Looper

Sixteen years ago I drove from Spring Canyon (near Buena Vista) to the nearest movie theater (35 minutes away in Salida) to see perhaps the greatest time travel movie of all time; “12 Monkeys”. What made it great was its Calvinistic approach to the space-time continuum. The cardinal rule in most other time travel movies is that we are masters of our fate. Prime examples of this can be seen in “Back to the Future” or “Terminator 2”, where time travel is used to alter historical events. In essence this view of time travel allows for branching parallel possible futures; each event has the potential of altering the course of time. “12 Monkeys” broke that convention, basically stating that if time travel were possible it would be bound to the confines of a pre-ordained path. Although the characters in this film feel as though they are independent actors in a chaotic world, ultimately their action are all part of the pre-determined plan. “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” is another exception to the Hollywood standard; the time travel which takes place in that film is an integral element of Potter’s destiny. While the chronology of time is skewed, the end result cannot be altered. Maybe you already figured this out, but I love time travel movies. While I liked “12 Monkeys” because I actually agreed with its perspective, really I like any time travel movie if it is able to adhere to logic. From a philosophical perspective I completely disagree with the “Back to the Future” series; yet they are thought provoking and extremely entertaining. As you will read in a moment, I feel the same way about the new film “Looper”. While this film follows the standard time travel convention, it does so wholeheartedly, with some notable twists that kept my attention, even though I found the entire premise utterly preposterous…

In “Looper”, Joseph Gordon-Levitt ages to look just like Bruce Willis. That in and of itself is kinda cool, but that’s not really what the movie is about. Usually time travel movies feature characters who are extremely self-centered. Whether the world is good or bad is judged through the eyes of the main character. “Looper” varies this theme by allowing Present Joe (played by Gordon-Levitt) and Old Joe (Willis) to interact. While this is the same person, he has a different perspective on life depending on when he is from. Obviously Present Joe has less life-experience and his decisions are primarily reactionary and somewhat principle-based. Old Joe has come to different conclusions about the meaning of life, in some ways he has outgrown the childishness of Present Joe. At the same time it becomes clear that regardless of when Joe is from, he is a selfish person. When he comes to realize this is the moment at which “Looper” rises above the standard time travel cliché. While the trailers for this movie have focused primarily on the time travel hitman element, it really is concerned with something deeper. That being said, the filmmakers definitely enjoyed playing with the action afforded to them by a dystopian future in which mobsters send their victims back in time to hitmen armed with blunderbusses. My final thought will be this; if you liked “12 Monkeys” you’ll almost certainly enjoy “Looper”. If you’re saying “what in the world is this ’12 Monkeys’ movie Peter keeps talking about?” and you really enjoyed the Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves time travel movie “The Lake House”, then I think you should take a pass on “Looper”.