A Face of CGI

Initially I was apprehensive about Looper after reading that Joseph Gordon-Levitt would play a younger version of action movie veteran Bruce Willis. I could not see any possible similarities between the two causing great disinterest in seeing the film. Then realising that JG-L’s face would be altered using CGI I was put off further. (Who would want to change such a wonderful face?) I remember pointing out JG-L in a promo image of Looperand my friends refusing to believe it was him. Aside from petty aesthetic issues, I also feared his performance may have been impaired as an actor. Alas, after hearing raving reviews from respected critics and peers I decided to set my doubts aside and suspend disbelief. After all, the team work of Rian (with an ‘I’) Johnson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt has proved worthy watching. (See 2005 Brick)

After seeing the film I can safely say that my apprehension was misspent, what I should have been worried about was not seeing the film at the cinema before it was too late. JG-L, to quote a friend (and fan of his SNL opening sequence), “is still hot!”. He still posses the same acting power just looking a little Bruce Willisy around the eyes and nose making for good watching.The film itself was a melody of frightening, heartbreaking and blood pumping. One of my favourite scenes is where Bruce Willis storms the scene with gun blazing action. It is these ‘lighter’ elements to the film that stop the darker material from becoming tedious. Rian Johnson’s vision for the future is realistic, cars powered off solar panels and no hover boards. Although the representation of time travel is not my favourite (dynamic timeline), it is used effectively as a narrative device playing on the themes of a loop.Certainly one of my favourite original films in the recent years, most of which have been the works of Christopher Nolan.