Bruce WIllis as “Joe” in the action thriller Looper. (
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Being a contract killer is difficult, if often well paying, under the best of circumstances. For Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the retro-futuristic gunman in Rian Johnson’s whip-smart and twisty sci-fi thriller “Looper,’’ it becomes especially mind-bending.
Joe’s latest assigned victim is a 30-years-older — but still tough-as-nails — version of himself (Bruce Willis). The Older Joe has unwillingly turned up in Joe’s time (2044) for elimination courtesy of an especially ingenious variation on outsourcing that might be termed backsourcing.
It seems that by 2077, forensics have made it virtually impossible to dispose of people without detection. So when time travel is invented — and instantly banned because of its potential for mischief — criminals start using the device to ship their victims back to the past.
Younger Joe belongs to a gang of “loopers’’ in a dystopian Kansas City who rub out the unfortunates when they arrive in 2044 and dispose of the bodies.
It gets even more complicated, but in a way that the film (unlike many sci-fi flicks) lays out very clearly. The Rainmaker, the never-seen crime boss in the future who devised this operation, is also “closing the loops’’ by shipping back the retired loopers — like Older Joe — for the big sleep.
Still with me? Younger Joe, a drug addict with no attachments, is fine with this, at least in theory. Closing your loop gets you a very comfortable early retirement, albeit one with a 30-year shelf life.
But Younger Joe momentarily hesitates when Older Joe finally materializes at Joe’s regular killing spot in a cornfield, letting his still-deadly middle-aged self escape. Worse, Older Joe’s on a mission that makes both Joes the targets of all the other loopers.
Because a woman he deeply loves will be killed by the Rainmaker’s agents when Older Joe’s captured in 30 years, he’s determined to rewrite that future history by shutting down the whole operation.
Which Older Joe reckons won’t even happen if, back in 2047, Older Joe tracks down and eliminates the Rainmaker, who at that point is just a child who will grow up into a monster in 2077.
Older Joe’s search for the kid — and Younger Joe’s simultaneous hunt for Older Joe so he can fulfill his contract — converge at a remote farmhouse where a fierce young woman named Sara (an excellent Emily Blunt) is wielding a shotgun to protect a 10-year-old son Cid (Pierce Gagnon) with a fearsome temper. There are many more twists beyond that.
The always wonderful Gordon-Levitt has been fitted with elaborate prosthetics and contact lenses to more closely resemble Willis — somewhat distracting at first, and not really necessary.
In truth, the two actors together manage to convince you through sheer acting that they’re the same person at different stages of life — especially during a wonderful scene where they argue over steak and eggs in a diner.
Willis has the smaller part, but he once again proves that he’s one of the most underrated actors of the past 30 years — able to blend toughness, tenderness and humor in ways that elude most of his peers. Perhaps Willis will finally get the Oscar nomination he deserved for “The Sixth Sense.’’
There’s also a notable contribution by Jeff Daniels, who’s been shipped back to 2044 by the Rainmaker to brutally oversee the looper squad. At one point, he wryly notes that their taste in fashion is dictated by movies that were based on other movies.
Director Johnson, who made an auspicious debut seven years ago with the high-school noir “Brick’’ starring Gordon-Levitt, helms his sharp, clever script (which pays homage to “The Terminator’’ and the works of Philip K. Dick, among others) with great assurance.
While there’s no shortage of impressive effects — several characters have telekinetic powers — Johnson wisely largely eschews them in the film’s dialogue-driven middle section, as three main characters with varying and ever-changing motives debate the potential outcomes of their actions.
An indie-inflected popcorn movie with major brains, brilliant acting and a highly satisfying payoff, “Looper’’ is the first must-see movie of the season.