Matt Bellamy reviews Looper

Read nothing, avoid spoilers, and do not watch a single clip or frame outside of the trailer -- you've been warned!

The latest from writer-director Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom) is his most accessible film yet but don't let that fool you into thinking this is a lesser effort, or selling out to Hollywood, you will leave the theatre with your head swimming!

The bare bones plot is that in the year 2074, time travel is available although highly illegal and is only utilized by criminal organizations. When they wish to dispose of a body, these criminals send their victims back 30 years to a specific location, at a specific time where hitmen await them to blow them away and then incinerate their bodies, effectively erasing them from time. Joseph Gordon Levitt plays Joe, one of these hitmen referred to as "loopers", he lives the high life when he isn't working, he parties hard and abuses drugs more than recreationally. When one of his targets turns out to be himself, 30 years in the future, he hesitates to pull the trigger and Old Joe (Bruce Willis) escapes, causing all kinds of trouble. Sound complicated already? It is but that's where the film's main pleasure comes from, in figuring out what is going on and racking your brain for answers and theories.

Looper is a very un-Hollywood film, don't expect giant action set pieces or prolonged sequences of mayhem, carnage, and gunplay. There are moments of shocking violence and bloodshed but it's never gratuitous and never feels out of place--it all serves a purpose in moving the story forward. Character motivations, interplay, and their actions are what really sets this apart from your typical brainless action affair; this one definitely has a brain alright!

I'm still working through some of the twists and turns, this is a movie that, if you let it, will really sit with you. Intelligent, thought provoking science fiction is a very rare beast these days in mainstream cinema, we just do not see it enough so when a film like Looper arrives it is something we need to both support and celebrate. Don't miss out on this one, it's destined to be talked about for years and will become a classic within the genre!

Yes, it gets a Good, of course.

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