The Watchers

The Watchers

Tuesday 9 October 2012

Review: Looper (UK Cert 15)



Looper’s premise is this: in the not-too-distant future (how many times have we heard that?) time travel is invented, but it’s outlawed almost immediately. Getting rid of a body in the future is near to impossible – so organised crime sets up the Loopers. Loopers are hit-men  but they are 30 years in the past, before time travel is invented- the future mafia send the victims back in time and the Looper takes care of them and their body in the past. But what happens when your next victim is your future self?

Now this premise intrigued me when I saw the trailer- I asked myself, how are they going to pull that off well, especially when you’re jumping around timelines and raising questions like, the future me will know everything I’m doing… or have done? It’s a great idea, great concept and a new twist on a sci-fi great – time travel. I thought. Unfortunately what you get is a mess of a film. It flitters along at a dull pace, taking far too long to set up a world to only then fail to deliver an exciting story and resolution.

The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt. Levitt does his best with what he’s got, basically having to imitate a young Willis – under some freaky make up that augments his face to make him look like a young Bruce Willis. Unfortunately, Mr Levitt, relying on the make-up for the role doesn't work. Bruce Willis has never been so clearly taking the paycheck than here – he emotes his feelings of anguish by touching his forehead and looking longingly at his past self – but it just is such a lazy performance. Emily Blunt gives a great performance in a terrible film, her dialogue as a mother who was estranged from her son is just unbelievable – who talks like this? I know – no one does.

I could happily dissect just why this film is so bad – but to do so without spoilers is a nightmare! So to just simply say that this film’s style pallet is eclectic, its grasp of human behaviour is a joke, its plot has more holes than a sieve and the ending of this film is so ridiculous that it actually creates more issues than I can count!

Avoid.

Rating: 1 out of 5

Rhys 

4 comments:

  1. Nice review Rhys. The writing and directing are in top-notch form where everything keeps you riveted and compelled, but there was that certain element of human-drama that just seemed to be missing. I don’t know where it went or why it didn’t come to me, but it just didn’t and made me feel like I was missing out on something in the end.

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    1. Yeah agree - the film just fell apart after about half way and never lived up to the world and the plot it began! shame. Rhys

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  2. Usually I feel like protecting something you love to somebody who hates it is pointless but I do want to give you some pointers on the point of writing a review without actually defending Looper.

    Criticism is a rough thing to pull off without sounding like somebody who just likes to say bad things. I get the fact that without spoiling the movie it is difficult to express the dislike but I would appreciate more content behind your facts. You state it's a mess - on which level? Is it a plot matter or editing, is it coherence or is it a matter of taste? Because based on this, I could just think that you hate sci-fi and this is why you rate it so slow.
    Your rant about the actors and their bad performance just sounds as if you don't like them, yet you do not put your personal opinions on them into the review. As a blogger and as a reader, I would appreciate more explanation and that is not just based on this review.

    Good luck and keep improving!

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  3. ok! Keep improving? How interesting! Ill break it down with more detail for you?

    The film is a mess. It has a strong start, a middle act that has far to many cleches - like a single strong willed mother who befriends a orphan hitman! The child is possibly the most annoying child actor to grace the screen in decades. The twist involving the telepathic skills of this child - to be honest is not a twist. The film spent far to much time giving any real movie fan to much time to spot the flag poles from which this twist was rising from.

    Then we have the ending - Willis is killed before he can kill the child, but its Levitt who shoots himself to do this - thus killing his future self. Right!

    If he kills himself and the future him no longer exist - then he wouldn't be stood in that field at that time to shoot himself in the first place. Time would be re-written? Or a paradox imploding the universe!

    I love Bruce Willis - I love him, but bless him his performance here was shocking. under played to the part of being non-acting. Levitt I find as a very interesting character actor - but playing a young Bruce Willis is a case of miss casting - he is not the actor to be Willis JR?
    He just doesn't have the charisma to be him!

    I'm a absolute massive Sci Fi fan -which is probably why I disliked this film so much, It failed to be anything new or break any new ground.
    The films style pallet is ripped off straight out of the Matrix, Blade Runner and Space 1999. The films direction has hints of wanting to be a new Blade Runner -especially with the lazy scripts use of inner monologue all the time, which by the way is the main reason I was waiting for the telepathic element to return as a twist.
    The film irritated me - because it could of been amazing, it should of been amazing. Instead we have just another forgettable film - just as The Source Code was.

    Rhys

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