Looper (dir. Rian Johnson; Gordon-Levitt, Willis)

Status
Not open for further replies.
Of all the time travel movies starring Bruce Willis, I preferred 12 Monkeys.

But I think we can all agree that The Kid is the worst.

Also I thought that kid was a creep and was rooting against him hoping he'd get killed and it took a bit for me to realize the movie wanted me to be rooting FOR him and then I was like oh...
 
I have to say this movie blew me away, it was incredible. Not the deepest and most well rounded stories, but as far as an entertaining movie I thought it delivered on all fronts.
 
So I just saw this tonight at my school's theatre. I enjoyed it (found the decisions Johnson made in terms of the screenplay very intriguing; not sure if it all worked, but definitely intriguing)...

But I have a question regarding
timelines.

So the first time we see Bruce Willis sent back, he saves himself and KO's JGL. We'll call this #1. A bunch of shit goes down, which leads to JGL getting into a gunfight in his apartment, then climbing out on the balcony, and eventually falling down multiple stories and- the scene cuts out.

The second time we see Bruce Willis sent back, he has a hood over his head and gets killed (#2). We then see JGL's following 30 years into the future, where eventually he turns into Willis, loses his wife, and willingly goes back in the time machine.

The third time we see Bruce Willis sent back (#3), the exact same thing happens as the first time. He sees JGL fall off the balcony/ladder and land on a car, and then shoots the henchman.

So here's where I'm confused. I have it in my head that these are all 3 separate timeline instances, even though #1 and #3 are possibly identical (but just a different POV). I don't quite understand how that would make sense... does JGL die in the first one? We don't see him land on a car, but are we to assume he does?

Or are #1 and #3 actually the exact same event, same timeline, same everything, but just shown from a different POV by the filmmaker... and in terms of chronology, it actually goes #2 first (JGL kills Bruce Willis, then lives out 30 years, marries the asian woman, watches her die, then goes back in time with the hood off) and then #1/#3 when he confronts JGL and escapes?

I'm reading through the thread right now, so apologies if this has already been clarified.

edit: just found the answer in this article (spoilers); disregard!
 
22 Deleted Scenes on the blu
6f6oW.jpg
 
Its amazing how JGL twists his face to look like bruce willis, did he have to wear any prosthetics? Apart from that I thought it was pretty mediocre. Looking back it seemed like half the movie was JGL chilling at the barn..
 
Loofy said:
Its amazing how JGL twists his face to look like bruce willis, did he have to wear any prosthetics? Apart from that I thought it was pretty mediocre. Looking back it seemed like half the movie was JGL chilling at the barn..
Click to expand...

He wore a prosthetic nose and chin.
 
I really liked this film. Don't think I'll buy it though because for me it kind of just lost a huge part of it's charm once they hit the barn.

Great up until that point though. And that timelapse scene where JGL becomes Bruce Willis is the best of the film.
 
I watched In Time again on cable recently. Movie is still as bad as it was before and Seyfried's rack is still just as glorious as it was before. GODDAMN SON.
 
Going back to the body disposal debate.

I was pretty sure the reason they didn't kill Old Joe right after the accidental shooting, was so there'd be some ambiguity concerning the murder. It might look as if it was Old Joe and he's gone on the run. It's better, than if they're both found dead.
 
I watched this movie yesterday. It didn't impress me at all. Overall... it has a somewhat interesting premise, 100% uninteresting characters (I couldn't care less about the ending and I really really hated the kid).

Also, the movie seemed to drag in several parts, I found myself frequently playing with my friend's cat instead of paying attention to the screen.

I was really disappointed, I expected much more from Brick's director.

On a bright side note, the night scenes were really well done, I mean... they had a "noirish" feel, I liked that :)
 
Oveja Negra said:
I watched this movie yesterday. It didn't impress me at all. Overall... it has a somewhat interesting premise, 100% uninteresting characters (I couldn't care less about the ending and I really really hated the kid).

Also, the movie seemed to drag in several parts, I found myself frequently playing with my friend's cat instead of paying attention to the screen.

I was really disappointed, I expected much more from Brick's director.

On a bright side note, the night scenes were really well done, I mean... they had a "noirish" feel, I liked that :)
Click to expand...

