Looper

[Margo]

I saw it last night and thought it was really good. The acting was great all around and I loved the dystopian visions of the future. I walked out of the theater with a distinct sense of unease and will remember the film and think about it for a while.

Go see it, everyone, so we can debate about the plot!

[Neurochick]

Sept 30, 2012 10:26:08 GMT -4 Margo said:

I saw it last night and thought it was really good. The acting was great all around and I loved the dystopian visions of the future. I walked out of the theater with a distinct sense of unease and will remember the film and think about it for a while.

Go see it, everyone, so we can debate about the plot!

I probably won't see this movie because I can't get over the stupid premise as to why the mob would send people back 30 years in the future to kill them, I mean why not kill them in the present? I mean if they sent someone back in time and they never existed, there's a chance that maybe YOU won't exist either, what if that person helped to get you where you are? Too confusing.

[ijustworkhere]

I probably won't see this movie because I can't get over the stupid premise as to why the mob would send people back 30 years in the future to kill them, I mean why not kill them in the present? I mean if they sent someone back in time and they never existed, there's a chance that maybe YOU won't exist either, what if that person helped to get you where you are? Too confusing.

You're confused because that's not really the premise at all. You've got shades of it in there, sort of... but it's not what you've described. Also, they explain the time travel thing via voiceover in the first two minutes of the movie, so it's honestly not confusing at all.

I saw this last night and completely loved it. Just a good old-fashioned sci-fi romp. It reminded me a lot of Blade Runner. JGL was fantastic, Bruce Willis was really good, Emily Blunt was really good... pretty much every single person in the film was well-cast and excellent. The story veered away from what I thought it was going to be, and surprised me with its originality.

[proper stranger]

This was a pleasant surprise. Sometimes time travel stuff can make my head hurt if I think about it too much, but I thought it was handled pretty well here. It reminded me of Blade Runner, too, what with the dystopian future and voiceover.

JGL did a good job with Bruce Willis' mannerisms and speech patterns. I always like Bruce Willis and he was good here, too.

The stuff with the kid totally surprised me. I thought he was adorable and played both sides of the sympathetic/creepy coin very well.

[Margo]

I admit, the time travel stuff doesn't hold up under scrutiny (spoilers in the link). The filmmakers handled it well, though, by mostly glossing over it, so I was willing to suspend my disbelief. I think if you don't focus on the logic of it, the rest of the movie more than makes up for it.

[cinnacism]

I saw it today. It definitely got more interesting as it went on, but I wasn't wowed. This is the first movie starring JGL that I won't be raving about.

Also, I was sooo distracted by how they transformed his face to resemble Bruce Willis. I'm not the type of person who can easily spot and distinguish features, so it took me half the movie to realize that JGL was wearing blue contact lenses. And I couldn't stand his dark eyebrows--Bruce Willis doesn't have dark eyebrows, so why did JGL? It was creeping me out a little. But I agree that JGL's adoption of Bruce Willis's mannerisms and voice were very impressive.

I was really proud of myself for quickly noticing that the main gat guy was Dode from Brick, and Jeff Daniels was previously in The Lookout--both (very good) JGL movies.

I really thought I was going to love Looper, but I actually enjoyed Premium Rush more. Still, I'm always a sucker for a dystopian or post-apocalyptic movie.

Margo, thanks for that link. I can usually follow the gist of complex/twisty/metaphysical plots, but it always helps when I have someone spell it out to the letter.

[bklynred]

I thought this was really interesting. A little confused at times, but yeah, I like the originality of it. I felt shades of Brick in some of the dialogue, which I liked. And I got past the prosthetics after a while, and I didn't think I would. Ultimately though, I want to see JGL's cute face.

[Deleted]

Just saw this tonight, and I thought it was pretty good. Though I suppose Futurama has had too much of an influence on me because all the time travel paradoxes annoyed me. Still, it was enjoyable. Although the part with Old Seth, where his body parts keep disappearing up until he's walking on stumps, handless, noseless, and tongueless...and then we realize Young Seth is going to have to live that way for another 30 years...that's some Cronenberg-level body horror right there. That shit is going to haunt me for days.

[cinnacism]

Wow, I thought/assumed they just killed Young Seth after they shot Old Seth. See, these type of plot points totally slip by me. Thanks.

Bklynrd, I know we share a lot of the same crushes. I found this for myself after reading your post and thought I'd share!

ETA: Just learned that Rian Johnson directed both Looper and Brick. I didn't realize that. So that accounts for some of the similarities in cast and tone.

[mariposalabrown]

So I feel like an idiot. I did NOT know that was Joseph Gordon Levitt, figured that was some unknown actor maybe from soap operas, and was very distracted by how much he looked like JGL. Where the hell I have been, I don't know. Loved it, very well put together. A movie board I read is discussing how she knew he was a Looper if people didn't know about time travel yet. I assumed she partied with those guys in her days when she gave Cid to her sister, and that maybe even his dad was a Looper. I also did exactly what Bruce Willis said they would end up doing in the diner, I have little charts figuring out the time travel timelines and it's "messy". I'd love a prequel where we learn more about how so many people became vagrants.