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Looper (film)

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Looper
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRian Johnson
Written byRian Johnson
Produced byRam Bergman
James D. Stern
StarringBruce Willis
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Emily Blunt
CinematographySteve Yedlin
Edited byBob Ducsay
Music byNathan Johnson
Production
companies
FilmDistrict
Endgame Entertainment
DMG Entertainment
Distributed byTriStar Pictures (United States)
Alliance Films (Canada)
Release dates
  • September 6, 2012 (2012-09-06) (TIFF)
  • September 28, 2012 (2012-09-28) (United States)
Running time
118 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$30 million[2]

Looper is a 2012 American science fiction action film written and directed by Rian Johnson with a time travel plot. The film stars Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Emily Blunt. Filming began in Louisiana on January 24, 2011.[3] It has been selected to be the opening film of the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.[4] The film was released in Australia on September 27, 2012,[5] and is set to be released in North America and the United Kingdom on September 28, 2012.[6][7]

Plot

In a futuristic gangland in the year 2044, a 25-year-old assassin named Joseph Simmons (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) works for a mafia company in Kansas City as a "looper". Loopers kill and dispose of agents sent by their employers from corporate headquarters in Shanghai from the year 2074. Loopers are foot soldiers, paid with silver on the condition that all targets must never escape. When crime bosses want to end a looper's contract, they send the future version of a Looper back to be killed and pay with gold, referred to as "closing the loop". Joe's boss is Abe (Jeff Daniels), who was sent back in time to manage the loopers and also owns a club Joe frequents, where Joe spends time with a showgirl named Suzie (Piper Perabo).

One night, Seth (Paul Dano), Joe's friend and a fellow looper, visits him in a panic telling him that he was supposed to close his loop but couldn't do it when he recognized his voice. Joe hides Seth in his safe while visiting Abe, who explains Joe can either give up half of the silver he has saved as a looper or give up Seth. Joe eventually tells Abe where he hid Seth, and is wracked with guilt over betraying his friend. Seth is then tortured in order to lure his future self to the gangsters, who then kill both of them.

Soon after, Joe is sent to close his loop, but he hesitates when he recognizes himself (Bruce Willis). Old Joe manages to escape after knocking Young Joe unconscious. Young Joe then cuts a hidden message into his arm to get Old Joe to visit him at a diner. As they have breakfast, Old Joe explains that he met a woman in Shanghai who became his wife (Qing Xu). However, when the Rainmaker, the mastermind behind the time travel assassinations, sent his men to send Joe back, they killed his wife. Joe killed his captors and sent himself back in order to kill the boy who becomes the Rainmaker. Young Joe still swears to kill him. Both are forced to escape when they are attacked by Abe's men led by Kid Blue (Noah Segan), but not before Young Joe tears a part of a map out of Old Joe's pocket with coordinates and ten supposedly random digits.

Young Joe follows the coordinates to a farm house owned by Sara (Emily Blunt), who lives with her son Cid (Pierce Gagnon). When Joe shows Sara the map, Sara recognizes the ten digits as Cid's birthday and the zip code of the hospital he was born him, prompting Joe to explain the situation about the Rainmaker. However, as the database came up with two other boys who were born on that date and in that hospital, Old Joe goes to systematically kill the two boys he has the coordinates for. After killing the first boy, Old Joe changes his mind when he sees the second boy is Suzie's son.

As Young Joe and Sara become closer, he learns that she is a telekinetic, which make up 10% of the population, and that Cid was raised by her sister until she was killed, thus Cid does not believe that Sara his mother. One morning, they are attacked by one of Abe's men, Jesse (Garret Dillahunt), but Cid falls down the stairs and in his rage, lets out a telekinetic blast that kills the man. His extraordinary telekinetic powers, which are rarely strong enough to levitate objects heavier than a coin, cause Joe to realize that Cid is the Rainmaker. At that moment, Old Joe makes a second attempt to kill Suzie's son, but sees through Young Joe who the right boy is before being taken by Kid Blue, who had traced him to Suzie's place.