How did you sneak a cat into a movie theatre? :P
 
Oveja Negra said:
I watched this movie yesterday. It didn't impress me at all. Overall... it has a somewhat interesting premise, 100% uninteresting characters (I couldn't care less about the ending and I really really hated the kid).

Also, the movie seemed to drag in several parts, I found myself frequently playing with my friend's cat instead of paying attention to the screen.

I was really disappointed, I expected much more from Brick's director.

On a bright side note, the night scenes were really well done, I mean... they had a "noirish" feel, I liked that :)
Click to expand...

Peagles said:
How did you sneak a cat into a movie theatre? :P
Click to expand...

Busted! :P

The dvd/bluray isn't out for almost a month so what you're saying isn't exactly wise.

Read the forum rules if you don't know what I'm getting at...
 
Platy said:
I just want to say that Looper is in the last line of selection to be a nominee for BEST MAKEUP
Click to expand...

There's this one shot where they get really close to Joe's face and I was pretty blown away. If I had no idea that they put a fake chin/nose on him, I would have never known that wasn't his real face.
 
Discotheque said:
I really liked this film. Don't think I'll buy it though because for me it kind of just lost a huge part of it's charm once they hit the barn.

Great up until that point though. And that timelapse scene where JGL becomes Bruce Willis is the best of the film.
Click to expand...

I just finished watching it and I didn't think it was all that bad myself. It was different in a lot of ways from what one might expect and that made it very cool to watch.
 
So.. just finished watching this. Broad general thoughts and spoilers natch...

So... it's the best Hero Origin story i've ever watched. It stands as it's own story... it explains the origin of the power... the ability of control ... the slow growth over generations. It hints at the apparent strength of the power fully developed. Shows motivations AND the family dynamic without feeling forced or tacked on. As standard action/sci-fi fare it's pretty good (Bruce going nucking futty on the club was ace) I dug the premise off the bat and the way they shot action/progressed the story was well done. Use of CG .. specifically the TK scenes didn't feel that flashy all things considered. Almost pitch perfect with something like a Marvel character.

It feels like an Unbreakable situation .... where deep down I fuckin NEED to see this kid as a 20 something anti-hero. Channeling rage. Potential i'm sure we'll never see.

Not bad at all. It's all good to see McClane get gangster now and then.
 
The second half of the film feels like wasted potential. It was such a cool concept and the way it was a slick and stylish action film had me totally engrossed. Then they got to the farm and the film just kinda plods with a few cool moments here or there. It didn't get bad, but it was a huge drop in quality and not what I wanted to see at all. I expected a cool sci-fi chase movie, but it turned more in to some family drama.

It didn't help
that I REALLY wanted to see the kid get killed when clearly the film was trying to make me sympathise with him and I could see the ending coming from quite a long time before the end, either. As soon as it came to the last act I knew it was gonna end with JGL blowing his head off to stop Willis.

A good film, but I can't see myself ever wanting to watch the second half again. A real shame.
 
Just watched this on my AppleTv. I thought it was pretty great. I'm really glad they marketed it the way they did. Trailers really gave away nothing and I was totally surprised what the movie was even about. That's nice for a change.
 
Foliorum Viridum said:
The second half of the film feels like wasted potential. It was such a cool concept and the way it was a slick and stylish action film had me totally engrossed. Then they got to the farm and the film just kinda plods with a few cool moments here or there. It didn't get bad, but it was a huge drop in quality and not what I wanted to see at all. I expected a cool sci-fi chase movie, but it turned more in to some family drama.

It didn't help
that I REALLY wanted to see the kid get killed when clearly the film was trying to make me sympathise with him and I could see the ending coming from quite a long time before the end, either. As soon as it came to the last act I knew it was gonna end with JGL blowing his head off to stop Willis.

A good film, but I can't see myself ever wanting to watch the second half again. A real shame.
Click to expand...


Agreed. First half was amazing. Particularly
the old best friend climbing over the fence, and you were going huh? at the message on the arm and missing fingers, then you slowly come to the realisation of what they were doing to his younger self
nothing of that quality in the second half.... Except maybe that Piper was the hot stripper underneath all that makeup....
 
I always thought are loopers really good guys? I don't think so. I always figured Cid going all rainmaker and closing all the loops was actually an act of good, right? It's just that from a looper's pov of course is going to look bad.

