Thursday night I decided to go to the Coronado Village Theatre to check out the Sci-Fi thriller, Looper. Walking into Village Theater is like a time warp, entering a vintage theater with modern accents which made it the perfect place to see a film whose time and place involves familiar details in an unfamiliar world. Not usually a fan of Science Fiction, I was a little skeptical going into the movie because sometimes plot lines get too complicated and often have gaps in storyline, especially when they involve time travel. However, writer and director, Rian Johnson does an impeccable job of creating a clear narrative in midst of all the twists and the mayhem of the future world portrayed in Looper.

The film opens with a close-up of the main character, Joe, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, whose character resembles James Dean in Rebel without a Cause. The setting is tranquil, at least for the first ten seconds, before the plot erupts into a fast-paced, chaotic world of suspense and violence. Through the narration of Joe, the audience is exposed to a corrupt futuristic society which is ruled by Gangs. Joe’s a “looper”, which is an assassin for a mob of the future, who kills and disposes of people sent back in time. While “loopers” enjoy a fast-paced, reckless lifestyle, the rest of the population is impoverished and the streets are ruled by sheer anarchy. The fun eventually ends when Joe must “close the loop” and dispose of his future self (Bruce Willis) and the assassination does not go as planned.

The remainder of the movie is full of twists and turns making it impossible to imagine what will happen next. A fellow movie-goer, Cheyenne, loved the chaos of the movie, “The whole thing was twist after twist, beginning with ‘that’s not Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and then oh, wait, it is!’ It was excellent.” While I truly enjoyed the brilliance of the plot, there are a few moments in the film where the violence is quite unsettling. The violence is graphic but not gratuitous. What is unnerving is the absence of morality in a lot of the actions and the portrayal of what an individual is capable of when fighting for self-preservation. In the beginning of the movie I tried to identify the hero, as the movie progressed I began to wonder if there really is a hero. Go see Looper and decide for yourself!

Village Theatre movie times available here.

Length: 118 min
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Jeff Daniels
Rating: R

Greer Goebels
Online Editor, Intern
eCoronado.com

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