Looper Review

Ever had that film that you go in to expect something, but you get something incredibly different from what you thought you were going to get. And that something different can either be really enjoyable, new, and original or can be very over the top, very below the limit of being plausible, and be just overall silly. This is one of those films that I expected to get something but I got something else which turned out to be really over the top, not plausible, and very silly. Looper is a science fiction film that takes place around 2044 about a hitman named Joe, played by Joseph-Gordon Levitt, who kills targets called Loopers sent from 30 years in the future by the mob to have them killed and their bodies disposed of. But when a hitman has to kill a Looper that happens to be themselves in future, it means that they have "closed their loop" and are free for another 30 years until they have to be killed by the mob lead by somebody named the Rainmaker, and it just so happens that Joe can "close his loop" because he is assigned to kill himself from 30 years in the future, played by Bruce Willis. But Joe's future self goes on the run which puts present Joe in trouble because of a hitman lets their Looper go, they get killed.  Now after that set one would expect either to have a cat and mouse chase between Levitt and Willis, Levitt and Willis turn out to work together because Willis learns about an interesting conspiracy about the mob and their motives, or even better something new and original to make this premise even more enjoyable. Okay well we learn that Joe in the future continues to be an angry and depressed killer until he meets a beautiful and caring woman and marries her that completely changes his life and turning him into a new person, that is until the mob takes him away and kills his wife. So future Joe sets out to 2044 to kill the Rainmaker who is five years old during that year and is one of three children. Present Joe goes to hide at a woman's, Emily Blunt, farm where she lives with her five year old son who is the possible Rainmaker...and also has telekinetic powers? As you can tell during the point of that film I was constantly scratching my head trying to figure out what in the world does that have to do with anything else.

As always let us start with the characters. First we have present Joe, played by Joseph-Gordon Levitt. At first he seems like a cool and likeable character, but the problem is that he stays the same tone throughout the whole film. As the film progresses into the second act, he keeps the same personality and it begins to grow stale, wooden, and boring. One of my personal definitions of a three-dimensional character is that they have a belief or motive that changes within the course of the movie every time into a new act. They have one motive or belief during the first act, then that motive is in conflict with another new one during the second act, and finally there is a final motive or belief during the third act. The character of Joe hardly changes during the film and he gets too dull for me. We have the future Joe, played by Bruce Willis, who is by far in my opinion the most interesting and only good character in the entire film. He basically the same character played by Levitt except from the future, but what makes this Joe different from the other is that we get to see his life after he was a hitman and how he had a hate and found no purpose for his life until he met his soul mate. When he travels to the past, we can definitely understand his motive even if it is in reality unethical and monstrous, but it gets us thinking what would we do if we were in his shoes and had to experience what he had to experience. One of the only few things I can credit this movie for is having at least one three-dimensional character. That and they did a good job of having Joseph Gordon-Levitt look and sound like a young Bruce Willis, and also the action scenes with Willis are pretty impressive. We have Emily Blunt as the  farmer though determined and strong, she begins to be a bore and a sort of a tool. Yes she starts of strict, strong, aggressive, and having a no nonsense attitude but of course she gives in to the "damsel in distress" disease and becomes a woman stereotype as the film progresses. Then we have the farmer's son who yes has telekinetic powers and is most likely the future Rainmaker. This child would have been good, if we was not played as the over the top and way too smart for his age child. Why do movies like to make their children act like adults? Because they think it's cute? To me it is rather unwelcoming,way to silly, and not to mention over the top and they probably put the child through some intensive acting lessons to become the character he is in the film.  Why couldn't they make this character just acting like a normal 5-year old? Just how a lot of films treat their adult characters with respect and make them act like real adults, make children act like real children. Making them act like adults is not plausible, it is silly and distracting, making them act more like children is absolutely more plausible. We can believe this child can exist because we know children like him already exist. Plus, the character is too a bore as he only has a one note personality, that is until he uses this telekinetic powers where he really goes over the top. 

The story for this film is sort of a mess. It is like saying "Hey, is a story about a hitman who is conflict with killing or sparing his future self's life too complicated for you. Do you want us to try something different, complex, and understandable, or do you want us to take this interesting concept but change it into something really silly and childlike? I say we go with silly and childlike! Let's add this and woman and her son, who has telekinetic powers!". Mainly that's my main gripe with this film, there is absolutely no need for the telekinetic powers! There is not even no good payoff with it, the scenes in which the boy uses his powers is so over the top, you would think this film came out ten years ago! Right, the effects are not even stunning to look at despite the needlessness of the this plot device, at least make it look good. Sure they explain about it from the beginning of the film that for some reason people are receiving this new mutation of some sorts that grants them these powers. So what this is X-Men now? I did not feel like watching a thrilling science fiction action film, I felt like I was watching X-Men meets The Omen, and it looks really childlike and immature. I felt disappointed as I felt this film cheated it's audience by promising a new, original, and thrilling science fiction action film that was going to try something really new and exciting, but instead we get a story about a child prodigy with supernatural powers. Look I do not mind the story about the boy who might turn out to be The Rainmaker because if a certain cause of events, but there is no point to the telekinetic powers! You can have the same story without the powers and nothing would change, the film would not be harmed. The only thing that would change is my perspective for the movie and there would be a chance I could show it more respect  than what I have for it now. In the Terminator series, did John Connor need telekinetic powers to prove that he would be a great leader, no, he was just a regular kid and because of a certain occurrence of events he was destined to become a great leader. Just make the boy a regular plausible child! That way the movie would be less silly and more plausible. I know I am going on and on about the whole telekinetic powers plot device, but really that's how pointless it is! 

I had an interesting conversation would someone else who I saw it with and they said that they liked the movie for being original and new and that they took a whole new turn with the movie, and not expecting the plot about the telekinetic boy was actually a good thing. I could understand from what they were coming from totally and maybe that is their interest and opinion and I highly respect. Maybe that is why so many people liked it and praised it. But for me personally, not by fact just my opinion, I expected something a little less silly and more plausible. It just did not meet my expectations and I expected it to be a little more adult.

GRADE: AP-