Expectations:
In my opinion, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, at the moment, and I am a huge, huge fan of his work. Last year, I even awarded him the high honor of best actor in a dramatic role in my first ever "Above Average Awards." Although I missed out on Premium Rush, which looked a tad bit cheesy, I was super excited about Looper, which looked a tad bit freakin awesome. However, I am not a huge fan of action films that suck men into the theater in an attempt to entertain them by blowing stuff up and killing people. Most guys like that, but I find it a bit shallow. I was a little worried that Looper was going to turn out to be too much action and not enough story, but the cast was great and the storyline intriguing, so I decided to go watch...
Plot:
Heading into the film, I was thinking that the storyline in Looper would have to be good if there was any chance of me liking the film. Oddly enough, I didn't think the story was all that great. The idea itself was very, very interesting, but the execution was mediocre. I just kept waiting for that moment that would absolutely shock me and make me think "didn't see that coming," and it never came. The interaction among the actors really disappointed me as well. In my opinion, Gordon-Levitt's younger Joe and Bruce Willis's older Joe didn't have enough time on screen together. They really only had one scene where they had a conversation. Considering how long the movie felt, I just expected more interaction between the two of them. With all that being said, I was, nonetheless, impressed with the action in this film. Was it mind-blowing? NO... But they never let the action take the focus away from the story, and that is something that is rarely accomplished. Kudos to the filmmakers on that one!
Characters:
As I said before, the character interaction was not always the best. However, there were some very good individual performances, and I really, really enjoyed the smallish cast. The focus was almost always kept on one of the two Joes, which was a huge plus for me.
Negatives:
The one character that screamed negative! to me was Kid Blue, played by Noah Segan. I believe he was supposed to be some sort of comic relief, but I just didn't really understand why he was necessary. As far as I can remember, he is the only character who ever took the focus off of the Joes, and I did not like it when he did. Also, I didn't understand why Paul Dano's Seth was at all necessary in the film. Basically, all he did was show the audience what might happen if Joe did not kill his future self, which, I believe, did not help with the lack of suspense.
Positives:
Without a doubt, Bruce Willis gave the best performance in Looper, but I do believe he was under-utilized. In the final scenes, he had almost no presence in the film, whatsoever. I know that doesn't sound positive, but I wanted to be sure to recognize him for his performance. Gordon-Levitt was nowhere near his 50/50 performance from last year, but he still did a great job.
Conclusion:
While I wasn't overwhelmed by Looper, I did enjoy the differences that this film had compared to your average action film. The ability to tell the story without forcing the action down my throat was very impressive. The story just needed to be better. It was a great attempt, but it just didn't have everything it needed. I do believe, however, that Joseph Gordon-Levitt has cemented himself into a long term role as one of Hollywood's leading actors, and I can't wait to see what he does next. As for Bruce Willis, he is getting old. I would certainly suggest Looper to any guy out there who enjoys a high-action drama. Just go watch this and see how much you enjoy seeing a story told, and I bet you won't even realize that the action was minimal. I give Looper 2.89 out of 5 stars.
