Looper (spoilers)

[Psykoboy2]

No spoilers in the first post but I'm tagging it anyway since most of the plot of the film is a spoiler. The trailers seem to only reveal the concept while the film is a whole lot more than just what is shown in trailers.

I liked it, by the way. Felt like it was based on a comic or something but looks to be a completely original concept. Also, one of the guys behind Primer had a hand in this. That should be a plus for you to see this.

[Zecon]

I saw it this afternoon.
The ending surprised me, which doesnt happen often.

[BLeeP]

Saw it the other night and thought it was great. You really can't think about it for too long, as it is a time travel movie and it falls apart with the slightest of bump tests, but if you can get past that, it is a heck of a ride!

Also, I felt like it had some great overt nods to Back to the Future.

[Rogue_hunter]

I did like that the trailers revealed the core concept, but the meat of the story took ideas from all the time travel movies I love and made a really good synthesis. I loved the cast.

also, that's pretty cool one of the guys from Primer was involved. It actually made sense and could be followed without needing 5 whiteboards.

[muddi900]

I'll have to wait at least 2 weeks for this, but Taken 2 is coming out this weekend so YAY!

[Ravenlock]

I saw it over the weekend and was a big fan. Everybody involved did good work, and while there were some bits you have to just kind of "let go" in order to enjoy the full experience, it still held together pretty well for a time travel story.

[Suave Peanut]

That was a lot of fun.

Seriously. I don't dig a lot of action movies but that was really cool.

[civil_dead]

The missus and I saw this last night and both of us enjoyed it. After the letdown that was Prometheus I was happy to see a solid sci fi movie. Since this is a spoilers thread I'll go ahead and say one of the most disturbing scenes I've seen in recent years was the real-time/future mutilation of his friend. Especially when the door is opened and you understand they kept him alive for 30 years in that state so he could experience everything. Psychologically that was exceedingly dark to me.

I have to also admit to being slightly disappointed in the cinematography. There were some creative and gorgeous shots in the beginning but then it slipped into standard fare after the first 1/4. But overall surprisingly thoughtful and entertaining.

Oh! I have to say JGL did a better job of "impersonating" BW than I expected him to. Part of the fun throughout the movie was looking out for and being aware of his subtle and not-so-subtle gestures, ticks and other nuances. Fucking amazing, prosthetics or no.


- - -
Sent from a phone so please forgive any grammatical, spelling or factual errors.

[Ravenlock]

Yeah, JGL is one talented fucking guy. I'm glad he's getting a lot of work.

I was a little disappointed that the end didn't go into any of the other implications of what Young Joe did. I mean, yes, we assume that Sid now grows up with a mother, and doesn't become the Rainmaker because he doesn't watch a looper shoot his mom. And I'm willing to overlook the plot hole wherein if Old Joe is the reason a looper shoots his mom, the whole thing breaks down because he has to already become the Rainmaker to send Old Joe back to shoot his mom. That's fine. It's time travel, whatever.

But I'm curious about the impact on the rest of the world. Are all the goons in the hideout that Old Joe shot still dead, if Young Joe kills himself and never grows up to come back and kill them? Are the two kids Old Joe shot still dead? We know that what a "Young Looper" does can change the past of the "Old Looper", because Old Joe's memories get changed throughout the film, and obviously Old Seth loses those limbs. Can it also change the "present" of other people?

I'm not saying the answer should be any particular thing, I was just a little surprised not to see it go into it at all. I did love the ending, though. It was a packed theatre and not a person said a goddamn word on the way out. That's the mark of a well done ending in my book.

[Psykoboy2]

Originally Posted by Ravenlock

Are the two kids Old Joe shot still dead?

I'd have to say yes on this one. Mainly because it happened in Young Joe's current time. Killing Old Joe after the fact doesn't seem to me like it would erase everything he's done in that current timeline up to that point.

[Suave Peanut]

I really like that it's up for interpretation. For me, time travel stories lose a lot by explaining too much.

[Ravenlock]

Originally Posted by Psykoboy2

I'd have to say yes on this one. Mainly because it happened in Young Joe's current time. Killing Old Joe after the fact doesn't seem to me like it would erase everything he's done in that current timeline up to that point.

Yeah, that's probably my assumption as well.

Originally Posted by Suave Peanut

I really like that it's up for interpretation. For me, time travel stories lose a lot by explaining too much.

That's fair. I probably appreciate the chance to think and talk about it more than I would've appreciated having it spelled out, especially if it was spelled out poorly.

I'm just curious about what the screenwriter would say, if asked.

[Ravenlock]

I also love the implications of the whole concept of a "looper" and "closing the loop." I mean, we see two iterations with Joe, but logically every looper gets caught in an infinitely repeating cycle, because every time they die, their younger self has to be the one that kills them, and the one who did the killing has to grow up to come back and get shot.

This could be iteration 2 for Joe or iteration 30. All we know is this is the one where he breaks the cycle.

It's a seriously clever idea.

[Ink Asylum]

I'm surprised there wasn't more discussion about this movie. Great film, just saw it tonight.

Did anyone else suspect that the guy who ran the Loopers in 2044 was a grown up version of the idiot guy with the revolver that kept fucking up?

[Urizen]

I did, but why would he jack up his own hand with a hammer?

[Ink Asylum]

Originally Posted by Urizen

I did, but why would he jack up his own hand with a hammer?

Because he's that disgusted with what a little shit he used to be?

[digitalErich]

I kept expecting there to be some payoff or cool sci-fi conceit around why a looper had to kill his older self, as opposed to just any looper killing them. It just seems it was just a writer's convenience, which is fine.

The movie needed more Jeff Daniels, though. He killed that one extended scene he was in.

[Urizen]

Originally Posted by digitalErich

I kept expecting there to be some payoff or cool sci-fi conceit around why a looper had to kill his older self, as opposed to just any looper killing them.

This bugged me, too. But my wife pointed out that it was a way communicate the end of the contract, and give the Loopers their gold cash-out sum. In that, it was an elegant solution. But still one fraught with problems.

Both Jeff Daniels and Paul Dano killed. As did JGL. Comparatively, Bruce Willis had a damned easy job.

[Ink Asylum]

I had gone into the film expecting old and young to team up at the end. I'm definitely glad now that they avoided that trope.

Thinking about it, there's one line in the movie where Bruce Willis goes from potential hero to villain. In the diner, when his younger self asks to see the wife's photo so he can just walk away and leave her out of his life. It's the perfect solution if what you really want is to save her.

Instead, Bruce recoils and refuses, revealing that he doesn't want to save her for her, he wants to save her for him. All his old wise man talk is exposed as selfishness.

[Zecon]

Originally Posted by Ink Asylum

I had gone into the film expecting old and young to team up at the end. I'm definitely glad now that they avoided that trope.

Thinking about it, there's one line in the movie where Bruce Willis goes from potential hero to villain. In the diner, when his younger self asks to see the wife's photo so he can just walk away and leave her out of his life. It's the perfect solution if what you really want is to save her.

Instead, Bruce recoils and refuses, revealing that he doesn't want to save her for her, he wants to save her for him. All his old wise man talk is exposed as selfishness.

Or he could have been afraid of his younger self knowing what she looked like, therefore avoiding her and the monster he would become.