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2012/09/29 22:55:50
Subject: Looper (Movie):Blown Away By It (Spoilers Potentially Ahead)
I just got back from the movies near me. I went to see Looper because it had Bruce Willis in it and the reviews were good (very good). So avoiding any plot spoilers or hints aside from the trailer about the movie, I went in and...
... deem it totally worth watching. The movie has a very strong opening and has almost everything in it you'd want. There are a few loose ends here and there that are not totally covered:
SPOILER ALERT!
Spoiler:
Some characters are too fleeting for my tastes in the movie, such as young Joe's first love interest and I expected a bit more out of the character Abe who was the primary antagonist for 3/4ths of the movie. Also while the threat of the Rainmaker in the present is very well defined, the future is somewhat less defined outside of the presence of old Joe.
Suffice the say, the movie did a very good job drawing me in, gave me enough cringe worthy moments to keep me hooked, and did well playing around with the whole concept of time travel and the montage as a movie device to educate the audience in a brief period of time. And the music did well to add suspense.
On top of all this, did I mention Bruce Willis kicked ass?
So, anyone else with opinions yet or a hungering to watch?
JGL is one of my favourite actors at the moment (has been since Mysterious Skin, the guy's an incredible actor), so I've already been fairly interested in this. Glad to know it's worth checking out.
This and Cosmopolis were the two movies I've been looking forward to this summer.
2012/09/29 23:24:26
Subject: Looper (Movie):Blown Away By It (Spoilers Potentially Ahead)
This and Cosmopolis were the two movies I've been looking forward to this summer.
I will caution that a few critics felt the first half of the movie was strongest (they were right), the rest of the movie can stand on its own as well.
SPOILER AHEAD!
Spoiler:
I think the movie intended to cause confusion and doubt after the storyline cemented itself. We get a movie that tells us the future and far future are dystopian, hitmen have clearly defined duties and roles they are expected to perform along with brutal consequences if they fail, and a clear end objective for both young Joe and old Joe to pursue respectively. The second half of the film I think is supposed to be somewhat muddled because everything becomes harder for the audience to decide what is going to happen as Bruce Willis rightly proclaims time travel is fethed up. I do like the clear cut ending that brings the film's roller coaster to an end, but still the last scene makes me wonder if the right choice was made either way. Yes they made some very powerful suggestions everything was going to be alright, but the ending still leaves a partial cliffhanger (though nothing like Inception).
I saw the trialer when I went to see TDKR, I though (And still think) that it looks amazing, my brother on the other hand really didn't go for it at all
Currently debating whether to study for my exams or paint some Deathwing
2012/09/30 03:18:49
Subject: Looper (Movie):Blown Away By It (Spoilers Potentially Ahead)
Spoiler tagging my thoughts on it... Filler text to keep it out of the post preview.
Spoiler:
Heard a good review on NPR, so saw it. Very brutal movie in some ways. I actually loved the end and everything with the rainmaker.
What bothers me is the (seemingly) plot hole of the looper who lets his older self go, then gets turned in by the main character. They start chopping the younger guy up to make his older self come back. What for? Killing the younger makes the older disappear. The only reason to torture is if they planned to stitch him back together and let him live, soas not to mess up the future too much? My wife thinks they did it just because they're cruel/stupid, but I really can't get past that plot hole.
But after that part, I liked it a lot better...
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/09/30 03:19:59
2012/09/30 03:48:18
Subject: Re:Looper (Movie):Blown Away By It (Spoilers Potentially Ahead)
I liked it as well, was a very good movie and fairly tight as far as time-travel movies can go.
Spoiler:
Rain maker was very well played, and I like the ending that still leaves his future wide open. I like the whole "time travel is complicated, if we talk about it we will be here all day" cop out, it addresses the question and kind of explains why we are just going to leave it hanging there. The only real plot hole that I didn't care for was the whole "it is too hard to kill people in the future" and the motivation for Old Joe.
