Looper....

[stj]

I personally found I did care about whether JGL did the right thing. But I have to admit that it took a lot of good faith investment on my part.

The remark above about how it might have worked much better as a short reminds me of what people who saw La Jetee before 12 Monkeys said.

The Kid Blue/Abe subplot is unresolved, but doesn't really add to the texture of the world depicted. And as is doesn't add anything thematically either.

There are so many scifi movies that are badly plotted, premises not thought out and based on a determination to enact clichés, though, that I tend rather to be grateful for the Loopers or Oblivions, despite their manifest imperfections.

 

[JD]

I really enjoyed Looper. It wasn't a perfect film by any means, but I found the story interesting, and I liked the cast.
In the past few years I've started getting into the more dystopic movies, like this and Hunger Games, and I thought the future presented here was pretty cool. I read some interviews and stuff before this came out, and I believe the director did some fairly detailed world building that didn't make it onto the screen.

 

[crookeddy]

I really enjoyed Looper. It wasn't a perfect film by any means, but I found the story interesting, and I liked the cast.
In the past few years I've started getting into the more dystopic movies, like this and Hunger Games, and I thought the future presented here was pretty cool. I read some interviews and stuff before this came out, and I believe the director did some fairly detailed world building that didn't make it onto the screen.

I wouldn't even put this and Hunger Games into the same genre... The way the movies are presented are just completely different.

 

[Amaris]

I liked the movie. I'm a Joseph Gordon-Levitt fan, and I think he did a fine job in this movie. The setting isn't so much dystopian, as it seems to be a progression of our current state. We see lovely places around the world, and outside the junkie districts (which are in every city) things look pretty decent, so I think it's less dystopian future, and more "this is what happens when you sell your soul for money, and fall in with the wrong crowd."

 

[InklingStar]

Looper was marketed as a time-traveling sci-fi action adventure. What the movie was actually about though, was a character study of what influences people as they grow up. What turned a child into Joe the amoral assassin? What turned the assassin into the vengeful old man? What turned Cid into a terrible warlord? What person or event might have changed the course of their lives? The movie was much for of a philosophical discussion than a sci-fi adventure, and so was not what most people were expecting.

 

[Amaris]

Looper was marketed as a time-traveling sci-fi action adventure. What the movie was actually about though, was a character study of what influences people as they grow up. What turned a child into Joe the amoral assassin? What turned the assassin into the vengeful old man? What turned Cid into a terrible warlord? What person or event might have changed the course of their lives? The movie was much for of a philosophical discussion than a sci-fi adventure, and so was not what most people were expecting.

Yeah, I went in with only the knowledge that time travel was involved. I was pleased with the film overall. I try not to have too many expectations. I take things for what they are. That might make it seem like I'll give dreck more of a pass, but I don't mind. I feel that as long as the internal universe is consistent, I can give it a chance.

 

[Mojochi]

I'm curious about something in this movie. Jeff Daniels' character is from the future time period that Bruce Willis comes from. There's some young gunslinger punk named Kid Blue or something, who Daniels not only seems to despise, but also bears a stark resemblance to a young Jeff Daniels, who also appears to be a similar age to Gordon-Levitt, just as Willis is close in age to Daniels.

Nothing was made of it in the story, but am I the only one who thinks there was the intention for them to be the same person, and it got cut? Seems fair to assume that if you went to the past to be a crime boss, you'd want to keep your younger self close, to keep control over him. It would also explain why he hammers the kid's hand instead of doing permanent damage

 

[JD]

That does seem to be a pretty popular theory. I've seen mentioned a few times here, and the thought even crossed my mind after I saw the movie.

 

[Trekker4747]

I'm curious about something in this movie. Jeff Daniels' character is from the future time period that Bruce Willis comes from. There's some young gunslinger punk named Kid Blue or something, who Daniels not only seems to despise, but also bears a stark resemblance to a young Jeff Daniels, who also appears to be a similar age to Gordon-Levitt, just as Willis is close in age to Daniels.

Nothing was made of it in the story, but am I the only one who thinks there was the intention for them to be the same person, and it got cut? Seems fair to assume that if you went to the past to be a crime boss, you'd want to keep your younger self close, to keep control over him. It would also explain why he hammers the kid's hand instead of doing permanent damage

It's a popular theory and I can go with it, it doesn't -as I recall- contradict anything in the movie. Haven't heard if the movie-creators have ever spoken on the theory one way or another.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

@Mojochi, that's just what I was talking about in my earlier post. Abe is Jeff Daniels' character, and I always thought that Kid Blue was a younger version of him.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

He is the alternate ending that vastly improves this movie!

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qncm0hTPriE[/yt]

 

[DonIago]

I liked the film, but I think a key part of liking the film is accepting it for what it is rather than what you might be wanting it to be.

It was never going to be another T2 or 12 Monkeys, because neither of those were what it was trying to be.