Nov 05, 2012 21:50
The follow-up to the follow-up to Brick, Looper sees Rian Johnson stray out of writing and directing thrillers into a half-thriller half-thoughtful SF movie. Still plenty of slang and inappropriate machismo, but then it slows in pace dramatically, some of the worldbuilding pays off, and it becomes sort of a thinking person’s (time-travel action movie redacted as spoiler).
The worldbuilding is a nice balance of the totally necessary and the there just for style, and while you can make some educated guesses you might not spot which is which to begin with.
Not too sure about the mechanics of time travel, but they're consistent. (I think.)
And the makeup to make Joseph Gordon-Levitt look like a young Bruce Willis is a bit creepy, not entirely consistent, and occasionally makes him look like Wes Bentley.
And it hangs on one big coincidence which could have been avoided. Grrr.
Best original SF film of the year? I guess, maybe. Last year's "best original SF film of the year" was better, I think.
Trailers: Argo, one of those next-couple-months’-movies-in-general roundups including The Hobbit, and not one but two attempts to launch action-hero franchises named after the stars of series of books. (Seriously, guys, if you want to launch a franchise, give the first film a film-specific title or subtitle. Dr. No was called Dr. No, not James Bond.)
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