Looper

[filmscholar]

Rian has said Looper never would have been made without Inception,so you might want to give him some credit.It's terrific. A confident and assured thriller that really delivers. Looper is a movie about cycles and how hard it is to break them, but it took me until that bold, unexpected ending to realize that.

Exactly, I also loved how at it's core the story was about Redemption of the Young Joe. He sacrifice himself to save the Kid, His Mother, his future wife and yes Himself. Old Joe gave Young Joe all he needed to know. He was going to grow up a terrible life as a drug addict and an innocent woman was going to save him and die for saving him. So Young Joe may have been a heartless Killer at some point but in the end he found a heart and what was important. Also I love the whole "Split Timeline Paradox", Basically what Old Joe didn't understand is there was no way for him to kill the Rainmaker cause as long as he was in the past, the Rainmaker lived in the future. He was in the losing battle no matter how many times he went back and tried to kill the kid. The Kid would of always killed him in any scenario he could think of.

[Ozymandias]

"I'm from the future. Go to China."Jeff Daniels is awesome in this. Needed more screentime.

Yeah, he was one of my favorite parts of the movie. I loved all the long sit down face-to-face dialogue scenes in this. Edited September 29, 2012 by Shpongle

[The Movie Man]

Exactly, I also loved how at it's core the story was about Redemption of the Young Joe. He sacrifice himself to save the Kid, His Mother, his future wife and yes Himself. Old Joe gave Young Joe all he needed to know. He was going to grow up a terrible life as a drug addict and an innocent woman was going to save him and die for saving him. So Young Joe may have been a heartless Killer at some point but in the end he found a heart and what was important. Also I love the whole "Split Timeline Paradox", Basically what Old Joe didn't understand is there was no way for him to kill the Rainmaker cause as long as he was in the past, the Rainmaker lived in the future. He was in the losing battle no matter how many times he went back and tried to kill the kid. The Kid would of always killed him in any scenario he could think of.

Joe had a heart long before you gave him credit, as he could have left the farm much earlier, but he stayed to protect the family.

In the end, he realized that by killing himself, they would be the one way to save everything.

Only unanswered question is who he really did it for, Emily's character, the kid or his future wife?

[Jay Beezy]

Only unanswered question is who he really did it for, Emily's character, the kid or his future wife?

He didn't say which one, but he did reference all three of them in his final voice-over, talking along the lines of a mother dying protecting her son, a man losing his wife, and a boy growing up angry and alone, something like that. Edited September 30, 2012 by Jay Beezy

[filmscholar]

Joe had a heart long before you gave him credit, as he could have left the farm much earlier, but he stayed to protect the family.In the end, he realized that by killing himself, they would be the one way to save everything.Only unanswered question is who he really did it for, Emily's character, the kid or his future wife?

That's my point, he redeemed himself in the end of the movie once he got to the farm and realized the kid future wasn't written yet. There was a scene where he tells Emily "He's going to grow up a terrible person" but then she says "No he won't I will raise him". I think that stayed with him. I think he killed himself for everyone involved. The Kid so he won't grow up to become this terrible crime boss, Emily cause in order for the kid to not be evil he needed her and his future wife that he hadn't met yet. He saved them all, that's why I said he got his redemption for all the bad things he had done. He also saved himself for years of heart ache and pain that Old Joe described to him what his future was. Also some of my friends were calling me to explain how many loops were in the movie. I hope this helps people:Loop 1 (Main Loop): Young Joe kills Old Joe, Grows up in China for 30 years, Rainmaker closes his loop, Sends Old Joe back, RepeatLoop 2 (Alternate Timeline) Old Joe kills Rainmaker henchmen, Comes back, Escapes Young Joe, Mission to kill rainmaker. Kills his mother, Kid kills Old Joe, He grows up to become Rainmaker. Repeat.Loop 3 (Closing the 1st and 2nd Loops) Young Joe Kills himself, Old Joe never exists Mother lives, Raises kid right, He doesn't become the rainmaker. Young Joe never meets his future wife, she goes on to live her life. (New Loop Timeline) Edited September 30, 2012 by filmscholar

[Ezen Baklattan]

Best damn movie of the year. (so far, at least) It's also one that does really well in a theater, in comparison to home.

[The Toymaker]

Joe had a heart long before you gave him credit, as he could have left the farm much earlier, but he stayed to protect the family.In the end, he realized that by killing himself, they would be the one way to save everything.Only unanswered question is who he really did it for, Emily's character, the kid or his future wife?

He didn't stay to protect the family at all. He stayed to kill his future self so that he could be at peace with his employers so that he could get 30 years left and do whatever he wanted (wuth all the gold/silver bars).He began to have a heart during his time at the farmhouse when the kid talked to him and stuff. THen came the ultimate decision to take his own life and he was doing it only for the kid, so that he wouldn't grow up and be this terrible person that kills thousands. He was probably doing it for all the other loopers too that were killed off as a result of the kids anger at how his mum died. He realised at that moment that the kid only grows up to be this revenge-filled-crimelord because of what happened on that day and how his mum died because of a looper mistake.

[Gopher]

It's nice that another movie finally got The Master out of my head, but now I can't stop thinking about Looper.

