Hi, everyone! It’s Story Sunday and today I’m talking about the movie Looper. I’ve heard quite a few mixed reactions to this movie and I knew that when I first went to see it.

I was excited to see this movie. I really like Joseph Gorden-Levitt. I think he’s a great actor with a lot to offer. I also walked into the movie expecting for there to be a few plot holes. Time travel stories can be strange. It’s hard to really nail a great time travel story. I thought this one had a pretty good shot because time travel only seemed to go one way.

If you haven’t seen it, the general premise that that Present Joe (JGL) is supposed to kill Future Joe (Bruce Willis) to “close his loop.” Essentially, Loopers kill people and dispose of bodies from the future. These people are sent back by the mob. Part of being a Looper is that in 30 years, when time travel is invented, you’ll “know too much” and the future version of yourself will be sent back in time to die. Joe fails to kill his future self, which is a major problem. Future Joe then runs around trying to kill someone who becomes a major problem in the future. At this point, that person is a child and can be killed easily.

Telekinesis, or TK, was something small that grew into a major plot device by the end of the movie. Honestly, I think this was a mistake. By the end of the movie, it seems clear that the mention of TK was the gun in the room. The problem is that the viewer doesn’t really know it’s the gun in the room for a while. When TK comes back, it seems slightly strange. I don’t think this broke the movie, I don’t even think it was done terribly, I just think it could have been improved when the movie was being edited.

This brings us to two main questions.

DOES THIS STORY WORK?

Honestly, I think this story does work. Some stories tie time travel to motive or constant advancement, they use it often, they try to explain time travel, and things get very strange very quickly. The characters in this movie don’t understand time travel. They don’t need to understand it. Time travel is the reason Future Joe and Present Joe are in the same room but that’s about it until the end of the movie.

WHAT MAKES THIS STORY WORK?

I think this story works because it’s about how people change over time. In the eyes of Future Joe, Present Joe is worthless, terrible, and unworthy of the love he’s going to receive from his future wife. In the eyes of Present Joe, Future Joe is a menace risking both their lives to kill children. At its core, this movie as about small moments, small things that completely define the future of a person. It’s also about personal growth and how the same person can completely hate who they were or who they become. It may have a few problems but I really like this movie and the ending (which I won’t spoil here).

Have you seen this movie? What did you think of it?