SCI-FI; 1hr 53min
STARRING: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Emily Blunt
Not-so-average Joe: Gordon-Levitt (left) and Willis
In 2074, time travel is the province of criminal organisations. Their killers are known as Loopers and the MO is devilishly simple: targets are despatched back 30 years by the Mob to Kansas City, where a waiting Looper shoots them on the spot. Everyone is dispensable, however, even hired hands. When their employers decide to terminate a Looper’s contract, they send his future self back for him to shoot. (Harsh!) This is called “closing the loop" and is the conundrum facing Looper Joe (Gordon-Levitt) in writer-director Rian Johnson’s cerebral trailblazer.
Now here’s where it gets really interesting: Joe closes his loop by shooting his older self (Willis), then lives out his assigned 30 years but refuses to lie down and die when his number is up. Which leaves both Joes on the run from heavies dead keen to kill them. And if you’re thinking Gordon-Levitt and Willis are nothing alike, they are now with genius prosthetics. That’s just one ace in a stacked deck: with its wicked premise, matchless performances from the two Joes and a formidable Blunt, and tick-tock suspense that builds to flesh-creeping horror, Johnson’s surprise package is the real, apocalyptic deal.
