Rian Johnson is a talent to watch.<\/p>\n
I’d never heard of him.\u00a0 I’ve since looked him up and Looper<\/em> is only his 3rd film and his 1st of any kind of size.\u00a0 Didn’t stop the writer\/director from relentlessly blowing my mind.<\/p>\n Quick plot rundown:\u00a0 Around the 2040’s, after apparently continuing to become socialist, America has finally reached socialist equilibrium (wherein only criminals have any money).\u00a0 Technology is increasing at breakneck speed, 10% of the population has brain mutations and apparently in the 2070’s somebody invents time travel.\u00a0 We know this because people start coming back.\u00a0 Apparently time travel tech was made horrifically\u00a0illegal almost immediately; but in certain cases the risk was worth it.\u00a0 You see, human tracking technology has become so onerous in the future that it’s almost impossible to commit murder.\u00a0 There’s no way to dispose of the body without being found out.\u00a0 So organized crime starts sending people back in time to get killed.\u00a0 Then there’s no body and no way to prove anyone died.\u00a0<\/p>\n The way they work this system is rather clever.\u00a0 A mob representative (for the location’s particular mob, I assume there are competing interests but folks from the future are rather closed mouthed about specifics.\u00a0 They just like to drop tantalizing hints) was sent back in time to secure a beach head to operate (Jeff Daniels).\u00a0 He recruits talent (doesn’t take much) to go stand in appointed secluded spots at appointed times to immediately murder hooded men who appear at these times and places via travel from the future.\u00a0 It’s an easy gig.\u00a0 Tied up person wearing a hood materializes, dude (they are the titular loopers; I’ll explain later) lights him up with a shotgun, disposes of the body and keeps the money sent back with him.\u00a0 These loopers will one day be called upon to kill their future selves, as part of their contract.\u00a0 This is called closing the loop.\u00a0 One day the dude they shoot will have a BUNCH more money than usual strapped to him and it’s actually the dude from 30some years in the future.\u00a0 So the looper kills himself and lives large on powerball for the next 3 decades until the mob shows up to send him back and close the loop.<\/p>\n One day, Joe (a looper, young version played by Joseph Gordon Livett) is faced with killing himself.\u00a0 Except there’s some kind of mafia shakeup in the future and his old self (Bruce Willis) is ready for him and escapes.\u00a0 Joe will be murdered if he can’t close his loop so he chases after Old Joe.\u00a0 For reasons best discovered by watching the film; Old Joe has come back in time to murder 3 children.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 That’s what the movie is about.\u00a0 Fucking go see it.<\/p>\n First, this film is visually masterful.\u00a0 Rian does something with close facial expressions I haven’t seen before.\u00a0 He conveys very complex emotions without any dialogue.\u00a0 And he delivers probably the best montage any movie has ever had.\u00a0 It summarizes Old Joe’s life up to the travel back in time, and is just fantastic.\u00a0 I don’t even remember if it had any music; it was a journey of images and facial expressions.\u00a0 Second, the sci-fi is solid and brutal.\u00a0 There’re no paradoxes in this movie.\u00a0 If something changes in the past the effects are immediate and usually brutal\/horrifying.\u00a0 Third, all the actors (shout outs to Emily Blunt and the kid who plays her son) are on their game.\u00a0 You don’t watch this film so much as get swept up in it.\u00a0 And finally, it has a horrible beauty about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n I don’t know who Rian Johnson is or were he came from; but I will take a look at anything else he does for the rest of his career.\u00a0 This may unseat Argo<\/em>; seriously considering it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rian Johnson is a talent to watch. I’d never heard of him.\u00a0 I’ve since looked him up and Looper is only his 3rd film and his 1st of any kind of size.\u00a0 Didn’t stop the writer\/director from relentlessly blowing my … Continue reading