Genre:
Science-Fiction
Directed by:
Rian Johnson
Starring:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt
Release date:
Fri 28, Sep 2012
Looper is a 2012 American science fiction action film
written and directed by Rian Johnson. The film stars Bruce Willis, Joseph
Gordon-Levitt, and Emily Blunt. In Looper, time travel is invented by the year
2074 and, though immediately outlawed, is used by criminal organizations to
send those they want killed into the past where they are killed by
"loopers", assassins paid with silver bars strapped to their targets.
Joe, a looper, encounters himself when his older self is sent back in time to
be killed. The film deals with themes of time alteration, age, love, crime, and
parenthood.
Looper was selected as the opening film of the 2012 Toronto
International Film Festival. It was released to positive reviews in Australia
on September 27, 2012, and in the U.S. and the U.K. on September 28, 2012 by
TriStar Pictures and Alliance Films.
Plot
The year is 2044, and the United States has suffered
economic collapse, causing severe social decay and growth in organized crime.
Meanwhile China is ascendant, and characters are shown to prefer using the
Chinese yuan. In addition, a strange mutation has suddenly occurred in 10% of
the population, giving them minor telekinetic powers, manifested by their
ability to float small objects. Thirty years into the future in 2074, time
travel is invented, but is immediately outlawed. However, because by that point
technology has rendered it nearly impossible to dispose of bodies secretly,
crime bosses turn to the illegal technology to send their targets to the past
to be killed using "loopers": hired guns paid in silver bullion to
kill and dispose of whoever is sent to them. When crime bosses want to end a
looper's contract, they send his older version back to be killed by his younger
self (referred to as "closing the loop") and pay with gold instead of
silver.
Joseph "Joe" Simmons (Gordon-Levitt), 25, works
for a mafia company in Kansas City as a "looper". Joe's boss, Abe
(Daniels), was sent back in time to manage the loopers and also owns a club where
Joe frequents and spends time with Suzie (Perabo), a showgirl. Abe also
maintains a force of elite gangsters known as "Gat Men," headed by
Kid Blue (Segan). One night, Seth (Dano), Joe's friend and a fellow looper,
visits him in a panic telling him that he was supposed to close his own loop
but could not do it. Before fleeing, Seth's future self had mentioned a person
called the Rainmaker, who has taken over organized crime and is closing all the
loops for unknown reasons.
Joe hides Seth in his floor safe and visits Abe, who tells
Joe he 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. Young Seth is tortured and maimed, his disfigurations
affecting his older self, in order to force his future self to turn himself in.
The Gat Men kill him and leave his younger self alive but severely disfigured.
Joe recognizes one of his targets as his older self (Bruce
Willis) and hesitates, allowing him to escape. Young Joe cuts a message into
his arm to get Old Joe to visit him at a diner, where Old Joe confirms the
existence of the Rainmaker. He sent his men to send Old Joe back, and also
killed his wife; Old Joe killed his captors and sent himself back in order to
kill the boy who will become the Rainmaker. Young Joe still plans on killing
Old Joe to fulfill his contract and escape the mafia, but both of them flee
when they are attacked by the Gat Men. Young Joe tears a piece of a map out of
Old Joe's pocket with coordinates and a string of digits.
Young Joe follows the coordinates to a farmhouse owned by
Sara (Blunt), who lives with her son Cid (Gagnon). When Joe shows Sara the map,
Sara recognizes the digits as Cid's birthday and the serial number of the
hospital he was born in, prompting Young Joe to explain the situation about the
Rainmaker. The database Old Joe used with the string of digits produced three
possible children born on the same day in the same hospital, and he is intent
on killing all three.
As Young Joe and Sara become close, he learns that she is a
telekinetic, and that Cid was raised by Sara's sister for most of his life
until she was somehow killed, and Cid does not believe that Sara is his real
mother. One morning, they are attacked by Gat Man Jesse (Dillahunt), who is
killed when Cid falls down the stairs and lets out a telekinetic blast. His
extraordinary abilities – which are far more powerful than most telekinetics -
cause Young Joe to realize that Cid is the Rainmaker, and that Sara's sister
was killed by Cid when he lost control of his powers. Meanwhile, Old Joe is
captured by Kid Blue.
Young Joe tells Sara and Cid to flee, surmising that the Gat
Men and/or Old Joe will be heading their direction. Old Joe breaks free, killing
Abe and several Gat Men but only wounding Kid Blue. As the two Joes confront
each other near Sara's house, Kid Blue attacks and is killed by Young Joe. Old
Joe then attempts to kill Cid, prompting Cid to let out another telekinetic
blast. However, before Cid can kill Old Joe, Sara calms him down and gets him
to accept her as his mother. Old Joe tries to kill Cid again, but Sara stands
between them. Young Joe realizes that Sara's death at Old Joe's hands will lead
to Cid becoming the Rainmaker, thus creating a closed time loop. He kills
himself to erase Old Joe from existence, save Sara and prevent the Rainmaker
from rising. In the aftermath, Sara finds Young Joe's silver in the van Old Joe
drove.
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References.
External links:
"Main Page." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Sept. 2012. Web. 13 Sept. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page>.
https://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi
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