Jason versus Looper

Finally! I get to end the year catching one of the movies I was most looking forward to in 2012. A sci-fi/action/drama from one of my favourite writer/directors, Rian Johnson, and starring three of my favourite actors -- Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt. So how does Looper rate?

In 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent 30 years into the past, where a hired gun awaits. Someone like Joe, who one day learns the mob wants to 'close the loop' by transporting back Joe's future self.

But that's just the beginning of this thrilling, funny, heart-breaking and mind-bending flick. Leave it to the man who made a pulp P.I. film set in modern high school to take the tired old time-travel genre and make it fresh and interesting. And very, very exciting.

Looper isn't a straight-up action flick though. It asks some uneasy questions and doesn't present us with any easy answers. How far would you go to protect your son? What would you do to save your wife and unborn child? How much is your own life worth? Yet none of this heady stuff gets in the way of an entertaining story.

Acting? Awesome! Gordon-Levitt IS a young Bruce Willis, right down to the speech pattern and facial expressions. Willis hasn't been this invested in a role in years. Hell, aside from the return of John McClane, this is his best work since Pulp Fiction. Emily Blunt? Love her!

This is an easy movie to praise but a hard one for mainstream audiences to like. It's a tough watch at times and doesn't play by the rules. But, if you're up for something ballsy and interesting, it's a win across the board. A Good from me, and one of 2012's best.

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