I've seen the future. You should go to China.
Jay and I went to see Looper last night. I loved Looper. I have a few issues with the movie but overall I thoroughly enjoyed it. Spoilers under the cut.
The issues first: I was kinda disappointed that Beatrix wasn't a love interest. That's not so much a story issue as my own issue. I wanted to see more of her as POC. At first I had issues with the prostitute aspect of the story. Like here we go, hooker with a heart of gold story. Though we did get a overused trope - woman prostitutes to support herself and her kid. Then I had less of an issue when I looked at the story from the POV that of course he would be hanging around with other criminals, presuming prostitution is still illegal in 2044. I felt like the sex between YJ and Sara was put in there and it didn't need to be.
Now my take on the movie: With any time travel movie there has to be an original timeline - OT. At least I think so. In the OT, something happens to turn Cid into the rainmaker. A review I read said it was a looper that killed Sara so he was set on the path of revenge. How could there have been a looper in the OT? Maybe it was just a hitman. So Sara is killed, Cid grows up to become the Rainmaker and then exacts revenge on the kind of guys that killed his mom.
Now Young Joe - YJ - grows up to be Old Joe - OJ. Because the Rainmaker is exacting revenge, he finds OJ in China. Why in the OT does he decide to go to China instead of France? How did he become a hired killer? We don't know. At some point in this OT, time travel has been invented and Abe has been sent back to get some loopers. He comes into contact with YJ. Abe doesn't really change the future for YJ. He still becomes a killer, he's just a specific kind, a looper.
The sequence before YJ kills himself illustrates the fact that you can't really change the future. OJ killing Cid was going to create the future he came back in time to prevent. Only this time in the past it would've been a looper that killed Sara.
YJ kills himself hoping that by killing himself he does change the future. Obviously he's changed the part he had to play in the future. Who know if he really changed Cid's future. I think we are supposed to believe the future has been changed, or at least hope it has, because Joe took himself out of the equation and Sara was able to get through to Cid when he was angry.
I think the movie handled the time travel well even if it wasn't all explained. It worked for me. I wasn't expecting the TK stuff to come up again and it did. I was glad it wasn't a throwaway. I appreciated the effort to make JGL look like BW even if it was somewhat of a distraction in looking at JGL. I was also glad the writers had the balls to have OJ kill that little kid. Most stories won't make their heroes do such things even if it's for the greater good. I also liked how the heroes weren't your straight up heroes. It was hard knowing who to root for in this story. At least in the beginning.
It's great that OJ wants to save his wife. But he's only ridding the world of a guy that seems to be getting rid of hired killers, criminals. And he's killing a little kid that may or may not grow up to be a bad guy. OJ is just all about himself until he gets closer to Sara and Cid. By the end I didn't want Cid to die. I wanted him to have a chance.
Other random thoughts
- Loved the kid that played Cid. So adorable. This movie made me want to come up and love Ace up.
- Emily Blunt reminded so much of Katy Perry that I kept asking myself, "Is that Katy Perry? Why aren't people making a big deal that she's in this movie."
- Why is 2044 reminiscent of 1954?
- YJ turns into one real badass or was OJ just so hyped up that he was unstoppable?
The issues first: I was kinda disappointed that Beatrix wasn't a love interest. That's not so much a story issue as my own issue. I wanted to see more of her as POC. At first I had issues with the prostitute aspect of the story. Like here we go, hooker with a heart of gold story. Though we did get a overused trope - woman prostitutes to support herself and her kid. Then I had less of an issue when I looked at the story from the POV that of course he would be hanging around with other criminals, presuming prostitution is still illegal in 2044. I felt like the sex between YJ and Sara was put in there and it didn't need to be.
Now my take on the movie: With any time travel movie there has to be an original timeline - OT. At least I think so. In the OT, something happens to turn Cid into the rainmaker. A review I read said it was a looper that killed Sara so he was set on the path of revenge. How could there have been a looper in the OT? Maybe it was just a hitman. So Sara is killed, Cid grows up to become the Rainmaker and then exacts revenge on the kind of guys that killed his mom.
Now Young Joe - YJ - grows up to be Old Joe - OJ. Because the Rainmaker is exacting revenge, he finds OJ in China. Why in the OT does he decide to go to China instead of France? How did he become a hired killer? We don't know. At some point in this OT, time travel has been invented and Abe has been sent back to get some loopers. He comes into contact with YJ. Abe doesn't really change the future for YJ. He still becomes a killer, he's just a specific kind, a looper.
The sequence before YJ kills himself illustrates the fact that you can't really change the future. OJ killing Cid was going to create the future he came back in time to prevent. Only this time in the past it would've been a looper that killed Sara.
YJ kills himself hoping that by killing himself he does change the future. Obviously he's changed the part he had to play in the future. Who know if he really changed Cid's future. I think we are supposed to believe the future has been changed, or at least hope it has, because Joe took himself out of the equation and Sara was able to get through to Cid when he was angry.
I think the movie handled the time travel well even if it wasn't all explained. It worked for me. I wasn't expecting the TK stuff to come up again and it did. I was glad it wasn't a throwaway. I appreciated the effort to make JGL look like BW even if it was somewhat of a distraction in looking at JGL. I was also glad the writers had the balls to have OJ kill that little kid. Most stories won't make their heroes do such things even if it's for the greater good. I also liked how the heroes weren't your straight up heroes. It was hard knowing who to root for in this story. At least in the beginning.
It's great that OJ wants to save his wife. But he's only ridding the world of a guy that seems to be getting rid of hired killers, criminals. And he's killing a little kid that may or may not grow up to be a bad guy. OJ is just all about himself until he gets closer to Sara and Cid. By the end I didn't want Cid to die. I wanted him to have a chance.
Other random thoughts
- Loved the kid that played Cid. So adorable. This movie made me want to come up and love Ace up.
- Emily Blunt reminded so much of Katy Perry that I kept asking myself, "Is that Katy Perry? Why aren't people making a big deal that she's in this movie."
- Why is 2044 reminiscent of 1954?
- YJ turns into one real badass or was OJ just so hyped up that he was unstoppable?