Looper

Last weekend I saw the movie Looper, labeled a smart thriller in its description. The basis of the movie is that time travel will exist 30 years from the main character's timeline. Time travel will immediately be banned after it is invented, but big crime organizations use it to disappear people without trace. To achieve this, the victim is sent back in time where contracted killers are tasked with the actual execution. Of course, these loopers, as they are called, will become a liability should they talk in the future. To avoid this, at some point the looper will have to kill his own future self, after which the contract ends and the looper will have 30 years to live his life to the fullest (before he gets sent back to himself...yeah!). The main character is one of these loopers who fails to kill himself (get used to the ambiguity), which of course leads to a lot of complications.

Lets just begin with saying that I normally have a big problem with time travel in movies. There is something when it comes to loopholes in time travel plots that just rub me the wrong way, and very few movies manage to avoid these issues (see the movie Primer for one that succeeded in my opinion). Looper at least avoids trying to over-explain the technology behind it and focuses on the story. The plot actually managed to get me past those time-travel issues during the movie, even though I still found them a bit irritating when thinking of and discussing the movie afterwards.

All in all, I found myself enjoying Looper and the movie was well put together. The action scenes did not feel forced in there—whenever they happened they felt like they were important for the storyline. It managed to be a somewhat unique movie, where you were not really sure at any point where it would lead in the end, and that is what I want from movies.

For me this was a good movie. I recommend it, but it does not necessarily have to be seen at the cinema, as I think its strength comes through the plot and not endless action scenes. Those are my immediate thoughts on this movie!