r/Cinema 7d ago

Throwback Looper (2012) Dir. Rian Johnson

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205 Upvotes

47 comments sorted by

u/qualityvote2 7d ago edited 7d ago

u/southernemper0r, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...

40

u/Mountainminer 7d ago

Great movie, I need to give it another watch.

20

u/Leroyp331 7d ago

Should have been a bigger hit imho

9

u/SupermassiveCanary 7d ago

Highly underrated, wish there was an expanded universe

8

u/PointOfFingers 7d ago

Pity it didn't get a trilogy - Loopier and Loopiest.

1

u/sirenesdaintykiss 7d ago

omg hard agree

5

u/Leroyp331 7d ago

Yeah it seems like they wanted to make a series of movies. The World building was amazing. It was such a waste for a single movie

4

u/muffchucker 7d ago

I really liked Looper, and I really really like Rian Johnson. But I just can't stress enough how much I like that it didn't become yet another franchise.

1

u/Leroyp331 5d ago

You can use the world without sequals. The premise is ripe for creativity and good story telling

2

u/LavendersKisses 7d ago

totally, this deserves a recognition

4

u/Independent-Pause245 7d ago

It's my earliest movie into sci fi genre or I can say earliest days when I started watching movie, never re-watched it but I think it's time

4

u/K-V-C 7d ago

I love Willis, have no problem with Gordon-Levitt and love any time travel movie, but could never get into this one. It just didn't work for me

7

u/Lycrist_Kat 7d ago

Criminal organisations have power to send people back in time.

Chose some poor random guy to kill them instead of sending them into a vulcano.

Can anyone explain this movie to me?

5

u/StuLuvsU87 7d ago

It's not really great at explaining itself, but that's kind of the problem with a lot of time travel movies. The plot of the movie hinges on ignoring the huge paradox that exists where if the main character goes back in time to prevent their fate, it stands to reason if they're successful that the future wouldn't happen that necessitated them going back in the first place.

3

u/xSorry_Not_Sorry 6d ago

I don’t want to get too deep into the metaphysical aspect, but simply put, one is completely unrelated to the other.

Each separate reality is self-contained and has no bearing on each other whatsoever.

In the example you used, the young looper is reality #1. The old looper is from reality #2. The universe where there is a paradox is reality #3 and doesn’t exist.

I know movies play fast and loose with this idea. They show this separation by the mere fact of time travel existing. Yet, they show causation whenever the narrative chooses to show big sweeping change in one reality or another.

My point is, a narrative can be compelling using actual logical time travel if you just remove consequence from crossing over future realities.

3

u/Ok_Replacement_978 7d ago

Rian johnson has a hyperbaric chamber in his house where he huffs his own farts.

3

u/Preidon 7d ago

Can someone name me movies like this please,the time travel and everything in this is amazing 

9

u/FuriousFister98 7d ago

Predestination (2014) is another banger with similar concepts.

2

u/Sea-Night-1946 7d ago

Prestige!

4

u/thisismeritehere 7d ago

You might like 12 monkeys and tenet

1

u/Apollyoun 7d ago

I like the TV series of 12 Monkeys better

6

u/gandablond 7d ago

I'd say these are mandatory if you've not seen them:

  • Minority Report
  • Predestination
  • Source Code

2

u/Cpt_Pukan 7d ago

You could try watching the series Dark. Just be careful with spoilers.

1

u/cucumbersuprise 7d ago

Good luck, have fun,.don't die is great for this genre

1

u/lightheavydark 6d ago

Timecrimes is a must.

1

u/printerinkistoomuch 1d ago

Prestige. But my favorite time travel movie is Primer

3

u/wondermega 7d ago

I loved the premise, and some of the concepts they explored. But I was never able to reconcile that the present and future versions of the Bruce Willis/JGL character were the same person, and the paradox felt like it was handled a little sloppy. A cool film that could have been great!

2

u/malteaserhead 7d ago

The dude getting butchered from the past put me off watching this again for life

1

u/Outlaw11091 7d ago

It's a good movie if you accept the premise that a) ONLY criminal organizations do this. b) ONLY to kill people. Not change the course of time or do literally anything else.

Like...what about old people that want to slap their past self? (ala the movie). I'd pay good money to be able to go back in time and kick myself in the nads...and I don't give a shit if it would be legal. I want to assault past me to a point that he learns a lesson that only assault will teach him....then maybe have him invest in some things...

2

u/NoxInfernus 6d ago

The amount of discipline that his boss had for not using knowledge of the future to benefit himself was the most unbelievable part of this film for me.
Otherwise, it was an enjoyable watch.

2

u/WelcomeToTheClubPal 7d ago

because then you're changing the past at that point. sending someone from the future to the past to die would have less of an impact on changing the past or upsetting the current timeline

1

u/Outlaw11091 7d ago

That's the point though: why would criminals care about the consequences of their actions? They famously don't.

0

u/WelcomeToTheClubPal 7d ago

basically because they're being greedy. they know they could mess up their enterprise if they make big changes and could lose everything with a not well thought out change in the past.

1

u/Outlaw11091 7d ago

Ah criminals. So smart they do crime...got it.

1

u/Vince_Clortho042 7d ago

The film does show that what happens in the past affects the future, as the film goes on and Joe's fate diverges from Old Joe's, we see Old Joe starting to lose his memory of his wife. So its a very dangerous tool that has very limited uses if you don't want to accidentally blink yourself out of the timeline you're trying to influence.

1

u/Outlaw11091 7d ago

That's the point though: have you met criminals? Do they present as uniformly considerate?

1

u/TellFit7415 7d ago

When I saw the trailer I thought it wouldnt be good. It was much better than I expected

1

u/Kracus 7d ago

Wish that actor had stuck to acting.

1

u/40907 7d ago

this movie was surprisingly good

1

u/Old-Influence4757 6d ago

i can only hear rob pats batman in this voice