Looper: Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
Starring Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt and written/directed by Rian Johnson. A Looper is a type of assassin that does the dirty work for crime organizations in the future. They send people they want to erase to the past and these Loopers kill them with no questions asked. When they want to cut ties with a Looper they “close the loop” and that means they send the Looper’s future self to the past so the Looper himself can kill him thus giving the Looper an end to his life in 30 years and ending a contract with his employer. This film tells the story of Joe Simmons (Gordon-Levitt/Willis), a Looper that flubs the kill of his future self (Willis) and now is on the run from the people that hired him. Future Simmons has an agenda of his own and that’s to travel back in time to stop a criminal mastermind known as The Rainmaker (before he becomes that person) that starts closing all the loops and in process of closing his, ends up killing his wife. Both have their reasons to try to stop each other. Which one will succeed?
We’ve all seen time travel movies before and they tend to go too in depth about who did what and the space time continuum among other things that sometimes confuses the audience. This film doesn’t do that. Sure, it gives give a bit of back story to set everything up but the explanation of things pretty much stops there. I’m a huge Rian Johnson fan and I love the work he did on Brick (another film with Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and as a viewer you can see similarities between the two even though this film had an obviously bigger budget. The main thing is the way the film itself is so character driven just like Brick. One of the other things that was really fantastic was the make up effects involved to make JGL look like a younger version of Willis. If you go back and look at some pictures of Willis in his early acting days you can totally see the resemblance and the way JGL came across with the same demeanor and mannerisms was absolute perfection. He really is cementing himself to be a great character actor and I can only imagine what else he has in store. What can you really say about Bruce Willis that hasn’t already been said? This man can do it all from action to drama and it shows so much in this film. He is involved with a number of action scenes but during his flashbacks you can see the hurt and anguish in his eyes from losing someone close to him. Not everyone can do it with the precision that Willis can. Emily Blunt was something else. When I say “something else” I entirely mean that in a good way. When she opened her mouth and spoke I was truly impressed with her being British and how thick of a country accent she pulled off. The way she came across as a mother with concern for the safety of her child was exactly what you would expect and you could really feel like she would do absolutely anything for him. Pierce Gagnon I felt was the breakout of the film. I was floored at how young he is yet he speaks with so much maturity. You see him and his intensity in the film and it kind of makes you afraid of the kid. With all of that being said, whether you already saw it at the theaters or you’re going to watch it for the first time this is a film that you should definitely pick up and add to your collection.
Special Features:
Looper: The Future From The Beginning – A “making of” feature that shows a few interviews with cast and crew. It also shows that Rian Johnson really didn’t want to rely on CG for some of the effects would rather go the practical effects route which is really refreshing. Everyone nowadays has the “We’ll fix that in post” or “We’ll do this whole scene in CG” mentality and it’s good to know that someone would prefer going old school.
The Science Of Time Travel – The specifics of time travel and its consequences are saved for this feature. It also poses the question: If you could time travel, would you?
Scoring Looper – Any aspiring musician or composer will truly appreciate this feature. Nathan Johnson shows how the music for the film was created. He took a field recorder and just started to record anything and everything from the sounds of a revolver to car door slams to treadmills running and he took those things and created something so beautiful and appropriate for this film. I’m absolutely impressed.
Looper Animated Trailer – I haven’t seen anything quite like this before (not counting Ah-Ha’s video for Take on Me). This is a work of art itself.
Deleted Scenes – There’s 22 deleted scenes running at almost 40 minutes of stuff that wasn’t included in the final film. Unlike other movies I kind of wish some of this stuff was included in the film. I wonder if Johnson has any plans on an extended cut of the movie because even though some of the scenes don’t seem like much more than what’s already there in my opinion I think it would explain certain things a bit more and bring a bit extra (like Joe’s life that leads him to his future) to an already extraordinary film.
I suggest you pick this up immediately! This will make a perfect after Christmas gift for any action lover. The features are fantastic and you will definitely get your moneys worth.
Looper comes to you December 31st from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
