Looper (C+) #163

I'm stuck on how to rate this movie.  I guess I had big expectations due to the publicity and the high end actors involved.  The movie was okay...and you should definitely see it (don't go by me)...but I would have liked a bit more plot development - especially on the time travel front, and perhaps some additional information regarding how he became a Looper.  And maybe no TK??  Okay, so the TK wasn't the worst.  Just a twist I didn't expect.  Although, the new commercials show it off a bit.

It's yet another movie with a kid for a main actor.  But you don't see that in the preview, do you?  The kid, Pierce something I think his name is, is only 5 or 8 in real life (hard to tell though, IMDB (c) and other web-sites don't list it) - yet he played a 10 year old in the flick?  I'd say he was closer to 5.  I don't get it.  Then why do they say he's 10 then in the movie?  Or, why didn't they get another actor who was  actually 10?  Anyway, he did a pretty good, creepy job.  It's tough with me and movies, specifically when they add kids into the mix as one of the main players.  For instance, I just watched "Satan's Little Helper" and while the kid was super annoying at times - he was also cast perfectly.  His dumb look/expression fit the character perfectly.  Anyway, this kid did a good job too, so it worked.  And at the end he had a bit of a Children of the Corn in him.  And maybe some Take Shelter.... http://scutigeromorph.blogspot.com/2012/03/122-take-shelter-b.html

Ok, now onto the plot issues I have with the flick.  The movie was about 2 hours long.  The cool part (to me), is when movies take time to build up the plot or characters.  Perhaps show some more of how he's a Looper, and as mentioned more about the time travel.  Instead, all of the scenes you see in the preview (him putting the gun in the Looper bin, him blowing away guys that land on the tarp in the field near the corn, and him and Bruce sitting in a diner) happen basically within the first 15 minutes of the movie.  When I first realized this I thought that meant it was going to be really good, because for christ's sake - Rotten Tomatoes is giving it a 93%!  Thinking back, that feeling of "oh I just saw all of the preview scenes so that means it's only going to get better" transformed into, "man, what the hell was that?  And geez I sure wish they didn't fly through the Looper stuff"  That was when I became confused.  With 20 more minutes under my belt, I was finally able to put 2 and 2 together and realize that Joseph G-L was only in the now and Bruce was only in the future.  I thought going in, that Joseph G-L was from the future and he got sent back to waste people.  Not correct.  Anyway, if this paragraph makes any sense at all to you, then good.  Last thought about this is I bet they didn't show much of the time travel etc. because they likely made this on a super low budget.  Another huge payday for not much money.  Well, they did have flying motorcycles....

A few more points.  At one point they showed J G-L kill like 10 guys in a row in that corn field.  Like guy shows up, J G-L pops him.  Flash to next guy getting popped....and another.  Back to back to back to back.  That was their way of plot building I suppose?  Then they did a strange scene, starting with J G-L getting ran-sacked at his apartment - followed by flashing words on screen that said "1 year later" or something, then it said "5 years later" and then it said 10 years later, 15...up to 30.  By then he was all grown up and was now Bruce.  Anyway, this was done really badly.  You will understand what I mean when you see it.  A scene that lasted 1 minute to explain 30 years.

But did I like it?  I guess so.  It was okay.  I can tell you that I think I'd rather see that other Emily Blunt movie with Matt Damon and those doors that took you places.  That one was cooler to me, even though others on the Earth didn't seem to love it as much.  Oh, and the guys who made J G-L look like Bruce did a really good job.  I couldn't stop staring at that.  Seriously, how did they do that?  I would like to morph into a mix between Val Kilmer and that guy from the Saint.