Ten years ago, Looper took the sci-fi world by storm. It grossed over $176 million against its $30 million budget, received wide critical acclaim, won and was nominated for numerous awards, and hit several top 10 lists for 2012. It was inventive, through-provoking, and mind-bending, but the question is — does it stand the test of time and deliver the same impactful experience as it did a decade ago?

Written and directed by pre-Star Wars Rian Johnson, Looper features a star-studded cast that includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, Jeff Daniels, and Bruce Willis and is set in a dystopian future where crime syndicates have discovered time travel and send their targets back to 2044 to be disposed of by contract killers known as 'loopers.' At one point, the assassins have to 'close the loop' by killing their older selves, for which they get paid in gold and live off the remaining 30 years in relative prosperity. The story focuses on a looper, Joe (Gordon-Levitt), whose older self (Willis) escapes the execution and tries to change the future.

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There have been many time travel movies before and after Looper, from Back to the Future to 12 Monkeys, Primer, Edge of Tomorrow, and, most recently, Last Night in Soho. However, few films achieved the same level of impact and originality as Johnson's twisted sci-fi thriller. Here's what makes it an outstanding and relevant experience even ten years later.

Mind-Bending Story

Joe killing a target in Looper

Interestingly enough, Looper's protagonist is not such a good guy. He's a hired killer who's been doing his job since a very young age and who doesn't hesitate to betray the ones close to him to save his own skin. And though somewhere under the layers of selfishness, there's a heart, glimpses of which can be seen in his intimate confessions to his sex worker-friend, when it's time for Joe to eliminate his older self, he doesn't think twice. After all, it's what he needs to do to 'get what's his' and make his dream of going to Paris come true (there's also a tiny detail of a looper getting hunted down and killed if he lets his mark escape).

However, the old Joe has a different idea. He has already seen and lived through the timeline created if the young Joe carries out his task, and it wasn't a cheerful one. When he finally found happiness, his true love was taken away from him — and now there's nothing he won't do to prevent that from happening. Bruce Willis' character decides to go after a child-version of a mysterious future crime lord, Rainmaker, responsible for hastily closing the loops and eliminating loopers.

Without giving anything else away, it's enough to say the story goes on from there to unleash an Inception-like bucketload of mind-bending twists, reveals, and revelations on the unsuspecting audience.

Stellar Dedicated Cast

Younger Joe in Looper

As the main character was played by two different actors, Gordon-Levitt insisted on wearing facial prosthetics that took over 4 hours to put on and off to resemble Willis, playing older Joe, as much as possible. He also spent weeks re-watching his co-star's movies to be able to imitate his little mannerisms and cadence of speech — all for the sake of authenticity.

Willis, who had the cult 12 Monkeys under his belt and could pick and choose sci-fi projects at that stage of his career, reportedly loved the originality of the script so much that he agreed to come on board the day he received it. The same was true for Emily Blunt, who played Sara, a mother of a potential Rainmaker. Ten years later, Looper still stands out as a sci-fi hallmark of their careers.

A Different Take On Time Travel

Two Joes in the diner scene in Looper

Unlike many other sci-fi movies, Looper treats time travel casually, deliberately leaving out the explanations — though Johnson later revealed some of the mechanics, including why victims can't be killed in the future; hint: it has something to do with them being microchipped — and letting the audience fill in the gaps. As older Joe neatly put it, if they start talking about time travel, they'd "be there all day, making diagrams with straws." So the director made an executive (and wise) decision to focus on the story, human motivations, and moral choices rather than technical details.

One of the most commonly discussed dilemmas associated with time travel is whether or not one should kill a child if they knew it would grow up to be Hitler. While it might seem that Looper explores a similar topic at first glance, it goes much deeper. Johnson wants the audience to ponder a different question: "If there was someone out there posing a threat to someone you loved, would you allow yourself to kill or sit back and let them be killed in your name?" The movie forces the protagonist to make impossibly hard choices while leaving the viewers wondering what they would do in his place.

Thought-Provoking Look At Violence

Bruce Willis in Looper

If time travel sets Looper's scene, the theme of violence, its perception, and consequences are at its very heart. Considering that most action movies use bloodshed as a universal solution — the 'good' guy kills the 'bad' guy(s), and everything becomes right in the world — it's refreshing to see the circle of violence portrayed as the root of the problem. And that makes the casting for older Joe all the more fitting. Bruce Willis is one of the ultimate action actors, and his characters, including John McClane in the iconic Die Hard franchise, tend to solve problems with their fists and guns. However, while older Joe still gets to indulge in a good old machine-gun shoot-out, Johnson masterfully subverts expectations and shows the real consequences of such an approach.

At the same time, the film is violent itself, but instead of throwing buckets of blood and gore at the audience, Johnson keeps most of the graphic scenes off-screen, yet again allowing the viewers to fill in the grim blanks, which makes the impact all the more devastating.

Does Looper Stand the Test of Time?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as younger Joe in Looper

Ten years after its release, Looper still looks impressive. Even the visuals — aside from the puzzling, clearly green-screened shots of a hoverbike — don't seem dated thanks to Johnson's decision to mostly rely on practical effects. If there's one minor criticism to be had is that it somewhat lacks diversity, especially when it comes to loopers.

Is Looper worth a watch or a re-watch today? Absolutely. Despite a few dated elements, it is just as relevant, mind-bending, and impactful today as it was a decade ago. It's clever, inventive, and intensely thought-provoking. And with a 10th anniversary 4K Ultra-HD edition released on Blu-ray, this unique time travel thriller is a must-have addition to any sci-fi fan's collection.

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