Disclaimer, I had to watch this movie over several sittings over a couple of weekends, sometimes while distracted doing other things. I will admit that greatly diminish my viewer experience and being absorbed into the world.

1#. I understand that while watching time travel movies you can't think too hard on it because it starts to unravel but unlike a movie like Terminator, time travel is soo central to the story telling and making sense of the events you are watching. Terminator is simple: folks in the future want to go to the past to protect someone important to the future. Sure Terminator added the kicker that the guy from the future was actually the father of the person he was sent to protect but that was a gotcha moment at the end that wasn't necessary to understand to enjoy 95% of the movie.

In this movie, for example, they made you think about things like well if you carve up a persons arm in the present to deliver a message in the future wouldn't he know during all this intervening time what his fate was in the future and couldn't he do things to change that outcome?

If you are going to use time travel like magic and ask people to not think too hard on it, you have to use it lightly I think.

I think that goes for the whole premise of the movie, time travel is only used by criminals to kill people in the future. That premise just begs you to ask well why is time travel only used for such a specific reason? Only because its a necessary plot device?


2#. The future setting was mostly plot device then a real fully form future setting. There were some things I really liked about the immediate future (not to be confused with the future of the future which we get no glimpse of) I like. Society seemed to have broken down, drug use was rampant. But most of the important aspects of that society were clearly just plot devices and not really a part of a fully formed vision of the future.

From the moment that TK was sort of casually introduced wasn't it clear that it's only real use in the film would be some twist later in the movie?

If society was mostly lawless and vagrants were on the prowl how could Emily Blount and that kid really be safe alone in such an unsecure big house? I mean that other looper just walked up to her door and forced himself in with little to no effort.

Doesn't touch Blade Runner, Children of Men or even Gattaca (which is the best comparison since we are talking low budget moderately different future).

#3 Storytelling wise it was a mess. I think dropping that flashback of the life bruce willis eventually leads where it was in the movie was confusing and distracting. It's funny because I saw that clip of the director discussing the problem with telling that portion of the story (and trying to insert it in such a way that it doesn't shift the focus to BW) but I think its a problem he never really solves and I spent most of the movie thinking I was suppose to be rooting for Bruce Willis. Was I suppose to know earlier that he was the wrong headed one ? or that the Older Character was a psychotic single minded killer and the young YGL still had some humanity (the beginning of the movie they set it up the other way, YGL is a young cold killer and he grows into a better person as BW because he meets the love of his life).

Also you all say that its clear that Cid isn't a young JGL but there are things dropped in the movie that could leave you to at least consider that (more than just JGL seeing common ground between them). Either way it was distracting to leave that idea out there. Again, this might just have been my distracted viewing of the movie.

Also thought this movie missed a golden opportunity to tap into a very universal theme, if you got a chance to talk to your younger pig headed know it all self, what would you say?

Maybe the movie can't be enjoyed the way I viewed it, but I don't understand the love this movie is getting in this post.


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"naive as the dry leaves on the ground looking past the trees to the blue sky asking 'why me?'" -Blu

Why I still fuzz with the Lesson
http://open.spotify.com/user/brothersport86/playlist/3DhEhilho77Z0UCPbJlEJf