Rian Johnson's thriller about hitmen who assassinate targets sent from the future opened the Toronto film festival in fine style and runs rings around most recent sci-fi releases.

Kansas 2044. Time travel will be invented in 30 years' time and quickly made illegal. It will be used only by criminal gangs to send targets back to Loopers, cold-blooded killers employed to murder decades away from detection. The victim arrives out of thin air, hands tied, head covered. The “Looper”” pulls the trigger, collects his cut of "silver" – brickettes of precious metal attached to the mark's back – and burns the body. Once in a blue moon the target arrives strapped in gold – the first sign that the Looper's contract has been terminated. He rolls the body over, takes off the mask and confirms that he's killed himself. His loop's been closed.
This smart sci-fi thriller runs on such bizarre ritual. Delayed suicide is part of the cycle for “Loopers” like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who's eager for the chance to tap out and enjoy his last 30 years as he wants. His life until then is locked in a well-worn circuit – an assassination, steak and eggs at his favourite diner, a quick flirt with the waitress, then the trip to the city with the same clubs, the same drugs, the same girls. Around him the economy has flatlined. Only Joe and his kind – well paid, stylish, arrogant playboys – have the money to zip around in sleek flying machines.

Joe's expecting to meet and kill himself. It's only when his older self (Bruce Willis) escapes assassination that the system is undone. Joe senior has seen the future, likes where it leads and doesn't want to give it up. Joe junior, mindful of the punishment that's dealt out to renegades by his boss (Jeff Daniels), needs to track him down and finish the job.
LOOPER is a classic piece of sci-fi cinema, riddled with brilliant ideas, a complex and satisfying narrative and, most importantly, a heartbeat.


UK Guardian
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