Do you love films about time
travel? Does Terminator get you hot under the collar? Does Hot Tub Time Machine
make you feel weak at the knees? If so, you know you should probably go watch
Looper. If not, let me tell why you should anyway.
Firstly, the acting is pretty
great, particularly from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who has really been going from
strength to strength in the past few years. There are also commendable
performances from Jeff Daniels and the child actor, who's name doesn't matter until we are sure he isn't going to become a burnt-out coke fiend.
The setting is also pretty cool.
Think 1930’s retro-futurism meets post-apocalyptic dystopia, with a healthy
dose of gangster movies mixed in. It’s an interesting look, and it feels pretty appropriate in a film about time travel
jiggery pokery. There are also some cool effects and techniques employed and some
rather lovely cinematography. The film is, overall, pretty hot.
Finally, and I reckon most
importantly, the writing is top-notch. There are a couple of classic
self-referential comments made about how complicated the subject matter can be,
and universally the dialogue is punchy and witty.
In fact, the weakest part of film
is actually the time travelling stuff. It doesn’t seem to really engage in the
intellectual problem as, say, the Spanish horror film Timecrimes (watch that
too). The ending was the weakest part of the film, and is a total cliché of the
genre.
This is a film that has pretty
broad appeal. It is not so convoluted as to put off the casual, but probably
has enough meat to keep the hard-core happy. Go and see it, you will probably
like it.
Watch if you like: The Terminator
films (the good ones)
If you like this you might also
like: Timecrimes
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