2012/09/30 06:13:30
Subject: Looper (Movie):Blown Away By It (Spoilers Potentially Ahead)
RiTides wrote: Spoiler tagging my thoughts on it... Filler text to keep it out of the post preview.
Spoiler:
Heard a good review on NPR, so saw it. Very brutal movie in some ways. I actually loved the end and everything with the rainmaker.
What bothers me is the (seemingly) plot hole of the looper who lets his older self go, then gets turned in by the main character. They start chopping the younger guy up to make his older self come back. What for? Killing the younger makes the older disappear. The only reason to torture is if they planned to stitch him back together and let him live, soas not to mess up the future too much? My wife thinks they did it just because they're cruel/stupid, but I really can't get past that plot hole.
But after that part, I liked it a lot better...
Spoiler:
They said something earlier that killing the younger version screws up the future so they are not allowed to kill him, but they can torture the hell out of him. My guess is that he comes back because he doesn't want the 30 years in between to suck more then they are about to, and may still be able to repair some of the damage.
The last part slows the pace down quite a bit, but that is also the same time the character gets clean and isn't on drugs. It is also when he starts gaining a conscience as well. I thought they did a good job of building a world that felt lived in, and gave little hints about what it was like to exist there. For awhile I thought that Jeff Daniels would have more of a role in the central mystry, being the only guy to come back from the future.
There are still a few things I am uncertain of, such as why the Rainmaker was hell bent on closing all the loops. Time travel exists anyway, and I have to imagine more than just criminals know about it. Did the Rainmaker know that a Looper would try to kill his younger self? Overall I enjoyed it, but it feels like there are a few things missing.
Oh yeah, another part I'm a bit murky on is that the first time the future self appears he goes back to his place, falls off the ladder and...goes back to shooting himself who then grows older and comes back and does the first thing over again but this time doesn't die from the fall? He is shown both shooting himself when he appears and also not shooting himself twice.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/09/30 06:25:40
Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
2012/09/30 07:18:59
Subject: Looper (Movie):Blown Away By It (Spoilers Potentially Ahead)
1.) Why did he both shoot himself and not shoot himself, when he first appeared? That was weird.
2.) Did France get destroyed? I think they touched on that but my wife dropper her purse and I was recovering it when they showed... something on a TV that I think covered that.
I did like the movie a lot, but I can't help but think that if they had just played JGL straight without the prosthetics it would have been better. I found them a little distracting.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/09/30 15:11:56
lord_blackfang wrote: Respect to the guy who subscribed just to post a massive ASCII dong in the chat and immediately get banned.
Flinty wrote: The benefit of slate is that its.actually a.rock with rock like properties. The downside is that it's a rock
2012/09/30 15:15:16
Subject: Re:Looper (Movie):Blown Away By It (Spoilers Potentially Ahead)
I think the reason he killed his loop at first was to show that time doesn't have to be linear and that their decisions can change things. The reason he closed his loop the first time was because he didn't know it was him, just a guy in a mask. That's why he traveled back without a mask, so he could see it was him and then act on that knowledge. I think it was supposed to show that just because something happened once, it doesn't have to happen again. People can still make decisions that impact the present (and future).
2012/09/30 15:48:58
Subject: Re:Looper (Movie):Blown Away By It (Spoilers Potentially Ahead)
I think Bruce Willis sums it up nicely that time travel is messy and thinking about it too much leads to an all day discussion of the matter (as hinted at in the movie). As commentary on the genre, it is good advice. Looper introduces alot of time travel cliches and paradoxes within the breadth of the movie and any one explanation of a particular event can probably negate another theoretical mechanism of time travel.
The setting and story essentially climax in the redemption of a murder and drug addict who realizes quickly that his selfish life led to the suffering of others (including his future self) and that self sacrifice essentially redeemed his prior actions.
Lots of the montages showed what-ifs of what was to come or had already occurred. Each acted as a vehicle to move the plot along and tell the story of Joe through his personal struggles and flaws.
