tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776031415427663302.post1351092369644490419..comments2024-03-27T00:27:04.726-04:00Comments on Net-flixation: Looper Has What Films Should HaveThaddeushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17414047155226211676noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776031415427663302.post-70592672206925632092013-10-18T22:55:54.566-04:002013-10-18T22:55:54.566-04:00You're right, of course. Not only does "y...You're right, of course. Not only does "young joe" learn to be more of person to other people, but he does start to hit on some real points in that diner. It's just that you can feel he's bs-ing and dismissing his older self at the start. <br /><br />It is a shame that this didn't do Inception-level business, but it was still popular, and I hope that all involved soon receive the credit that they so clearly deserve.Thaddeushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17414047155226211676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776031415427663302.post-85811629535759806042013-10-18T13:52:58.291-04:002013-10-18T13:52:58.291-04:00You make a good point there but I do feel by the e... You make a good point there but I do feel by the end that young Joe was starting to develop a bit more emotional maturity there(the diner scene has a lot of dickish banter which is fun at times). It's a shame that this film was so overlooked and under appreciated when it first came out. lady thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16287907577241697874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776031415427663302.post-40759756600386483822013-10-17T22:59:57.732-04:002013-10-17T22:59:57.732-04:00What you point out is both apt and weird. For one ...What you point out is both apt and weird. For one thing, JG-L is partly doing the child-vs-parent thing, saying "it doesn't have to be that way for me." For another, he's practically a nihilist, so the way he says "I'll just stay away from her" both DOES accurately call out Bruce on his BS, while also seeming trite and dismissive.<br /><br />Yes, in the end, Old Joe is too selfish to give up what he had. But he's also being goaded by a cocky brat who only has a small portion of human empathy in him.<br /><br />As such, I don't quite see it as emotional adaptation, since Young Joe is close to being a total sociopath. It read more to me like dickish banter - although the performances and Johnson's writing are deep enough to allow that interpretation, too.<br /><br />It's a rich film. (thank you Rian (and Shane))Thaddeushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17414047155226211676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776031415427663302.post-85766618684921615622013-10-17T22:38:37.572-04:002013-10-17T22:38:37.572-04:00Yeah, Inception is playing a different game than L...Yeah, Inception is playing a different game than Looper. and I think you may have nailed the reason why. <br /><br />Thanks for the compliment! I'll have to consider whether I'll adopt your phrase over my own..<br /><br />But Inception totally has more plot holes =pThaddeushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17414047155226211676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776031415427663302.post-23595617533206859672013-10-17T13:59:39.042-04:002013-10-17T13:59:39.042-04:00I really enjoyed Looper,too and one of the charact... I really enjoyed Looper,too and one of the character developments arcs that stood out to (spoiler alert-you have been warned) is how young Joe was a little bit smarter and less selfish than old Joe.<br /><br />During the diner conversation with both Joes, the elder's main motivation to prevent his own death is to save his future wife but as his younger self points out, the best way to do that is to show Young Joe her picture and tell him "Don't hook up with this woman,because you will get her killed". That would've set up a very dramatic but mature "if you truly love her, let her go" scenario but Old Joe wanted to save her only to have her in his life,which is very selfish and therefore,lesser love. I won't get into other plot details but as the story goes on,we can see that young Joe was more able to emotionally adapt than his future self,sort of supporting that old adage about teaching old dogs new tricks:)lady thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16287907577241697874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776031415427663302.post-78906559686766210372013-10-16T05:13:43.587-04:002013-10-16T05:13:43.587-04:00I love the phrase, "genre friendly, functiona...I love the phrase, "genre friendly, functionally-stupid use of time travel." It does a great job of describing how Looper tells a valid time travel story without sweating the time travel stuff. I'd maybe rephrase it as "genre-smart, functionally stupid" because the story is really intelligently told within its paradoxical bounds.<br /><br />The big difference between Looper and Inception isn't that one has fewer plot holes than the other, it's that Inception takes itself (and its plot mechanics) much more seriously than Looper does. As Old Joe says in the movie, "I don't want to talk about time travel because if we start talking about it then we're going to be here all day talking about it, making diagrams with straws." <br /><br />While Inception was apparently set in the present day, which drew more attention to the single sci-fi element of the story, Johnson did some serious (but relatively inexpensive) world-building to set Looper in the near (and not-so-near) future. I think that world-building takes a ton of pressure off the time travel/future assassination mechanics. I freaking adore this film (then again, I loved Inception as well).DJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10901649394069002585noreply@blogger.com