Looper

Now let's get one thing straight: Looper is no Inception...

It's better.
...
...
...
Haha I'm just kidding. Oh man, you should have seen the look on your face. I got you guys good! But seriously, Inception is still better but Looper is still one hell of a movie. 

One of the more interesting premises that the movies have
had in a long time

I usually take this section to explain the basic plot of the movie, but I'm not even going to try to do that with Looper. It's pretty complicated, but ultimately the movie does a fantastic job at explaining everything. Looking back on it, the film could have easily collapsed in under the weight of its time-travel, changing-the-future storyline, but truthfully...this story is airtight. At one point in the movie I thought I had found an inconsistency with the time travel aspect, but then the movie squashed my would-be-qualm by explaining it not a couple moments after I had thought it. Looper is smart and it makes its audience feel like they are smart by avoiding all of the complexities of time travelling and focusing on the story at hand. Much like Inception has become a social-judgement criteria for me, I could easily see Looper becoming the same. For example, you have been talking to a girl for a while and you like her. One of my tests is asking her if she liked Inception. If she says no, that's one large point against her. If she says she didn't like Inception because "I like totally didn't get it! Haha"...well then I just walk away. Now I might start doing that with Looper. 

What? You guys don't do that? Pshhh! You'd be surprised to see how accurate that "weeding-out" tool can be. 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as young Joe and Bruce Willis as old Joe.
Yes they are sitting together at a diner. And no, the space time
continuum is not imploding. Whaaaa?? 

Bruce Willis dual wielding some
P-90s makes for one badass
scene

Looper also features some great performances. Joseph Gordon Levitt is fabulous as younger Joe, a character with drug-addiction problems, a prostitute-based love life, and a cocky mentality. Bruce Willis plays the older Joe, the one who has been through the drug addiction, found love in the future, and has now come back to change his present (told you it gets complicated). The path by which he has to change the present is a dark one and requires him to do unforgivable things. It eats him away inside, but he knows its for the right reasons. It's crazy seeing these two characters on screen at the same time and thinking that they are the exact same character. They seem so different but then that's because life has changed one and not yet changed the other. It's fascinating to think about really...

But anyway, other than the main character(s), Emily Blunt is good as Sara (whose position in the movie I cannot reveal) and Jeff Daniels is menacing but underused as the bad guy, Abe. And then there's child-actor, Pierce Gagnon who plays Cid, Sara's son. I'm always mesmerized by great child actors and this kid is a fantastic one. The film requires A LOT from him and never once did I feel the often awkward feeling of a small child acting poorly. He was phenomenal and to think that he is probably no older than 8 years old. 

"Stop throwing grass at me ya a**hole!"
Said Bruce Willis's character not once in this movie

So I've been praising Looper left and right, but there are some things wrong with it. For one, its pacing is kind of all over the place. One minute, it's intense and I'm wondering how it is going to play out. The next, we are on a farm in the middle of Kansas for 30 minutes. Now, I recognize that I was super tired when I saw this movie, and for that, I will ease some of my criticisms. But there certainly are times where the film drags. And in a film where the dialogue is often just as exciting as the action scenes, simpler scenes that are longer than they should be tend to stand out and damage the movie more than they should. 

Looper is truly a movie that is better than it has any right to be. Often in Hollywood, interesting premises like this are burdened by their own originality and fall apart or don't take advantage of the creativity that they have (see In Time for a prime example of this). Looper is not one of those movies. Its tight script, great performances, and exciting action make it the exception to the rule and results in the most original movie of the year. 

Not to mention, its got one hell of an ending...

Pros:

• Original story that is actually executed well. You can just take the movie for what it is and enjoy it, or you can start to think about all the mechanics and watch your head start to spin
• Performances are emotional, which is not what I was expecting. The film gets dark and the characters respond appropriately
• This film would have been much less effective as a PG-13 movie. It needed its R-rating for sure
• Some humans in the movie have a power called "TK". All that I will say is that some humans have it stronger than others and that s**t gets crazy near the end
• Well done action scenes 
• The ending is fantastic

Cons:

• Drags in some spots. It seems to drag worse than it is only because the rest of the movie is so damn interesting. Just don't go while you are tired
• This movie would be receiving a 10/10 -- Instant Classic rating if it had a better musical score. It breaks my heart when a movie so original has such a generic and unmemorable musical score :-(
• Could have used a dash of humor to lighten up the mood a bit

Rath's Review Score: 9/10

I'd like to take this time now to direct your attention to the black bar near the top of the page (if it's not there right now, move your cursor towards the top of the page). On here are some GREAT links. First off, the Facebook page for Rath's Reviews. Click on it and like it if you havent. It's super easy and it gives me a way to display movie news through an easier medium, rather than putting it in my posts. Secondly, we have "The Premiere Denver Critic". This is a food critic blog run by my friend, Luke. It covers restaurants located in the Denver-metro area so check it out if you are hungry or if you just want an example of some really good writing. Lastly, is O2L Sports. This phenomenal site consists mostly of satirical sports writing that is gut-bustingly funny, written by my friend Chris. Show them both some love and check out their pages. I promise you wont be disappointed.