ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

What a wild idea for movie! Even if you've seen it, you'll probably need a reminder concerning the plot. IMDB sums it up like this.

Joe is classified as a "looper", a job in which his employers use time travel to send men from the future to be killed into the past, where Joe can properly dispose of their bodies. However, to tie up loose ends and erase the evidence of his ever being a looper, Joe knows that one day his future self will be sent back for him to kill.

When this day comes, Joe's future self is prepared and escapes, and the two men struggle separately in the past trying to evade capture and attempting to fulfill their own personal agendas.

I saw it years ago, and about all I remember is . . . Bruce Willis traveled through time and shot people. I do remember enjoying it, although I had to pay close attention to the complex story, and I probably ran a few scenes back when I suddenly went, "Whaaat?" when things got too complex.

All I remember about the ending was that it struck me as clever and unexpected.


________________________ Looper - trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

I enjoyed this movie and bought the Blu-ray. I thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt (the younger version of Bruce Willis) did a fine job of mimicking Bruce's demeanor, and the makeup did a convincing job of making Joseph look like a younger version of Bruce.

The ending was indeed unexpected... a departure from what we've seen so far in time travel stories.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bud Brewster]

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I watched this movie again recently and loved it just as much as I did the first time.

I did, however, have to read an interview with Rian Johnson to explain why we see the character referred to in all the articles as "Young Joe" actually succeed in killing "Old Joe" after we'd already seen him fail because Bruce Willis turned his back and let the gold bars protect him from the gun.

The reason surprised me. Here's what it says at a site called Film about the old "second scene" in which Young Joe blasted Old Joe when the even seems to repeat itself with a different outcome.
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1. The first time Old Joe pops back to the present, he escapes. Later we see him die in the same place. Which happens first and why the deception?

The first time we see Old Joe and he escapes is actually the second time he appears in the straight story.

According to Johnson . . . the straight line of narrative is that Joe becomes a looper, closes his loop by killing Old Joe (this is the second time we see the scene in the field), goes to China, meets his wife, then gets sent back without the hood and escapes, setting off the rest of the movie, which is the first and third time we see him.
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The reference to the the first and third time we see him means that we see the first event two times in the movie — the second of which is viewed from a distance, showing Bruce Willis throw the gold bar and knock out Joseph Gordon-Levitt, after which he drives off in the truck.

Brian Johnson explains why he made this confusing editing choice in the interview at the link above. Read it and see what you think.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[The Spike]

On my to see list next month.
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The quality of mercy is not strnen.