'Looper (2012)' is surprisingly dark and properly grisly at times, especially during its first act. It navigates its complex, non-pandering sci-fi premise with poise and aplomb, but does take quite a turn around its mid-point while also including quite a few odd character choices that see our protagonist betray himself in more ways than one. Still, it's an entertainingly pulpy and simultaneously intelligent affair, blending its grandiose themes with its gritty presentation almost impeccably. It knows exactly what it is while also conveying its deeper messages, though they can be diluted at times through strange conceits and annoying - if interesting - characters introduced fairly late into the flick. The flick is always trying to do something unique and equally impressive even when it falls a little short of doing so. 7/10

Looper drew me in with its interesting premise; a hired gun (Joe) who assassinates targets for a criminal mob from 30 years into the future until he comes face to face with himself. It was a unique idea and the concept of 'modern-Joe vs. future Joe' translated to film really well for the first half of the movie but at around the half-way point the barebones explanation of the details of time-travel, paradoxes and alternate timelines is waved away with a succinct "I don't want to talk about time travel shit." (yes, an actual line in a movie about time-travel) as the plot became more complex. This was a disappointment in a movie who's main draw (for me) was its potential for thought-provoking questions on its sci-fi premise, what I got instead was a more character-driven plotline within a looser framework of sci-fi concepts which, while enjoyable, still left me somewhat let down. The de-emphasis of time-travel and the minutia of its consequences contradict the grounded tone of the rest of the movie, a focus is placed on the feelings of human beings, and the world seems feasible but the hand-wavey fashion that the film deals with the core idea of time-travel (which is vital to the plot) ruined the immersion for me. It demands a suspension of disbelief so great that it softens the emotional impact of the performance of Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who is the star of the show), and the supporting cast of Emily Blunt and Pierce Gagnon (who are central to the plot) The characters are the main focus of the story but even this isn't perfectly executed, Bruce Willis' character, while competently acted, is mostly just used to further to plot and shoot things which did not make for a compelling watch.The movie suffers for its deviation from the initial premise and its confusing venture into a low-effort and ill-conceived dip into vague, supernatural thriller territory on the biological super-evolution of humans (which is about as unexpected and awkwardly introduced as it sounds) and the claims of movie's cleverness are only half true, while on the one hand it presents the motivations, desires and emotions of its characters with some skill and humanity but on the other a surprisingly low-effort attempt is made in fleshing out the mechanics behind the time-travel which I believe to be a major misstep on the writer-director's part, holding back what could have been a truly great, original movie.

Looper is a movie about time travel, hitmen, telekinetic powers and a farm...AnywayThe movie starts out explaining it's concept in a very exciting and really smart way. In the year of 2074, criminals and mobs uses time travel to send back there targets thirty years in time. Hitmen, or so called Loopers, then kills the guy sent back in time and gets paid. Our main hero(ish) Joe, played excellently by Joseph Gordon Levitt, is a looper with high hopes of life. A man who studies french and has dreams of one day going to France. This all changes when Joe himself get sent back from the future... to get killed by himself... This is called closing the loop, in which the mob in the future send back the hitman himself so that he can end his own life, in the future. He get's a big fat reward and can go on about his ways. I won't spoil anything but, things aren't exactly that easy for Joe. From a movie perspective this is a great one. The premiss is fantastic and the acting is great, all around the board. The crown is taken by Pierce Gagnon tough, a child actor who really kills it. The movie starts out with fast paced editing and some great shots of a futuristic society in which we get thrown into. The dialogue is funny, riveting and very smart written by the o-so great Rian Johnsson. But. The movie lacks in one key element. Pace. The pace in the movie completely drops towards the middle of the second act and the movie changes it's story fundamentally. It feels like your'e watching a different movie. Not a bad one, but not a fantastic one either. This is kind of a shame, because the first half is so good, and sets off so many exciting ways to move the story forwards. Rian choose to write his story this way and he went for it. All and all this is a great movie wheigehed down a bit by its second to third act, but still manages to finish quite strong. I would recommend this movie to everyone. See it. Just don't have to much expectations over what it's gonna be. Otherwise, you might get kind of disappointed. TOTAL SCORE:8**/10 *= MEANS HOW MUCH POTENTIAL THE MOVIE HAD, HOW HIGH IT COULD HAVE BEEN RATED.

I went to see Looper when it came out in Finland, and I was in love with it since then. I've always liked the idea of the story. It's complicated in the way time travelling stories are always complicated. Still the plot is mostly straight forward and it's clear what people want. Also it's brutal just in the right way.Of course if you're serious about the time travel aspect, sometimes the time travel paradox doesn't seem to make awful lot of sense, but if you're just in it for an action thriller then you're going to be fine.One of the weirdest things in this movie is to see Joseph Gordon Levitt look like Bruce Willis. Like he pulls that off, and it's not completely awful, but it just look odd. You could've made that happen some other way too, not just make JGL copy Bruce Willis completely... I'm usually not a big fan of science fiction, but when it comes to only small doses of science fiction, I might love it. With Looper the only doses of sci-fi are the time travel element and the telekinetic abilities possessed by some of the characters. Even if time travelling is a key element in the story, it doesn't make the story feel too futuristic. The weapons look pretty regular and there are only few futuristic looking vehicles in the world. This makes it possible for the story not explain the world too much. It looks and works pretty much like ours apart from the few details that are explained very clearly. It's not necessarily only a good thing: you might want to know more about the world, but you can't. You can only see the slightly dystopian aspect on how there are clearly wealthier people partying and then there's so much poverty on the streets and all that.If I absolutely hate something about this movie it's the sound mixing. Sometimes watching this movie is painful because the characters talk quietly but then there's all that action noises and shouting... It's easier if you have subtitles on, then you don't have to blast the movie on full volume. I often stop paying attention to it, but there's that one diner scene where I always pay attention to it, it's just super annoying.It's always a risk to rewatch a movie you used to like 5-6 years back, because you might ruin it, but also can you be neutral in reviewing it if you already like it? The thing about Looper is that while it's a good action movie, watching it too many times doesn't make it good, unfortunately. It's still alright, and there are still some scenes that are breath-taking, but everything between those few amazing scenes feels dull.