Old Man, Look At My Life, I'm A Lot Like You Are

With less than two months to go until the end of the year, and ten movies left, I'm in the last lap now. But I really gotta get into gear, so most likely, the posts you'll see will be those movies. So, after this, just nine more to go to get to my goal of fifty.

In the year 2044, a group of young men carry out assassinations for crime lords from the year 2074, the year in which time travel was invented. The crime lords send the targets back in time to dispose of all evidence.

One of these “loopers” is Joe Simmons (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a young man with a blasé attitude towards life and heavy dedication to his job. Eventually, his adult self (Bruce Willis) gets sent to him, to “close the loop”. Old Joe, however, gets away and starts making a plan of his own.

That's the abridged version, and I know I left out a key player or two, but I'll get to them.

The third film by Rian Johnson and yet another solid effort (in case you're curious, his first two films are Brick and The Brothers Bloom, with the former being in my top 100 films of all time. Though I really need to readjust that list for all the stuff I've seen since I first created it).

One small aspect I like about the film is despite being set in the future, it doesn't look THAT different to the present day, just maybe a little flashier in the vehicles and the currency's changed. Oh and telekinetics but I'll get to that too. I think by now we've come to expect the future to not look like The Jetsons (and honestly, do we want it to? If you have vertigo, you'd HATE it) and all the better.

Acting-wise, the cast is top-notch. Since I didn't mention her above, Emily Blunt is sensational as Sara, mother to a child that may be an important figure in the year 2074. I actually didn't recognize her at first, mostly because of her Southern accent. She's a strong character too, her first words being threats against Joe (we know it's Joe but she doesn't) about what she intends to do if he doesn't leave, something she says while holding a gun. As she gets to know Joe, her defenses lower, and we learn just how much she cares about her son, a boy who is convinced that her deceased sister was his mother.

Speaking of the boy, though... he's the weakest aspect of the film. His name is Cid (Pierce Gagnon) and I'm sorry to say that he's a terrible actor. He never pulls a convincing moment, he either acts above his age (think Dewey in Malcolm In The Middle, minus the ability to act with a sweet disposition) and thus looks condescending, or he yells. A lot. And you hate him. And you really wish Old Joe (who is heading for him) would hurry up and get there. He's also telekinetic so he's being built up as a special child, which doesn't help. Hopefully the actor will improve over time but when I get this on DVD, I'm probably going to end up muting any part he's in minus the very end.

But naturally, the stars of the show can be counted on to deliver the best performances. I'd comment on the individual performance of both Joseph and Bruce, but I can sum it up with what I feel is the film's crowning glory: Joe and Old Joe alternate between being the hero and the villain, swapping roles with the snapping of fingers. Old Joe's goal once he's in 2044 is to prevent his wife from dying in 2074. Joe's goal is to close the loop, like he promised his employers, and get his payment (which comes in gold bars instead of the usual silver for other kills. I actually think it would have been more interesting the other way, kind of symbolic that you get 30 pieces of silver for betraying oneself. Or maybe I'm just an idiot. Probably that).

Later in the film, the tables get flipped. Joe's new goal is to protect Sara and Cid from Old Joe, because Old Joe (spoiler here) is coming after them, believing Cid to be the Rainmaker, the most powerful crime figure in 2074. So, Old Joe goes from someone fighting for his wife's survival to a child killer. Yeah, that's a bombshell. Yet you can't fully hate him.

Both Joseph and Bruce dominate the screen, alone or together, and help sell the film. The action sequences are nice, showing a sort of “passing the torch” from an old pro like Willis, to a young up-and-comer like Levitt. Though I'm hoping Bruce has still got a few more years in him, he's one of the better stars of the action circuit (also because a Red 2 would kick arse).

Highly recommended, and yet another notch for Johnson. A man to watch as the years continue, he's sure to deliver more A-game stuff (and even though it's only a rumor, can he PLEASE direct the Batman reboot, if that should come to pass?). 4/5