Young Joe tells Sara and Cid to drive away while Old Joe is taken to Abe. Old Joe breaks free and kills Abe and all his men except Kid Blue. The two Joes confront each other near Sara's house before being attacked by Kid Blue, whom Young Joe kills. Old Joe then blocks Sara and Cid from driving away. As they try to escape into the corn fields, Old Joe shoots Cid without killing him, prompting Cid to let out another telekinetic blast. Before Cid can kill Old Joe, Sara calms him down and gets him to accept her as his mother. Old Joe gets up and tries to kill Cid again, but Sara stands between them. As Young Joe witnesses this, he has a vision that Sara's death will lead to Cid becoming the Rainmaker, thus creating a closed time loop. He decides to kill himself to erase Old Joe from existence and save Sara. In the aftermath, Sara finds the van Joe drove filled with gold and at night tucks Cid into bed.

Cast

Production

Rian Johnson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt speaking at WonderCon 2012 in promotion of Looper.

Looper is written and directed by Rian Johnson. After Johnson released The Brothers Bloom in 2008, he re-teamed with producer Ram Bergman, who produced Johnson's previous two films, with the goal of starting production of Looper in 2009.[9] In May 2010, Joseph Gordon-Levitt was cast in one of the lead roles, which he would play after completing Premium Rush.[10] Later in the month, Bruce Willis was also cast.[11] In the following October, Emily Blunt joined Gordon-Levitt and Willis. Filming began in Louisiana in January 2011[12] and continued in Shanghai in April. Shane Carruth, writer and director of Primer, was confirmed to be involved in creating the effects of the film's time travel sequences.[13]

Release

Looper is scheduled to be released in the United States on September 28, 2012.[14] The film's studio Endgame Entertainment negotiated a deal with FilmDistrict at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2011, and FilmDistrict will release the film in the United States through TriStar Pictures.[15]

The Chinese release of the film will reintegrate a number of scenes set in Shanghai that were originally cut due to pacing reasons. The move was requested by Chinese production company DMG Entertainment in order to further appeal to Chinese audiences.[16]

Looper was a Gala Presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2012.

Looper had a UK Premiere as the surprise film of the 32nd Cambridge Film Festival (audience members did not know what film was to be screened until it started).

Reception

The film has received very positive reviews from critics. As of September 28, 2012 it holds a 92% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 170 reviews, with an average score of 8.1/10, with the critics consensus stating "As thought-provoking as it is thrilling, Looper delivers an uncommonly smart, bravely original blend of futuristic sci-fi and good old-fashioned action."[17] On Metacritic, the film holds an 85/100 average rating, indicating "universal acclaim".[18] UK-based film magazines Empire and Total Film both gave the film a five-star review (denoting 'outstanding') with the latter saying that it's "The best sci-fi movie since Moon. The best time-travel yarn since 12 Monkeys. And one of the best films of 2012."[19][20]

References

  1. ^ http://www.bbfc.co.uk/AFF289903/
  2. ^ http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-box-office-hotel-transylvania-wont-looper-20120927,0,1253379.story
  3. ^ "Official Looper production blog".
  4. ^ "Looper to launch Toronto film festival". BBC News. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
  5. ^ "Australians to see Looper a day before the rest of the world". August 7, 2012. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
  6. ^ "US Release Date". June 9, 2012. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  7. ^ "UK Release Date". June 27, 2012. Retrieved June 30, 2012.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h McNary, Dave; Coonan, Clifford (January 21, 2011). "Actors in 'Looper' group". Variety. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Zeitchik, Steven (September 17, 2008). "Rian Johnson's future target: 'Looper'". The Hollywood Reporter. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ Kit, Borys (May 4, 2010). "Joseph Gordon-Levitt eyes two action thrillers". Reuters. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ Fleming, Mike (May 14, 2010). "CANNES: Bruce Willis Plays Mature Joseph Gordon-Levitt In Time Travel Pic 'Looper'". Deadline.com. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ McNary, Dave (October 1, 2010). "Emily Blunt set for 'Looper'". Variety. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ Bettinger, Brendan (January 17, 2011). "Shane Carruth Working on LOOPER". Collider. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Staff (June 9, 2011). "Rian Johnson's Looper Gets a Release Date". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved June 10, 2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  15. ^ McNary, Dave (May 14, 2011). "TriStar, FilmDistrict set 'Looper' deal". Variety. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ Zeitchik, Steven (June 19, 2012). "A more Sino-centric version of 'Looper' will be released in China". LA Times. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ "Looper". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  18. ^ "Looper Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
  19. ^ "Looper Review". Total Film. Retrieved September 10, 2012.
  20. ^ "Empire's Looper Movie Review". Retrieved September 24, 2012.
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