Looper

2012 | 119 minutes | Rated R

This noirish time travel saga by Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom) brims with visual detail and imaginative camera set-ups, though it doesn't leave much of an aftertaste. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a contract killer in the mid-21st century whose targets are sent back to him from 30 years in the future; things get hairy when his latest victim turns out to be an older version of himself, played by Bruce Willis in his rueful hangdog mode. The dystopian setting, in which all U.S. infrastructure has eroded and everyone has a price on his head, makes for some bold cultural commentary, but as usual with Johnson, the engaging ideas feel like affectations rather than products of a fully developed sensibility. With Emily Blunt, Piper Perabo, and Jeff Daniels, who steals his every scene as a sullen mob boss. By Ben Sachs

Official Site: www.loopermovie.com
Director: Rian Johnson
Producer: Ram Bergman, James D. Stern, Douglas Hansen, Julie Goldstein, Peter Schlessel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Dan Mintz
Cast: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Noah Segan, Piper Perabo, Jeff Daniels, Summer Qing, Tracie Thomas, Frank Brennan, Garret Dillahunt, Nick Gomez, Marcus Hester, Jon Eyez, Kevin Stillwell, Thirl Haston, James Hébert, Kenneth Brown Jr., Cody Wood and Adam Boyer