• ALL
  • NEWS
    • GAY MOVIE/ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
    • GAY FILM TRAILERS
    • GENERAL MOVIE NEWS & TRAILERS
  • GAY SHORTS & SERIES
  • REVIEWS
    • GAY FILM REVIEWS
    • CINEMA REVIEWS
    • DVD & BLU-RAY REVIEWS
  • BGPS BLOG
  • COMPS
  • ABOUT
    • Contact Us
    • Join The Team
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Gays On Film – A Short History

Big Gay Picture Show

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema and more

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema & more

Looper (Blu-ray)

January 27, 2013 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Jeff Daniels, Paul Dano
Director: Rian Johnson
Running Time: 119 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: January 28th 2013

Time travel is a tough nut to crack. It’s an idea that’s full of possibilities but it also has major pitfalls, not least of which are the endless paradoxes and logic knots that time travel films can tie themselves up in. Although Looper doesn’t completely resolve these problems, its gets closer than any film since Twelve Monkeys and presents a reality that’s actually pretty close to how some quantum physicists think time travel could actually work.

Indeed as Twelve Monkeys and Looper both feature Bruce Willis, perhaps all prospective time travel movies need to be given the Brucey seal of approval before they go into production.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Joe, a young guy in the near-future who works as a Looper. While time travel hasn’t been invented during the time Joe is living, in his future it has, allowing people to be sent 30 years back to where Joe is waiting for them. He works for a criminal organisation that sends people into the past so that Joe can kill them and then dispose of the bodies, which ensures there’s no evidence of the crime in the future.

However there’s a new boss in the future who’s closing down the loops – sending the older versions of the assassins back to the past to be killed. However when old Joe (Bruce Willis) turns up, young Joe fails to kill him. That’s not good enough for the people he works for, who set out to hunt down both versions of Joe down and dispose of them – as if they can kill young Joe, old Joe with disappear too.

The chase leads the younger Joe to a farm run by young mother Sara (Emily Blunt) and her rather special son (Pierce Gagnon). I would tell you more, but it all get a bit too complicated when you write is down, even though it makes sense when you’re watching the film.

Genuinely smart sci-fi is a rare beast, and although Looper shouldn’t be placed at the genius level that some reviews have ascribed to it, it’s shrewd, intelligent, well thought out and incredibly entertaining. Rian Johnson’s film never forgets that you can be as clever as you like, but that doesn’t amount to much if the plot fails to keep you gripped. Looper certainly manages that, hooking you in with a fast pace, great characters, multi-layered plot and a premise that keeps you both guessing and thinking.

That’s allied to something that’s equally rare as smart sci-fi, which is a fully realised, completely cohesive creation of the future. Looper’s world is wonderfully convincing – close enough to our reality to feel familiar, but with everything tweaked and moved forward in a way that feels organic and complete.

With some great action scenes, well-written dialogue and some very good performances, it really is the full package. Although some earlier reviews went a bit too far in treating it as the second coming of Jesus of film, it is a very good movie that’ll keep you thinking long after the credits role.

Blu-ray is a great way to watch it, as the format really shows off Johnson’s wonderful visual inventiveness, both in terms of creating the future and telling the story. The picture clarity is absolutely excellent, with a crisp, sharp image and nice handling of colour –something that is particularly important in the night-time scenes, which display a nice range of blacks. Likewise the audio is good, although there are moments when they could have done with turning up the volume of the dialogue compared to the sound effects (which is an issue to do with taking a surround track mixed for cinema and porting it across unaltered to the home).

As you might have hoped, there’s also a pretty good selection of special features. Rian Johnson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt are on-hand for an entertaining and informative audio commentary, filled with plenty of behind-the-scenes info. There’s a good selection of featurettes as well. Although they sometimes use the same footage (for example two featurettes include exactly the same footage and interviews about the prosthetics used to make Joseph Gordon-Levitt look more like a younger Bruce Willis) there’s a lot of interesting info, such as the rules of Looper that Rian Johnson set up to ensure the film didn’t fall into the sort of time-travel traps so many other movies do.

‘The Science Of Time Travel’ includes a chat with a physicist, who talks about the possibilities of time travel, such as the fact that while travelling back in time would be fiendishly difficult, there’s nothing in the laws of physics to preclude it. While deleted scenes are often a waste of time, here they’re well worth a look, particularly with the commentary on, as Rian Johnson does a good job of explaining why they were included in the script but were eventually seen as unnecessary. It’s a good selection of features you’ll certainly want to take a look through after the entertaining and thought-provoking film.

Overall Verdict: A great package for one of the smartest and most entertaining time travel movies in a long time.

Special Features:  Feature Commentary by Director Rian Johnson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt,  “Looper: From the Beginning” Featurette,  “Scoring Looper” Featurette,  Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Rian Johnson and Noah Segan,  Looper Animated Trailer,  “The Science of Time Travel” Featurette,  “New Future, Old School” Featurette,  “The Two Joes” Featurette

Reviewer: Tim Isaac

Wanna share?:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Flipboard
  • More
  • Reddit
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • WhatsApp

Overall Rating 9outof10

Related

Filed Under: DVD and BLU-RAY REVIEWS

Leave a Reply (if comment does not appear immediately, it may have been held for moderation)Cancel reply

Search this site:

We're Needy, Be Our Friend

RSSTwitterFacebookStumbleUponMySpace

E-maily Stuff

Get the latest in our daily e-mail

Most Recent Posts

Young Hunter Trailer – First teen gay love takes a dark turn into blackmail

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie Trailer – The hit gay, drag West End musical is coming to the screen

Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2020 – Part 3 (Short Film Reviews)

Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2020 – Part 2 (Short Film Reviews)

Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2020 – Part 1 (Short Film Reviews)

The Scottish Queer International Film Festival 2020 Has Opened, & It’s Online Across The UK

The Iris Prize LGBT Short Film Festival Returns Next Week, & It’s Online & Free!

An Apology From Big Gay Picture Show

Win The Miseducation of Cameron Post DVD & Book!

Seventeen Trailer – The vagaries of teen romance erupt in the lesbian-themed film

My Best Friend Trailer – Gay romance flickers between two teen boys

New Sauvage Trailer – The gay prostitute movie that divided Cannes is coming soon

We're Needy, Be Our Friend

RSSTwitterFacebook

E-maily Stuff

Get all the latest from BGPS in our daily e-mail

Blogroll

  • Blinkbox – Gay & Lesbian
  • DoorQ
  • Movie Muser
  • Peccadillo Pictures
  • Peccapics Blog
  • TLA Gay (UK)
  • TLA Releasing (UK)
  • TQS Magazine

Copyright © 2023 Muser Media · Powered by WordPress & Genesis Framework · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're OK with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Read More Accept Reject
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT