WORDS Deirdre Molumby

In this highly anticipated action-thriller, set in the year 2044, Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Joe, a  ‘looper’ who, when he is not assassinating or disposing of bodies, enjoys a life of eye-drop drugs and speeding cars. Loopers are mob-hired assassins who are responsible for killing targets which have been sent back in time from the year 2074. However Joe’s lifestyle (not to mention his life) is gravely endangered when it is his future self (Bruce Willis) he must assassinate, and the future self escapes. Joe must go into hiding from the very criminals who hired him, and finds refuge in a farmhouse with Sara (Emily Blunt) and her son.

The futuristic set design and CGI sequences are impressive, as is the make-up applied to Joseph Gordon-Levitt to look more like Bruce Willis. While the prosthetics could only bring him so far, much of the likeness comes down to Gordon-Levitt’s performance (Watch out for the diner scene where Young Joe and Old Joe face off). The performances by the cast overall are very good. Bruce Willis plays a familiar character – the kick-ass, stone cold killer – and most of the action centres around him. Emily Blunt is convincing as the tough but fragile dedicated mother while Jeff Daniels, better known for his roles in comedies like Dumb and Dumber, shows he can play the intimidating mob boss too. At that, these talented actors play what are essentially types rather than three-dimensional characters, which takes away from the overall impact of the film.

The first hour of Looper is thrilling and inspired but afterwards it seriously loses pace. The ending is particularly anti-climatic, relying too much on our sympathy for the mother-son relationship which throughout the film is cold and distant. Looper isn’t really an action film, nor is it a melodrama. In the end, it tries to do too much and does not fully achieve any of its goals — we are left neither enlightened nor thrilled, or even particularly feeling for the fates of these characters.

Looper is not quite as jam-packed with action as its advertisements make it out to be, but it’s still an exciting, immersing story with some heart-racing chase scenes. An entertaining film and worth a watch, but director Rian Johnson is no Christopher Nolan. Yet.