This isn't one of the best movies ever or anything, but it's one of those movies that makes me more excited about the state of cinema. I'm so happy a 60m sci-fi thriller that satisfies on every visceral and intellectual level exists in this day and age.

[The Toymaker]

Yes, it certainly was refreshing to see Looper. I'll take Looper over Transformers, The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Madagascar and all the crap that is made recently. They're so boring and expected.

Looper entertained me in a way that I haven't been since the likes of Minority Report, Vanilla Sky and Enemy at the Gates - a film where you're not expecting greatness but greatness of what is served up (and by the bucket load).

[MovieGuyKyle17]

WOW I have not felt like this since Inception. Rian Johnson delivers a film with great acting by Joseph Gordon Levitt, Bruce Willis, and probably the best performance I have ever seen out of Emily Blunt. The story which was very original, took me by surprise. The pacing is slower and it really works for this film. The film leaves you thinking and for me personally I was a little shaken at the end. Edited September 30, 2012 by MGK17

[The Toymaker]

Excellent, EXCELLENT film. This seems like the kind of movie Christopher Nolan has dreamed of and has been trying to make ever since his career began but failed.

100% agree. Nolan has never entertained me in all his attempts. Looper, effortlessly does.

I won't see another Nolan film in cinemas. Extremely overrated and pretentious style of movie-making. Looper gets the job done, no delaying or filler like Nolan does.

[A Marvel Fanboy]

I give this B+

[lab276]

Yes, it certainly was refreshing to see Looper. I'll take Looper over Transformers, The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Madagascar and all the crap that is made recently. They're so boring and expected.

I feel pretty much exactly the same way, just take out TDKR, because I loved it.

A.

[Bluebomb]

Excellent, EXCELLENT film. This seems like the kind of movie Christopher Nolan has dreamed of and has been trying to make ever since his career began but failed. Its got depth, emotional punch, and nonstop suspense with properly choreographed action sequences. Take notes Nolan.

Also, there were some pretty comical(holy shit!) moments in this movie, most of it happened whenever Bruce Willis was shooting someone up.

10/10

I agree with this sentiment although I still think Nolan's a good director. The problem with Nolan for me is that all of his movies left me feeling a little cold, even the ones I really liked (The Dark Knight and Inception).

Looper on the other hand was executed well and while the bed monologue was long and unnecessary, the rest of the film was fantastic and there was a lot of thrills and emotional gravitas to go along with the action. I also liked that they didn't use some cheap soundtrack to get your heart racing during those thrilling moments. It made the film that much more enjoyable. 9.5/10 (A)

[Hatebox]

I made sure to keep my expectations in check before seeing this, which was probaby a good idea because, in terms of being a game-changer, Looper is definitely not this generation's Matrix (as more than one review has suggested).But it is a damn good sci-fi movie which frequently demonsrates that, when the genre's at it best, it competes with any other. The world it creates is both intriguing and believable, while the time-travel is kept simple enough to not be convoluted. I also appreciated the ambiguity of who to root for, it was never clear whether JGL or Willis was the good guy (if indeed either of them were).I guess if it falls short of greatness it's because once we get to the farm it quickly becomes apparent we're staying there for a while and the tension dissipates a tad. The quaint setting feels a slight let-down after spending time in the well-realised city. Willis' revenge plot also feels a little too absract given we know barely anything about what the Rain-Man becomes in his timeline and we've only seen Willis' life in flashback snippets. But the ending did go some way to redeeming the pace of the second half.I would definitely recommend this to friends, but also warm to not believe too much of the hype when going in. More please, Hollywood.

Edited September 30, 2012 by Hatebox

[Hatebox]

100% agree. Nolan has never entertained me in all his attempts. Looper, effortlessly does.

Extremely overrated and pretentious style of movie-making. .

My sig strikes again... Edited September 30, 2012 by Hatebox

[CoolioD1]

we know barely anything about what the Rain-Man becomes in his timeline

He's an excellent driver.

[filmscholar]

"Looper" this generation's "Matrix"? I won't got that far either. But I'm trying to think of a Sci-Fi film that I can honestly say came out of nowhere and just hit on all levels. I mean "Inception" was good but Nolan did have a huge budget and machine behind him. Rian only had 30 Million Dollars to pull this off and look at what he accomplished. "Looper" will find a very strong fanbase in the years to come. Also I'm happy they didn't show us how horrible the Rainmaker was in future. That would of completely took away the emotional connection the audience ends up having with his kid.

Edited September 30, 2012 by filmscholar

[Ozymandias]

"Looper" this generation's "Matrix"? I won't got that far either. But I'm trying to think of a Sci-Fi film that I can honestly say came out of nowhere and just hit on all levels. I mean "Inception" was good but Nolan did have a huge budget and machine behind him. Rian only had 30 Million Dollars to pull this off and look at what he accomplished. "Looper" will find a very strong fanbase in the years to come. Also I'm happy they didn't show us how horrible the Rainmaker was in future. That would of completely took away the emotional connection the audience ends up having with his kid.

District 9 came out of nowhere with a low budget as well. Edited September 30, 2012 by Shpongle

[Hatebox]

Looper only cost 30m? Pretty good going, though I can see why so much time was spent at the farm with that budget...

Edited September 30, 2012 by Hatebox