Looper *SPOILERS FROM POST 137*

JP Liz V1

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/03/18/wondercon-looper/

http://ie.movies.ign.com/articles/122/1221028p1.html

^ Some images

In the futuristic action thriller Looper, time travel will be invented – but it will be illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a “looper” – a hired gun, like Joe – is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good… until the day they decide to “close the loop”, sending back Joe’s future self for assassination.

The premise of the movie sounds quite interesting and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a very good actor who did well with Rian Johnson in the past in Brick

Mickeroo

I've heard about this, could be great, apparently they brought the lads from Primer on board to help out with the time paradoxes.

indough

i dont know if im taking this up wrong but it sounds ridiculously contrived. why wouldnt they just kill the person in their present?

JP Liz V1

Mickeroo wrote: »

I've heard about this, could be great, apparently they brought the lads from Primer on board to help out with the time paradoxes.

Yes Shane Carruth is involved

johnny_ultimate

Synopsis sounds like absolute rubbish.

But I do like Rian Johnson an awful lot. Brick is great and The Brothers Bloom is a very underrated and playfully subversive film. He has a way with genre deconstructions. I'd be very surprised if there aren't some very interesting tricks up his sleeve.

BopNiblets

Been looking forward to this, those pics of Levitt Willis-ized look kinda weird!

metaoblivia

I'll just leave this here:

CiDeRmAn

I don't know, Willis seems to be the guy that just can't say no, with dreadful additions to the Die Hard series to that muck Surrogates and Cop Out, so, is this going to be one of those or a RED, not a comedy per se but a decent action flick.
We shall see....

Mickeroo

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I don't know, Willis seems to be the guy that just can't say no, with dreadful additions to the Die Hard series to that muck Surrogates and Cop Out, so, is this going to be one of those or a RED, not a comedy per se but a decent action flick.
We shall see....

Don't pretend like you're not stoked he's in GI Joe 2 :P

metaoblivia

I'm not usually into sci-fi, but I have hopes this will be good, mainly because I've seen Rian Johnson's other films, and I trust him as a director/writer. Also, JGL tends to make good decisions (with a few unnamed exceptions :P), so I'm looking forward to it.

Basq

Another trailer for a trailer..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTyWAfqDrGA

AlmightyCushion

Mickeroo wrote: »

I've heard about this, could be great, apparently they brought the lads from Primer on board to help out with the time paradoxes.

I'm really looking forward to this film, it sounds interesting and hearing the guys from primer are involved gives it some extra nerd cred which is always good. Hopefully it's good, I love my sci-fi and I'm sick of the lack of decent sci-fi films lately.

paddy kerins

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kGFyVKmqA0

Looks quite good. Impossible to tell it's Levitt. Sounds like Willis and all

Mickeroo

The movie looks good, but I'm not quite sure about the make-up. I appreciate they're trying to get him to look more like bruce, and that makes sense, but his mouth, or something, his face just doesn't look right. Maybe its just because I'm so used to Levitt's normal face I suppose

pixelburp

Yeah, there's something not quite right about Levitt's face - I think it's the eyebrows, they look a little silly

Duggy747

I think it could be a mix of his mouth and the different colour of his eyes.

Looks like some sort of a gay android. :pac:

Seems that there are going to be two versions of the film, in order to entice a number of Chinese investors a lot of scenes were shot in China but test audiences felt that the pace suffered due to it.

According to the LA Times:

But now some of the scenes shot as part of the China deal won’t make the film's Western release. According to two people involved with the production who were not authorized to talk about it publicly, those moments ended up on the cutting-room floor in the English-language version. But the footage, which showcases Shanghai streets and landmarks, is being added back into the Chinese version at the request of financiers from the country.

The scenes, mainly exposition about how Gordon-Levitt’s character took a downward spiral, did not test well with American audiences, who felt it upset the film's pacing. “But the Chinese didn’t care about pacing, and they wanted the [China-set] scenes in, so we said OK,” said one of the two people involved with the film. (Some other Chinese scenes do wind up in the Western version.)

