Looper
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In the year 2044, time travel has not yet been invented but in 30 years it will have been. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target into the past where a looper, a hired gun, like Joe is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good until the day the mob decides to close the loop, sending back Joe's future self for assassination.
What critics thought
Rian Johnson's time-travel thriller earned near-unanimous praise for fusing brainy science fiction with visceral action, with most critics singling out its world-building, tonal confidence, and a screenplay that turns paradox into payoff rather than confusion. The main fault line was whether the film fully delivers on its central conceit — a man confronting his future self — or squanders the dramatic possibilities that premise sets up.
“Looper felt to me like a maddening near-miss: It posits an impossible but fascinating-to-imagine relationship – a face-to-face encounter between one's present and future self, in which each self must account for its betrayal of the other – and then throws away nearly all the dramatic potential that relationship offers.”
Dana Stevens·Slate
“Intelligent science-fiction sometimes seems an endangered species—too much physics and there's a risk of creating something cold and remote, too many explosions and get lost in the multiplex. Looper isn't perfect, but it pulls off the full Wizard Of Oz: it has a brain, courage and a heart.”
Kim Newman·Empire
“writer-director Johnson's grandly conceived, impressively mounted third feature shows a giddy, geeky interest in science-fiction, then forces it into the back seat and lets the multidimensional characters drive. In a genre infamous for loose ends, this thinking man's thriller marshals action, romance and a dose of very dark comedy toward a stunning payoff.”
Peter Debruge·Variety
“Looper, a smart and tricky sci-fi story, sidesteps the paradoxes of time travel by embracing them. Most time travel movies run into trouble in the final scenes, when impossibilities pile up one upon another. This film leads to a startling conclusion that wipes out the story's paradoxes so neatly it's as if it never happened.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“At first, the effect is a bit odd, and you can't quite put your finger on what's off; then it feels downright weird to be looking at a version of Gordon-Levitt who is no longer the actor you've known for a few years now.”
Todd McCarthy·The Hollywood Reporter
Parents guide
- Violence
- severe
- Sex
- moderate
- Profanity
- severe
- Substances
- moderate
- Intensity
- moderate
Genres
Action, Thriller, Science Fiction
Looper
In the year 2044, time travel has not yet been invented but in 30 years it will have been. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target into the past where a looper, a hired gun, like Joe is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good until the day the mob decides to close the loop, sending back Joe's future self for assassination.
What critics thought
Rian Johnson's time-travel thriller earned near-unanimous praise for fusing brainy science fiction with visceral action, with most critics singling out its world-building, tonal confidence, and a screenplay that turns paradox into payoff rather than confusion. The main fault line was whether the film fully delivers on its central conceit — a man confronting his future self — or squanders the dramatic possibilities that premise sets up.
“Looper felt to me like a maddening near-miss: It posits an impossible but fascinating-to-imagine relationship – a face-to-face encounter between one's present and future self, in which each self must account for its betrayal of the other – and then throws away nearly all the dramatic potential that relationship offers.”
Dana Stevens·Slate
“Intelligent science-fiction sometimes seems an endangered species—too much physics and there's a risk of creating something cold and remote, too many explosions and get lost in the multiplex. Looper isn't perfect, but it pulls off the full Wizard Of Oz: it has a brain, courage and a heart.”
Kim Newman·Empire
“writer-director Johnson's grandly conceived, impressively mounted third feature shows a giddy, geeky interest in science-fiction, then forces it into the back seat and lets the multidimensional characters drive. In a genre infamous for loose ends, this thinking man's thriller marshals action, romance and a dose of very dark comedy toward a stunning payoff.”
Peter Debruge·Variety
“Looper, a smart and tricky sci-fi story, sidesteps the paradoxes of time travel by embracing them. Most time travel movies run into trouble in the final scenes, when impossibilities pile up one upon another. This film leads to a startling conclusion that wipes out the story's paradoxes so neatly it's as if it never happened.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“At first, the effect is a bit odd, and you can't quite put your finger on what's off; then it feels downright weird to be looking at a version of Gordon-Levitt who is no longer the actor you've known for a few years now.”
Todd McCarthy·The Hollywood Reporter
Parents guide
- Violence
- severe
- Sex
- moderate
- Profanity
- severe
- Substances
- moderate
- Intensity
- moderate
Genres
Action, Thriller, Science Fiction
Cast & Crew
Stream
Rent & Buy