time trying to watch this movie, it will make you try to understand time travel, which for me has been a waste of time. Points for every-other aspect of the movie.… Expand

What an original and masterful sci fi film, the kind We've been waiting for for ages, maybe since Twelve Monkeys. Great to see Willis on form here and nailing the action genre again. From the second you start watching it you're thinking 'timeless classic.' Stick this one in the sci fi cannon without a doubt, open the gates and real her in. Prometheus is nothing compared to this. Brilliantly woven plot, great pacing, always exciting. Might be a while before we get another treat like this… Expand

If this was an original concept, it would be a 10. But it's a mash-up of multiple ideas (The Witness, Akira, and others come to mind), so we have to take a little off for orginality. With that being said, it is executed nearly perfectly.

This movie is an example of a bathos at it's very best. It showed promise, but it just ended up being another predictable, action-blockbuster cash cow. There's nothing impressive about this movie; it's just disappointingly average. I'd put it on the same level as Total Recall, honestly. The whole "TK" concept seemed so clumsy and ill-suited and the writing was just lousier and lousier as the movie progressed.… Expand

Looper is a great sci-fi thriller with an intense and intriguing story. It has good characters and visuals while using time travel in interesting ways. The third act has a shift in pace and story. In my opinion it felt a little disjointed and less interesting compared to the first two-thirds of the film. Never-the-less, it is a great experience.

Tried to read some negative reviews, and is it a joke? "This movie is bad, because this scene is bad, plot is bad, acting is poor, actors are awful... blah-blah-blah". Are you all 15-years old? The only thing I didn't like, is that plot is a bit dense for 2 hours, looks like writer had too many things to discuss and had to make it short..

Rian Johnson wrote delicious script for this movie. It's inventive, original, and unpredictable (but with plenty of foreshadowing to properly prepare the audience). When you consider just how many movies recently are sequels and remakes, and the few that aren't are adapted from popular books, its surprising that hollywood managed to produce a movie this interesting. I don't give a 10/10 to anything, but there literally was not one thing I hated about this movie. Some "comic book guy" ("worst movie evar") types are unable to accept some of the fictional elements in the story, but that's their loss. I would dare any of them to write a script 10% as good as Johnson's.… Expand

I've pondered over this film for a few days and i still have yet to come up with a legitemate flaw. This was a great film. From the acting by the new superstar Gordon-Levitt, to the engaging and genius story, to the beautiful cgi. I just had 2 minor flaws. It got a little bit boring a few times throughout the film but it was recovered quickly each time and it seemed a bit overly long but when you think about it there really wasn't a scene you could take out so i'll give Looper a 9.5/10. This is definitely the biggest surprise of 2012 for me, i didn't expect much from this film. I just expected another dumb time-travel involved film, but this one actually had an amazing plot that was near perfectly executed.… Expand

The story in Looper revolves around a gangster that takes out marked men for a criminal organisation. The twist is that the criminals are 30 years into the future where they apparently aren't allowed to kill people so they send the people that are to be slain back into the past. The movie breaks the no-killing-in-the-future-rule several times and the viewer is left wondering, like in so many other instances, why the heck the writers overlooked yet another hole in the plot that is so glaringly obvious that it'll sit on your mind for the entire duration of the movie. The most explanation that you get is that you shouldn't try to understand any of it, making it nothing more than an action movie full of convenient Deus Ex machina and not the brilliant science fiction the plebs and so called "critics' are trying to make you believe it is. Bruce Willis fans (Old Joe) will be disappointed by his lacklustre performance, possibly because of a script he couldn't really work with. That and they cast him as a child-killer which I felt was slightly revolting. A completely miscast Garret Dillahunt (Jesse) enters and quickly departs the movie in a most unbecoming way for an actor who is capable of much more. The sets are anachronistic and the vision the set makers had for a 2040's and 2070's America is completely unbelievable and an insult to any seasoned sci-fi viewer. Single-action revolvers, REALLY? Yor: The Hunter from the Future had more believable set props than that. Despite the movie's many incosistencies, plot-holes and cinematized gangster-style executions that are played at a rapid pace at the beginning of the movie this movie is watchable by anyone looking for a cheesy Hollywood sci-fi flick. Just don't go in thinking this is some kind of pièce de résistance of sci-fi viewing; you'll be sorely disappointed if you do.… Expand