Mickeroo

New international trailer out for this, Rian Johnson, the director, tweeted the following today apparently so be warned:

If you're already set on seeing Looper, I'd avoid any trailers from here on out. They don't ruin the movie, but they tip a few little things that are fun to discover in the context of the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G90QrEKh8l8

pixelburp

Looks like it might be ok, though the chief concept seems very contrived. Why is the best way to off your problem people to send them back in time?

Also: maybe it's just me, but Levitt's fake eyebrows are still very distracting lol

Fysh

pixelburp wrote: »

Looks like it might be ok, though the chief concept seems very contrived. Why is the best way to off your problem people to send them back in time?

It's a bit of a stretch in that it assumes the technology is widespread enough to be used by a variety of criminals while at the same time being unregulated (though I suppose it may be established that for some reason or other it can't be regulated, ie once you know how to make the relevant machinery that's it, you can do whatever you need to do).

In terms of "why send them back in time?" it's about mob hits and how they're investigated.

In the present, there's no body - so the victim is only ever officially "missing", not confirmed as dead.

In the past, the body can be found, but won't be matched to any dental records, DNA records, fingerprints, etc. So it's just yet another John or Jane Doe.

(My inner sci-fi nerd is tapping one foot expectantly and saying "A smart government official in a world with this tech available would realise that you'd need to have end-to-end identification for people available, and start some sort of program to deal with it like mandatory ID registration on birth, or sending identity records back in time to the limit of the technology's abilities to assist local law enforcement, or even having some sort of Not Crap version of the agents in Timecop who monitor for unauthorised time travel operations." But if the folks behind Primer have been brought in to consult, we can at least expect that the script will be internally consistent and quite clever...)

AlmightyCushion

Did you just say the guys behind Primer are involved? That's surprising and awesome in equal measures.

Boo Radley

New trailer. JGL looks nutty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iQuhsmtfHw

whatislife

JGL looks like the kid from THe Shawshank Redemption who Tim Robbins takes under his wings

but gets shot by the warden

libra02

Am really looking foward to this and trailers look good. Rain Johnson has a great track record with his films so I def think this might be a hit at the box office.

Yesterday is was announced that the film has been choosen to open the Toronto Film Festival.

Here's hopeing my local Odeon will be showing it.

rossy1044

Seen the trailer twice in the cinema in recent weeks. It looks slick enough but as a few people mentioned I kept thinking why would they not just kill the person in the future.

Mickeroo

whatislife wrote: »

JGL looks like the kid from THe Shawshank Redemption who Tim Robbins takes under his wings

but gets shot by the warden

That guy from Ally McBeal?

speedboatchase

rossy1044 wrote: »

Seen the trailer twice in the cinema in recent weeks. It looks slick enough but as a few people mentioned I kept thinking why would they not just kill the person in the future.

If you transport the person through time then there's no loose ends whatsoever in the future - it's not like police will investigate how the victim "went missing", they no longer exist in the future setting.

indough

speedboatchase wrote: »

If you transport the person through time then there's no loose ends whatsoever in the future - it's not like police will investigate how the victim "went missing", they no longer exist in the future setting.

they would still exist in the future if you sent them to the past

Mickeroo

indough wrote: »

they would still exist in the future if you sent them to the past

How? They get shot and killed in the past when no-one will be able to investigate their murder and no-one will notice them missing. By the time they actually dissappear their body is already decomposed or disposed of.

indough

Mickeroo wrote: »

How? They get shot and killed in the past when no-one will be able to investigate their murder and no-one will notice them missing. By the time they actually dissappear their body is already decomposed or disposed of.

there would still either be a record of them having been found or else a body out there waiting to be found, and im sure they keep dna samples and info on dental records of unidentified bodies by now. a smart detective would just have to put together the link between this new time travel and the sudden total disappearances of people and start checking those people against the dna database. im sure in a future where time travel is possible we would have computers that could do that cross-referencing in no time. either way even if they didnt link them straight away the bodies would still exist in the present albeit somewhat decomposed. there are much easier ways of totally disposing of a body than sending it back in time, but while the plot is ludicrous it still looks like it might be fun.

Corkfeen

The reviews on Rotten Tomatoes seem extremely positive at this point. Consensus seems to be that it is an extremely unique sci-fi that is of the standard of the greats. I didn't recognise Levitt when I saw the Trailer.