Overall a solid movie, though.
 
Joates said:
Then I dont see the reasoning for time travel in this movie at all.
Click to expand...

BECAUSE ITS HARD TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER, ITS NOT HARD TO MURDER SOMEONE

god, watching people misunderstand this simple point about the future as portrayed in the movie is fucking maddening.

'I thought it was impossible to murder people in the future!' no, it isn't. It's hard as shit to get away with it, to the point of not trying.
 
taizuke said:
I always thought are loopers really good guys? I don't think so. I always figured Cid going all rainmaker and closing all the loops was actually an act of good, right? It's just that from a looper's pov of course is going to look bad.

Overall a solid movie, though.
Click to expand...

Of course they're bad. They're contract killers.
 
Cindres said:
What I never got is; what's the point of closing loops anyway? Why the need for it?
Click to expand...

Because the mafia wants to get rid of every evidence that connects them to time travel.

Real Answer: This movie uses almost everything around the Time Travel stuff as a pure plot devise. It is not important to the enjoyment of the movie and digging deeper into the 'how' will stand in the way of your enjoyment. The characters even tell you that directly.
If you want to analyse the movie, look into the characters motivations and the philosophical questions and adore the cinematography! Your were able to accept Time Travel stuff like the Flux-Compensator and timeline stuff in BTTF because it didn't want to take the 'how' too seriously - apply the same rules here.
 
xyla said:
Because the mafia wants to get rid of every evidence that connects them to time travel.

Real Answer: This movie uses almost everything around the Time Travel stuff as a pure plot devise. It is not important to the enjoyment of the movie and digging deeper into the 'how' will stand in the way of your enjoyment. The characters even tell you that directly.
If you want to analyse the movie, look into the characters motivations and the philosophical questions and adore the cinematography! Your were able to accept Time Travel stuff like the Flux-Compensator and timeline stuff in BTTF because it didn't want to take the 'how' too seriously - apply the same rules here.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree. Time travel movies almost always fall apart under too much scrutiny, unless it's something like Primer.

If you think about it too much then it doesn't make sense, but I only had time to think about that during the slower second half of the film. If they kept up the momentum of the first half and kept me as interested I wouldn't have even been pondering half the things I did by the end. That's the real flaw of the film, I think.
 
Foliorum Viridum said:
Yeah, I agree. Time travel movies almost always fall apart under too much scrutiny, unless it's something like Primer.

If you think about it too much then it doesn't make sense, but I only had time to think about that during the slower second half of the film. If they kept up the momentum of the first half and kept me as interested I wouldn't have even been pondering half the things I did by the end. That's the real flaw of the film, I think.
Click to expand...

I don't know. I was amazed by the change of pace during the second half, because the movie set it up quite nicely before. You don't see it coming, even if you watched the trailers, but at least to me it didn't feel out of place. And opposite to most I have talked to about the movie, I liked the kid. It's not often, that you have a capable actor at this age in a movie.
 
It's not that I disliked it; I was invested in the story and felt entertained, but a good family drama (which is what I feel the second half was trying to be) are a dime a dozen, whereas a really good sci-fi film is quite a rare thing these days. Despite enjoying the second half, I kept craving for them to go back to the city and the tone of the first half. If the film had kept the focus on JGL trying to find Willis, playing around with the time concept of mutilating your own body, and the memory stuff then it would have been my favourite film of the year, probably.
 
I don't understand people hating on the kids. Yeah, kids in movies are 99% of the time terrible and utter shit, but man this kid has acting chops.
 
He was a really good actor, I just didn't like him because he was a little freak and the actor was great at getting that across, haha.

It's a compliment to the actor that I didn't like the character.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Dwayne Johnson will star as a Hawaiian crime boss in Martin Scorsese’s next film
42
2K
Soodanim replied
Eddington | Trailer | July 18 | Dir. Ari Aster | Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Austin Butler and Joaquin Phoenix
24
587
newtypepilot replied
RED ONE | Official Trailer | Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, J.K. Simmons
20
2K
sono replied
Willie Mays RIP
24
2K
Alex Anderson replied
John "Liver-Eating" Johnson
26
3K
GymWolf replied
Top Bottom