Day 74/78 - Looper (2012)

When one talks about the theoretical possibilities of time travel many theories are mentioned. One of those is "the grandfather paradox” first described by Rene Barjavel in his 1943 book Le Voyageur Imprudent (Future Times Three). The paradox suggests that if a time traveler went back to a time when his or her grandfather was not married and killed his or her grandfather, the time traveler would never be born and therefore not exist.

In "the Hitler’s murder paradox", if a time traveler had the chance to kill Hitler, what would the end result be? The rise of another tyrant like Hitler? A post-apocalyptic future? In Selden Edwards’ The Little Book, for example, the protagonists find themselves in Austria during Hitler’s childhood. They go to Hitler’s hometown, but find themselves unable to kill the innocent boy on his way to school even though they know his future.

I have always been fascinated by authors’ views of history and time travel. Think of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol or H.G. Well’s The Time Machine. I really like Jack Finney’s two novels which deal with time travel called Time and Again and FromTime to Time, which suggest one can travel back and make changes, some subtle, some great. Film makers have the same fascination with the subject, ranging from works like La jetée, Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, Berkley Square, DonnieDarko, Field of Dreams, Brigadoon, The Portrait of Jenny, and Somewhere in Time.

Director/writer Rian Johnson (Brick) brilliantly ponders the fabric of historical time and the time traveler in Looper.

Johnson creates a sobering but fascinating future in Looper. In a dystopian future of 2072, where the world is filled with poverty and homeless and feels a lot like today, time travel has been invented, but its use is illegal. Only mobs of the future use time travel to get rid of their targets. They send them back to the present, along with payment in form of silver bars strapped to their backs. Hired assassins called loopers kill these mob hits from the future and dispose of their bodies in the present, so no bodies can be found. Occasionally, the person sent back is the future self of the looper. When he kills him, known as closing the loop, he has 30 years left to enjoy the gold bricks strapped to the hit’s back. If the looper doesn't kill his mark, known as letting him run, Abe (Jeff Daniels) the present gang leader (from the future) can exact his punishment many ways—the most gruesome being maiming the present day looper, which we witness in one very grotesque sequence.

Joe (played behind high tech prosthetic makeup by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a present day punk looper, a junkie whose aimless life consisting of killing loops, getting high, having sex and planning for a future in France. One of his friends lets his own loop run and then seeks Joe’s protection. Abe gives him a choice. Give up half of the fortune he has been amassing or give up his friend. Joe chooses to give up the friend, and that choice seals his future.

When the future "Old Joe" suddenly appears (in the form of Bruce Willis), Joe is so stunned that he is unable stop him running. The film shows us both the life he will have, and why future Joe is so intent on changing the present.

Ultimately, the film becomes a thrilling chase where the mob wants to hit Joe and stop Old Joe. Old Joe knows that the mob is run by a mysterious leader called The Rainbow Man who is the one suddenly responsible for all the loops being closed. He intends to find Rainbow Man who in the present is a child and kill him (a variation of the Hitler Paradox). Cocky present-Joe wants to find past-Joe and kill him so that he can live his life (a variation of the Grandfather paradox).

This is a film about discovery, so don't let people tell you too much about it. Allow a great filmmaker to tell his story in his own way. Several times in the film I delighted to hear the collective reaction of the audience to the special effects and the story twists. They loved it. I loved it.

Run to see the film.

Looper (2012) *****