Brilliant, unique and disturbing, with a lot of unexpected twists and turns. Looper is far from your typical generic time travel movie and is one of those rare science fiction futuristic movies that will tug on your emotions. Emily Blunt and Joseph Gordon Levitt deliver brilliant performances and the child actor who plays Blunt's son is a scene stealer. Easily the best movie I've watched this year.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Good, definitely not this years Matrix, but enjoyable. TK bits seem added on to get an explanation that isn't very satisfactory. Remember there are two ways to close your loop!… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I enjoyed this film, to an extent. It's very clever, and it's refreshing to watch a film that doesn't treat its audience like idiots that need everything explained to them. The premise is interesting and the 3 lead characters give strong performances, particularly Emily Blunt.

However I found the film difficult to warm to, and was disappointed by the end. For me there are too many plot-points that weren't really believable. I found that idea of only using time travel to send people back in time to bump them off a bit stupid. Why not just kill people in the future? The rainmaker kid came across of being quite evil in nature, but if he's wiping out future crime lords doesn't that make him a good guy? Would Bruce Willis really shoot children? The choice of odd weapons used by everyone in the film (blunderbusses and pistols) was never explained, and the bad guys were all out of a video game (all wearing black trenchcoats). I was surprised that there weren't more memorable moments or set-pieces. Overall a clever film but not one I'd plan to watch again anytime soon.… Expand

I went to go see this movie on a whim. I'm not generally a fan of time-travel. However, Looper does incredibly well to keep the time-travel gimmick, while also being a generally good film. It keeps a steady, and never disappointing, pace throughout the film. It doesn't try too hard to explain the science behind the time travel or in what way it works. It just flat out shows you what happens. Which is better than being given five minutes of screen-time for some poorly articulated explanation for the mechanism of time-travel.

The film has a great feel to it. A dystopian future hasn't looked this good since Children of Men and Blade Runner- and I don't think one will for a while. The layout of the film is brilliant too, with the Life in a Day scene being one of the most powerful scenes (for me at least) this year in movies. The film does share some inconsistencies in the storyline, but it's never significant enough to draw it down.

The actors performances are brilliant as always. Bruce Willis portrays Old Joe incredibly well, you can get that sense of turmoil that he's going through. Pushed to the edge, if you will. You empathise at parts, but at the same time, you know he has lost it. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's portrayal of Young Joe is also great. Especially given the prosthetics and make-up he had to wear during his entire performance.

Anyway, to sum it up, it's an absolutely brilliant science fiction film. It blends great themes, science fiction elements and action into an enjoyable movie. Certainly recommended to anyone and everyone.… Expand

Top of the line popcorn entertainment. Acting is good, plot holds a few surprises and most importantly the pace of the movie keeps you from looking at errors in the plotline due to the element of timetravel.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. What a film. I did not expect this to be as good as it was. This is not a film for lovers of light-hearted films: it is a very dark one-of-a-kind experience. The problem is that I'm writing this review quite a long time after having seen the film; so I apologize for anything that I put wrong or not quite right. This is not a film about time travel as such; as time travel has been invented in the future, and it is used to send criminals back in time to be exterminated, when upon yourself arrives to be exterminated, you must do so, or you will suffer the consequences (as someone did in a very gruesome way during the opening of the movie). That is the premise of the plot in its simplest form. When (I forget the main character's name, sorry) arrives to be killed by himself, all hell breaks loose. The complicated (yet simple) storyline is handled masterfully, not leading to any confusing moments during the whole run-time of the picture. The acting is also ace, Bruce Willis providing everything you'd want from him in role such as this, and Joseph Gordon Levitt being the perfect anti-hero. The camerawork is mind-boggingly fantastic, although perhaps a tad hard to watch at times. This is a dark, unnerving sci-fi film that provides a very smart, witty and surprise of a gem that I don't think anyone was expecting. Not for kids, Looper wins the award of the most surprising film of the year (in a great way). 92/100.… Expand

Looper is a really great film for several reasons. Bruce Willis is back on form in one of the best science fiction films of all time. It's as mind-blowing as The Matrix and Inception, with all the action and tension of a blockbuster hit. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is fantastic as Young Joe with some of the most realistic visual make-up I have ever seen. One very memorable scene involves torture in the strangest way possible, without spoiling it, it's definitely one of the most chilling scenes in cinema history. Overall, definitely worth checking out for SciFi Bruce Willis fans… Expand

Pretty good Sci-Fi time travel flick in the vein of 'Twelve Monkeys', starring Bruce Willis. Joseph Gordon Levitt is great here as usual, but I found the film a bit over-rated. If you've seen a lot of these time travel stuffs, you know where it's heading, and the whole film is practically a set up for the ending.

You might just take Looper at first glance as what it says in all the marketing and synopsis material, with time travel now being possible, large crime syndicates send their targets back in time to be executed by Loopers, hired guns who can dispose of the bodies a lot easier than they can in the future.
But what is shown in the film is so much more than that, and it plays out into a brilliant, yet not perfect, sci-fi thriller.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Joe, one of these Loopers, and when he isn't being hired to kill someone from the future, he is stashing away the silver bricks, his payment, and only cashes in a few, and by night he parties and takes drugs, until his next assassination. Gordon-Levitt has had prosthetics and make-up applied to his face to look like a younger version of, well, himself, but actually Bruce Willis, who plays the future Joe, sent back in time to be killed, and of course when this goes wrong, the simple rule has been disobeyed, never let your loop get away.
But in the bigger picture, Old Joe is back to try and prevent a tragic event in his own life, and he can only do so in Young Joe's time, and that lies within a small boy, Cid, played by Pierce Gagnon, and this kid truly puts in a wonderful performance, he is perhaps the best thing about this film and his acting and manner is fantastic, and of course a plot twist just adds to the heightened drama.
The whole cast, including Emily Blunt and Jeff Daniels, are on fine form, a Looper truly does portray a different sort of dystopian future that we are used to seeing in cinema these days. But while the film is smart and clever in its original idea, this perhaps could be its biggest downfall. The amount of plot holes after watching it second time are just too big to ignore or not give notice to, they don't exactly ruin what is a entertaining film, but on occasion it just seems all for nothing when you realise what other way it could have went. With such a complex idea, there was always going to be a slip up along the way for writer/director Rain Johnson.
Aside from this, there are enough twists and turns to keep you entertained for two hours, and Gordon-Levitts similarities to Bruce Willis including his gruff, soft-spoken voice are mind-boggling.
An excellent, albeit flawed thriller, which offers realism, while also poking fun the odd time on what other films try so hard to be serious about, definitely see Looper.… Expand

Such a surprising cinematic experience. I was apprehensive before watching because most movies dealing with time travel completely butcher it and make the movie seem more silly than anything. Thankfully, Looper did a very good job with it. They didn't try to explain anything about the science of it, which I was fine with, but I felt that they nailed the concept. Joseph Gordon-Levitt did an amazing job, not only acting but as portraying a young Bruce Willis. Obviously the make-up department deserves credit for the look but JGL mastered all of the mannerisms and the style of talking. Very impressive performance on his behalf. And I love Emily Blunt so her being in the film is a nice bonus, plus it's nice to see her take on a slightly different role from her typical typecast. The only negative in the film, in my opinion, was the telekinesis element. I thought it was a really silly aspect of the film and didn't need to be in there at all. The Rainmaker, could've easily been portrayed to be a genius child, not a borderline superhuman. That's really the only part of the film that was mediocre. Looper is definitely a movie that I think most people would enjoy. Some will probably find it challenging to follow but those that follow it well will surely consider it entertaining.… Collapse

Good movie and easily one of the best of the year, Looper does a good job of avoiding some of the usual trappings that time-travel movies fall into nowadays. I love the idea that is glosses over most of the explanation of why time travel works in this movie and just focuses on the story between Levitt and Willis, even if they aren't on screen together for the vast majority of the movie. I love how this movie takes a played out concept and puts a nice, original spin on it for the audience. I can see why this movie might turn off some people with a few things here and there, but I personally loved this movie. The only problem I have is that I didn't get to see it soon enough.… Expand

