Looper

The most common criticism of foreign films is that they demand too much concentration as one has to watch the action and read the subtitles at the same time. Whilst anyone who thinks this has the cultural aptitude and IQ of an amoeba, some films do require a higher level of concentration to watch. Looper is a case in point and is intellectually stimulating and exciting and will leave you with more puzzling questions than an episode of University Challenge.

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Looper is an engrossing mix of The Terminator and 12 Monkeys and stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Joe – a 'looper', or contract killer who kills targets who are sent to him from the future by 'the mob'. However, when his future self (Bruce Willis) is sent back in time, he allows him to escape, with life-changing consequences. Confused? You should be. Whilst this plot is, at times, rather confounding, the film excels in its balance between action and a strong sense of narrative direction.

There is a scene in Looper where two versions of the same person sit across from one another in a diner, discussing the complexities of time travel and whose life is being affected by the decisions they make at that moment. Thankfully for the audience's sanity, the older incarnation of Joe brings the conversation to an end by exclaiming that talking too much about time travel and its effects will scramble your brain to mush. It is sequences such as this which highlight the brilliance of a film which has the potential to give the audience a headache to rival the worst of hangovers. Somehow, however, it doesn't.

Johnson's script develops convincing, multi-faceted characters and he draws some fantastic performances from the cast (Emily Blunt in particular, is superb) and makes full use of its central concept. The moral ambiguities of time travel felt fully-developed and were a satisfying juxtaposition to the action sequences in which more people died than during a stampede for One Direction's book signings. Johnson's dystopian future, where cars have solar panels welded onto their bonnets due to the lack of oil and high-rise skyscrapers counterpoint the graffiti-marked streets where murder is an everyday normality is both startling and tense. It is because of this dramatic setting that the time travel theme works so well and the moral decisions made by the characters feel as though they carry true weight.

There were some pacing issues, especially during the farm house scenes but in general, the film had a taut and dramatic feeling, aided by the combined talents of Gordon-Levitt and Blunt. Their performances created an emotional depth to the characters which underpinned the brain-frying of time travel and even Bruce Willis aimed for a bit of emotional tenacity.

Looper is a thrilling, perplexing and satisfying sci-fi picture, which works because of its engagement with meaty ideas and abundance of gritty action and multi-dimensional performances. Just don't pop to the loo half way through otherwise you won't have a hope of catching up...

Clapperboard Rating: * * * *