By Dan Murray | Follow on Twitter
SPOILERS AHEAD!
There was so much to be excited about when it came to Looper. One; it was directed by Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom). Two: It re-teamed Johnson with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, an actor who rarely misses and who Johnson had already gotten a great performance from when they worked together on Brick. Three; it’s a time travel movie that revolves around a hitman (who specialises in killing people from the future) having to kill a future version of himself. Four; The future version of himself (who is hell bent on revenge) is played by none other than Bruce Willis.
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If you’re really a younger me, finish this sentence “Yipikaye mother……”
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Honestly, when I read all that I’m pretty sure I let out a Homer Simpson-esque girly scream and promptly peed myself a little. As time went on and I learned more about the plot (Joseph Gordon-Levitt gets involved in deadly game of ‘Cat and Mouse’ with an older version of himself) and the supporting cast who would be fleshing out the film (including Emily Blunt, Paul Dano and one of the most versatile actors around, Garret Dillahunt) my excitement built.
So it was a massive disappointment for me when I finally got to see the movie and was left thoroughly underwhelmed. I’ll admit that I maybe allowed myself to be caught up in the hype-machine, so my expectations were higher going in than they should have been. Also, I’ll admit that there is quite a lot to like about the film, the themes of family, love, redemption and (in Willis’ case especially) revenge all play out well, so I can understand why it got better reviews than I thought it deserved and can at least appreciate what Johnson was going for, even if I thought he missed the mark completely.
Lastly, writing Time Travel is a tricky business (and I’ll get into that later) so there was always going to be issues with that. I just hadn’t banked on the film being so full of issues that it ruined a lot of the fun. In fact, it’s so confusing that I had to enlist the help of fellow Bad Haven writer/Science uber-geek Susie McBeth just to help me write about the time travel mechanics of this film in a coherent fashion. She wasn’t my first choice though, I did try to ask Prof Brian Cox and Stephen Hawking about the time travel mechanics in the film but they weren’t very helpful. Instead of answering any of my questions they just kept shouting at me and asking me how I got into their homes!
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We know you have alot of questions but please leave… or we’ll release the hounds!
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Anyway, here’s my reasons for why I felt Looper was the biggest disappointment of 2012.
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Back To The Future
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OK, I’m going to say here and now that when it comes to time travel my knowledge of theoretical science is pretty limited and it is also a much debated theory, so I can only speak for myself here, and if you disagree then that’s fine. In Looper, I think there were only one of two ways the time travel could work. Either there is one continuous timeline and so Bruce Willis has lived all this before and can therefore be affected by what happens to Levitt. Or Bruce Willis is from an alternate future (the multiverse theory, which means that when time travel occurs and someone goes back and changes are made an alternate timeline is established. There are apparently an infinite number of alternate timelines/multiverses), which means he can exist safe in the knowledge that nothing that happens to Levitt’s Joe can affect him.
The problem I have is that they try to do both. Bruce Willis’ Joe comes from a separate time-line. Willis’ Joe killed the older version of himself and went on to live his life. Found love and redemption in the arms of a woman he loved (and who is caught in the crossfire when he is sent back in time). Escapes death at the hands of JGL and sets about getting revenge on a man called the Rainmaker (who he holds responsible for his wife’s death). Fine, except for the fact that even though Willis is his own separate man from Levitt, he slowly starts to remember Levitt’s memories and can be affected by things the younger Joe does (i.e. carving a name into his arm, which then appears on Willis’ arm).
This just doesn’t make sense. Basically, if it is a multiverse theory rather than a continuous timeline, old Joe’s presence in young Joe’s timeline would have no effect what so ever on young Joe. They could comfortable sit and chat for hours discussing what each of their respective alternate timelines are like and nothing that old Joe did would affect his own timeline, it would have no impact what so ever. Whereas if they were sharing a continuous timeline then when young Joe makes an emotional connection with and sympathy for the target of Old Joe’s revenge than the timeline would have been forever altered and the version of Old Joe visiting young Joe’s timeline would disappear and cease to exist.
It would be a paradox, both versions of the same self, taking completely different paths on a continuous timeline cannot exist. The reason for this being is that if young Joe continued down the new path he established he would never grow up to be Willis’ version of old Joe, therefore as soon as young Joe made that emotional connection and became a less selfish and better person old Joe would instantly cease to exist.
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This is a pretty fair represention of how I felt after trying to figure all of this out
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Sure, time travel is something you can play with, but for God’s sake, once you establish how the time travel of your story works, don’t then go and change the mechanics for a few clever (but ultimately pointless) gimmicks.
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Here’s Looking At Me Kid
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Though I thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis were good in their roles, this issue comes down to miscasting. I never felt like they were playing the same role (which is kind of the whole point of the film). The two just aren’t similar enough to convince me that JGL will grow up to be Willis. Gordon-Levitt is already a full grown man so it’s almost laughable when they show Willis’ life through flashback and, in the space of a few years, his features change completely. The two just aren’t a good fit to play the same character and there’s not enough chin putty in the world to convince me otherwise.
They should have gone for actors who bear an uncanny resemblance already. Actors like Ben McKenzie for the younger Joe and Russell Crow for the older Joe. Sure, McKenzie’s still trying to wash the stink of The OC off himself (and doing a pretty good job considering his turn in cop drama Southland) but take a look at the two below and try to tell me that it doesn’t make more sense than Willis and Gordon-Levitt.
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