Looper (2012) - A Nearly Perfect Finish!

★★★★☆

‘Looper’ is a time-travel sci-fi thriller, a pretty ‘realistic’ one with no show-off special effects but a seemingly prefect script to impress. When it comes to time-travel, things could get rather tricky and complicated, as you know it’s logically impossible but we always seem to be amazed. I tried to figure out its flaws, but couldn’t. The narrative itself simply overwhelmed me.

The story’s set in between 2044 and 2074. Joe (Gordan Levitt) is now (2044) a looper, kind of a hitman that doesn’t have to be skilful actually. All he has to do is to be at the right place at the right time to shoot the target, tied and hooded, sent from the future (2074) without any hesitation. A looper is officially laid off when he shoots himself dead like he does to other victims. That’s called ‘closing the loop’. One day, Joe wakes up to do the routine, but this time he hesitates since the target is not hooded, and he recognizes it’s himself 30 years from now, old Joe played by Bruce Willis. We’re told that failing to close the loop could mean a lot of trouble to crime bosses in control of the business. So the hunt begins.

Old Joe travels back in time to 2044 to try to change the history and save his future, by killing the kid who would become the Rainmaker that is closing all the loop and causes old Joe’s wife’s death in 2074. Old Joe doesn’t manage to kill the kid after all. He’s stopped by young Joe. How? That’s for you to find out. All I can say is, it makes sense. It does break the circle.

Since old Joe doesn’t get to kill the kid’s mother, Sara, who will prevent her boy from becoming the Rainmaker, there should be no Rainmaker in the future. The thing is, even if old Joe doesn’t come, there’ll be no Rainmaker either as long as Sara’s there to take care of her kid. Old Joe does come however, meaning there must be Rainmaker in the future. Since old Joe is not the reason why the kid becomes the Rainmaker, there must be another looper or something to kill Sara so the story will make sense. The film seems to have a nice finish without any paradoxes, but there’s obviously one about young Joe and old Joe. I can’t tell you what it is here. I’ll have to spoil the plot if I do.

You don’t change a situation by changing others because you simply can’t. You can only try to change it by changing yourself since nothing’s independent and we’re all interlocked. People change only if you change. That’s one thing to learn from this film, as well as life itself!