You can never go wrong in choosing a movie that stars Bruce Willis or Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but when they come together, that's when the magic really happens! Looper is the brainchild of Rian Johnson, who likes to bring us unusual stories, that mainly star JGL, however Looper is much easier to follow than most of Johnson's other films. While I'm not his biggest fan, his attention to detail has always really stood out to me and is perhaps never more evident than in Looper. Johnson actually used make-up and special effects to make JGL resemble a young Bruce Willis, which I found to be ingenious. Not to be overlooked is of course how clever a story Looper is, as it blends together time travel and the mafia. In the future, time travel has been invented, but like every other good thing, it is illegal. The mafia controls time travel and uses it as a weapon to commit murder. In this future world, it is impossible to dispose of a body, so the mafia sends their targets back in time where they are met an executed by a hired gun, known as a looper. The performances are of course top notch, Willis, the action star of a generation, only gets better with age, and JGL is the simply put the hardest working, most under appreciated actor in all of Hollywood. To be completely honest, this intriguing, action-packed, thriller was not as good as I expected it to be, and I really didn't care for the way in ended. That being said, it is still a great film that is definitely worth your while.… Expand

Looper -- well scripted. It has a very logical and believable sci-fi. My only problem is that Joseph Levitt-Gordon and Bruce Willis are just not from the same mold. Poor casting there.

Good movie, coherent, plot-twisting, and with well written characters. This said, I thought there would be more science fiction and a little more broader view. It made me think of "12 Monkeys", which had the same scale: one city, max. 10 depicted characters, and surprising ending. To sum up, very engaging, despite the flaws.

Rian Johnson

This story was written by someone who does not comprehend even the basics of time travel problems and paradoxes. It is a mystery why this chaos received so high grades. The plot in short: mafia from the future sends their assassination targets into the present to be disposed of; in the present there are killers, so called loopers (organized by a sadist from the future) who await their targets and kill them. Before or later, the looper receives a mission to kill his future self. Some of them fail to do so. And then the chase begins. First of all, the premise is pretty stupid, to use such advanced technology for such mundane goal. In the movie they have explained, that in the future it is impossible to get rid of someone without being tracked. It is, as it seems, far easier to build a time machine then to avoid tracking technology from a collapsed society. Then we have a pretty horrifying (and illogical) scene of punishment for a failed looper. His present self is mutilated and his future self loses his limbs one by one. This is wrong, all his wounds have been inflicted in the past so they would appear all at once in the future. And it is unresolved if his present self has been killed or will they keep him alive for the next few decades without his limbs, until he is sent into the present. Then we have our „hero", Joe who escapes his captors in the future, escapes his present looper-self and begins his search for a mysterious future mafia boss, the elusive „Rainmaker", who in the future has killed his wife. Then begins a „Terminator-rip-off". Terminator-Joe from the future does not have exact information about Rainmaker, only his date of birth and he manages to narrow his search to only three kids he will have to kill. He eliminates two targets and of course, his past self protects the real Rainmaker, the fact that it HAS TO BE KNOWN to his future self even before his trip to the past, because it is past, no matter when the audience has find out this. Then the Terminator-Joe eliminates his entire (ex-)gang and there is a showdown between him, his present-self and the Rainmaker-Kid. The situation is resolved when the present Joe kills himself and the Terminator-Joe disappears. Which would set in motion time traveling paradox: Terminator Joe does not exist so he cant be sent into the past and all his actions would be reversed. But no, all his actions in the movie remain. The Rainmaker-kid survives and he will grow up not to be mafia boss but exemplary member of future society. The end. Oh, and this Rainmaker-kid has a Carrie-like telekinetic abilities, which has nothing to do with a plot and is complete superficial. As for the pacing of the movie, it is horrible. We begin with a bang (literary), then a movie comes to a halt and we have an hour or so pure boredom (or character „development"). Then we have a final shoot out. All in all a very bad experience, caused by a fanboy-hype. If you want to see Bruce Willis travel through time, watch „12 Monkeys", a far superior movie in every sense.… Expand

I have to agree that

Decent enough story but this still doesn't make time travel believable, not sure that can ever be done the plausibility of it, that is. But I'm pretty sure people just appearing and disappearing isn't how it'll look. Same kind of thing with telekinesis, let alone being exhibited by a 10 yo kid. The quality of this movie is like a very good steak served with ketchup as sauce.