Looper

Looper challenges narrative and time with sophistication, as a man fated to execute himself is confronted with difficult possibilities.

In the future, 2074, time travel has been invented and swiftly outlawed.  It has become the device of criminal organisations who, unable to dispose of bodies in their present day, send their targets back thirty years to 2044, where they are killed by hit men called loopers.  The loopers live in a blur of murder, addiction and indulgence, in a city torn apart by social corruption.  One such hit man, Joe, finds himself charged with killing his future self who is sent back to be executed.  When he fails to do so, Joe is confronted by his future and the chance to challenge the terror that consumes 2074.

One man, divided into two characters, produces an engaging concept as their different experiences and desires are bought into close conflict.  The two representations of Joe, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis, perfectly compliment and clash with one another.  Gordon-Levitt's performance is mature and sophisticated, as he perfectly inhabits Willis' persona while capturing a character of his own.  With convincing make-up that blurs the actors' identities, Gordon-Levitt successfully constructs a young man who is both impatient and impulsive, while Willis explores the pain and desperation induced by loss.   Their paradoxical relationship delves into the discord between youth and experience, through the different manifestations of rationality and morality.

With intriguingly complex moments of déjà vu, the narrative is presented through intertwining perspectives and strands of time, that are constantly being rewritten.  The plot develops fluently, introducing intriguing and thrilling new elements that are richly explored.  Amidst the ever-ticking clocks and gunfire is a powerfully emotional centre to the story, driven by the characters' different bonds of love.  Emily Blunt delivers a strong performance as a Southern American, who is drawn into Joe's plot as the mother of a boy caught between the present and promised future.  Her young son perfectly alternates between sweet and sinister, as the film delves deeper into the prominent tension between malevolence and innocence.

A stylish, intelligent and daring science-fiction film, Looper is an innovative and engaging exploration of perspectives and possibilities.