Ouze wrote: There were 2 things I found confusing.
Spoiler:
1.) Why did he both shoot himself and not shoot himself, when he first appeared? That was weird.
2.) Did France get destroyed? I think they touched on that but my wife dropper her purse and I was recovering it when they showed... something on a TV that I think covered that.
Spoiler:
1.) That one I'm still a bit flummoxed on as well.
2.) I think Jeff Daniels was implying that France was probably one of the places the Rainmaker set up shop when he kept telling Joe that he really, really shouldn't go there. I'm still a bit unclear on what the Rainmaker did, but that could be becuase the people coming back only had fuzzy memories. As far as I can tell he took over five major cities single-handed, then ruled with an iron fist, killing a lot of people.
Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
2012/09/30 17:35:22
Subject: Re:Looper (Movie):Blown Away By It (Spoilers Potentially Ahead)
Ouze wrote: There were 2 things I found confusing.
Spoiler:
1.) Why did he both shoot himself and not shoot himself, when he first appeared? That was weird.
2.) Did France get destroyed? I think they touched on that but my wife dropper her purse and I was recovering it when they showed... something on a TV that I think covered that.
Spoiler:
1.) That one I'm still a bit flummoxed on as well.
2.) I think Jeff Daniels was implying that France was probably one of the places the Rainmaker set up shop when he kept telling Joe that he really, really shouldn't go there. I'm still a bit unclear on what the Rainmaker did, but that could be becuase the people coming back only had fuzzy memories. As far as I can tell he took over five major cities single-handed, then ruled with an iron fist, killing a lot of people.
Spoiler:
he did shoot himself both times though, the second time he showed up he was not wearing a mask, which threw him off. "Current Joe" acted the same both times, it was the future Joes that acted differently. I think it was a great example of how little tiny things can change their future and their behavior. Maybe the "first old Joe" didn't turn his life around and was captured at a different point. Any tiny thing could have made his life different than "2nd old Joe". That was the biggest lesson in the movie, that time is not linear and futures can change"
2012/09/30 18:39:03
Subject: Re:Looper (Movie):Blown Away By It (Spoilers Potentially Ahead)
he did shoot himself both times though, the second time he showed up he was not wearing a mask, which threw him off. "Current Joe" acted the same both times, it was the future Joes that acted differently. I think it was a great example of how little tiny things can change their future and their behavior. Maybe the "first old Joe" didn't turn his life around and was captured at a different point. Any tiny thing could have made his life different than "2nd old Joe". That was the biggest lesson in the movie, that time is not linear and futures can change"
That is essentially what I was positing earlier, but I'm still not really sure. In a good way.
Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
2012/09/30 19:29:25
Subject: Re:Looper (Movie):Blown Away By It (Spoilers Potentially Ahead)
One of the other little neat things the movie embraces is how the background and the setting tells so much without it jumping out in your face. You have obviously the benefits of 30 years of progress between the movie's present and now but you also get a great deal of social commentary about the decay of society at the cost of that advancement; we have solar powered cars and buildings, but the less fortunate have really old cars with that tech on it. Due to desperate vagrants, stand your ground has become commonplace in the world. Capitalism and corruption, while not explicit save for in the form of mob boss Abe, are the instruments to which people have stratified society between the haves and have-nots.
I just saw the film yesterday, and man was it good. Where else can you see Piper Perabo topless
Spoiler:
I was originally confused by the encounters with "Old Joe" originally, I was like... is this the whole film? Are we just going to see the same scene over and over? But it did make sense in a storytelling perspective as a way to show the way things "should have happened" (I.e. Joe kills Joe and closes his loop and proceeds to live his life). It made sense that the third time of that scene that it would be from Old Joe's perspective. I also liked the transfer between JGL and Bruce Willis in the scenes of years after closing his loop. Bruce Willis still looks bad with long hair.
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