Rian Johnson swears that it all works out but I have my questions. For instance, wasn't there one loop in which young JGL dies (falling off of his fire escape). If he died, how is there an older version of him to be killed in the next loop?

The carving/cutting off hands thing was cool so I didn't think much about it but the point here does make sense; it's a little odd that changing the past in the present only affects the present and doesn't alter the decisions that would have been made by the older/future person to get to this point.

That being said...

>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.

I think this is how most films work. Very rarely do you have important aspects of a future society that aren't plot devices.

>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.

It's in the middle of a rural area. I doubt most of the city people venture out. I mean, there are currently safe rural areas not too far from violent urban centers. It's not like gang members from Oakland are driving out to wine country to do home invasions.

>#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).

I actually thought this was one of the best parts of the movie. I've had a similar idea of trying to write a story in which your hero has to do terrible deeds to save the world. I thought it was done very well. If you went back and knew one of three babies was HItler; would you kill all three babies?
The fact that they switched your rooting interest on its head and turned the good guy into the bad guy isn't a story problem, it's a great twist. And it was especially well done because it just kind of happened naturally and all of a sudden you were like, "Holy shit, maybe I shouldn't be rooting for this guy."


>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.

Yeah, this one is one you. While there might be some red herrings about who Cid is (and I don't think there are many; wouldn't JGL have recognized Emily Blunt as the woman who raised him if he was Cid.), I think it's pretty obvious from early on (earlier than we were probably supposed to know) that Cid is the Big Bad Guy who takes over the city.

>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?

Eh, I don't think that would have really fit as much. And I'm not sure what it would have added. That's a different movie.