Jason Todd

I'm really liking the look of this, but I'm trying to see past the make-up on JGL but can't!

Fuzzytrooper

Possibly the best title for a film for Irish audiences.

Mickeroo

Fuzzytrooper wrote: »

Possibly the best title for a film for Irish audiences.

A lot of people will be dissappointed when they realise it's not about that mad yoke they went to school with.

e_e

Corkfeen wrote: »

extremely unique sci-fi that is of the standard of the greats.

It's not. Enjoyable enough but also wholly derivative and not as adventurous as it could have been.

I came away slightly disappointed only because I wanted something great. It's not quite up there with Moon or Inception for me.

e_e

Fuzzytrooper wrote: »

Possibly the best title for a film for Irish audiences.

The sequel will be called Fecker.

Axwell

Saw this tonight and thought it was very good, decent performances from JGL and Bruce.

Phony Scott

Despite a few bits that didn't work for me (namely the CGI work on JGL), overall a very good film and one I look forward to seeing again. Damn it's going to be tough to pick a top ten film list this year. Probably the best year of cinema since... I'm not sure???

Axwell

There was no CGI work done on JGL, he wore a prosthetic nose and the rest was hours of makeup done every day before filming by Kazuhiro Suji.

maddragon

e_e wrote: »

The sequel will be called Fecker.

No, it will be called Langer and they have hired Eddie Hobbs and Dan Boyle to write it. That would be the former TD and not the actual film director of the same name.

Hurricane Carter

Quick question:

If they person is killed in the past, what happens to their body in the future? Assuming the future is happening at the same time as the past..or is it? Makes sense in my head that it is! Is it a dimensional thing?

grames_bond

I really enjoyed this movie - some great moments and great performances by JGL, Bruce and Jeff Daniels!

Would happily see it again!

Vokes

I Am Kong! wrote: »

Quick question:

If they person is killed in the past, what happens to their body in the future? Assuming the future is happening at the same time as the past..or is it? Makes sense in my head that it is! Is it a dimensional thing?

Nothing happens? i.e. Their (alive) body is still in the future all the way up to the point in time where they are transported to the past, non?

Jason Todd

Vokes wrote: »

Nothing happens? i.e. Their (alive) body is still in the future all the way up to the point in time where they are transported to the past, non?

Thats what I thought too... they just disappear without leaving a trace. No body to find by the cops so they're just presumed missing?

Hurricane Carter

Vokes wrote: »

Nothing happens? i.e. Their (alive) body is still in the future all the way up to the point in time where they are transported to the past, non?

Ah.

I keep thinking that even though he's transported back to the past (present say, from then to now), even though he's here, is the future still not happening elsewhere with him in it at the same time, given....ah my head hurts!!!

Edit: Forget it, I'm thinking about it as if everything is still happening everywhere in another dimension at the same time as now!

tok9

The movie has received excellent reviews so far! Have to say, I'm looking forward to it.

http://www.metacritic.com/movie/looper

666irishguy

The thing I can't get is when Willis is beamed back to the past, would he not have the memories of seeing himself being beamed back from his younger days and essentially be just be living through it again as his older self....my nose is starting to bleed, guess I've gone too many dreams/layers in. Looks good though.

paddyismaddy

this year's matrix saw that as a tag line on some tv spot for it

jaykhunter

paddyismaddy wrote: »

this year's matrix saw that as a tag line on some tv spot for it

Do people still know about the Matrix? The last film came out almost a decade ago now and judging by the response to the sequels, probably best not to make the comparisons!

Phony Scott

666irishguy wrote: »

The thing I can't get is when Willis is beamed back to the past, would he not have the memories of seeing himself being beamed back from his younger days and essentially be just be living through it again as his older self....my nose is starting to bleed, guess I've gone too many dreams/layers in. Looks good though.

I remember there was a website somewhere which explained this very well and I will have a look for it, but

the older Bruce Willis has to die

in order for the time travel bit to work, otherwise there is a paradox.

Josey Wales

jaykhunter wrote: »

Do people still know about the Matrix? The last film came out almost a decade ago now and judging by the response to the sequels, probably best not to make the comparisons!

Just because the sequels were rubbish doesn't detract from how good the original was.