Loopers, a Movie Review by Michael L.
Johnson
Okay,
this week, I needed a change, a switch. Getting out of my normal
movie going neighborhood was the goal. Annapolis ended up being the
destination and a theater called “Bow Tie Cinemas” was the
desination. I have to say that this theater is pricier than most of
my normal cinematic haunts (primarily the Regal theater in Silver
Spring), but it is nice. No complaints. You pay for what you get.
The film that caught my dollar bills this was director Rian Johnson's
Loopers.
The
synopsis of the movie is this: In the not too distant future,
time travel will be invented, but it will be illegal and only
available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of
someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a
"looper" (professional killer) who works for the mob is
waiting to kill them. And in the future, all of this time travel
related killing works well except when assassins do not kill their
future selves (which is called "closing the loop").
Confused? You should be.
The
Good: Loopers
is very entertaining. The cast (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt,
Bruce Willis, Piper Perabo, Jeff Daniels) is strong. In particular,
the bookending of Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levett as
older/younger versions of the same person/protagonist (“Joe”) is
appealing—weird, but appealing. Rian Johnson does a wonderful job
of making us like both Joe's and respect the motivations of both
characters (or it would be better to say both versions of the same
character). The opposing agendas of the duel-protagonist create an
interesting set of ethical quandaries. It is billed as a futuristic
action thriller, and I must say, it doesn't disappoint on that front.
Loopers
has some great special effects and engaging action, as the
protagonist passionately chases “himself” down throughout the
film for elimination, so as not to incur the wrath of his bosses.
Also, without a doubt, the end of the film is unexpected and fresh.
The
Bad: In sections, it seems
violent, simply for the sake of violence. Also, the logic of the film
with regard to time travel, and the space time continuum, makes no
sense. Admittedly, I am not an expert in this area. Everything I
know about time travel in movies pretty much comes from the movies.
I dare say that most of what most people know about time travel in
movies follows this same knowledge example. We may not know quantum
physics, but we know the Star
Trek “Prime
Directive.” And that Prime Directive, as it pertained to James T.
Kirk,
and his associates, was not to screw up the past when they visited
it. Of course, the reason that such a directive is important is that
if you mess up the past, it messes up the future in galaxy-sized
ways. Loopers
messes with the past and the future in galaxy-sized ways. Gene
Roddenberry is spinning in his grave.
In a
recent interview, Rian Johnson, stated that he chose not to educate
his audience about the particulars and the technical details involved
with time travel in this film. He chose, instead, to rely on any
existing knowledge gleaned by his audience from viewing a number of
prior film and television offerings with time travel as their themes
(Star Trek, Back to the Future, Time Cop, etc.).
Given that, it should be no surprise to viewers that they might be
confused by Loopers’ apparent disregard of the time space
continuum, placing future and present versions of the same
individuals side by side in the same plane. Shouldn’t
physical contact of present and future versions of the same character
cause some kind of cosmic disturbance, some kind of sonic boom or
something?
Another
aspect of the film that seemed a bit odd is that, although this story
is set in the year 2044, and time travel has been invented, gun
technology has not advanced a lot. Even more curious is the fact
that the protagonist tooled around in a Mazda Miata. It will take
more than the passage of 30, or even 130 years, to make a Mazda Miata
cool. Trust me on that.
The Most Important
Question: Is it a good movie?
Yes.
I won't be coy. It's not great, but the surprises at the end of the
film make it worth the watch—at a matinée. On a scale
of 1 to 5 where 5 is best, this picture is a 3. I
would have given it a 3.5, but there was that Mazda Miata thing.
--MLJ
No comments:
Post a Comment