Looper

Me and the usual suspect went down to the cinema to see a sci-fi film that we were very much looking forward to, purely based on the premise and the actors alone. For those of you who are unaware of the basic plot, a man in the modern present (Joseph Gordan-Levitt) is a contract killer for thugs in the future, one day a man he's meant to kill turns out to be his future self (Bruce Willis) and the rest is a game of cat and mouse, or so the trailer leads you to believe. In reality though this is only one half of the story as most of the second (and best) half of the film is focused on a very different thing with Emily Blunt, one which I won't go into too much detail now but it reminded me very much of Stephen King's 'Firestarter' while the time traveling premise feels like a nice throwback to Terminator. But the plot is very original and the setting is nicely shown to us through some modernized looking environments that look familiar but its just the little things which look flashy like the cars and other technology. Strangely all of the weaponry used by the Loopers were more reminiscent of the wild west with over-sized revolvers and steam-punk shotguns which was very cool.

The actors did a good job on the whole, with some emotionally charged or tense scenes peppered intermittently. One mild distraction at first was the make-up on Gordan-Levitt's face to make him look more like Willis. Essentially they gave him some bolder eyebrows, puffed cheeks and a stoney complexion, which did a convincing job but it makes you find yourself constantly doing double takes on Levitt's character because he looks so unfamiliar. Camera angles were varied and involving while the sound design could be very tense at times, especially in the many slow motion sequences.

A very enjoyable Sci-Fi film and the first sci-fi blockbuster to attempt something original while using the familiar element of time travel. The cinema was unexpectedly packed tonight so it has definitely interested a lot of people. While not a classic it is certainly one of the best modern science fiction films made in the last five years and is definitely worth checking out; especially if you are a fan of time travel like me.