Looper Review
Rian Johnson's 2012 breakthrough hit was a clever little sci-fi action thriller which also marked the last time Bruce Willis visibly gave a damn.
Johnson will now and likely forevermore be associated with Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi. But back in 2005 he was having a ball with the quirky Joseph Gordon-Levitt neo-noir, Brick, which made for a hell of a debut. It took a while to translate that into a veritable shot at the big time, but that came with 2012's Looper, something of a sleeper hit which took a relatively meagre $30 million budget and turned that into six times as much at the Box Office. There's no doubt that Looper's critical and commercial success - still a relatively rare occurrence for an original sci-fi property, with even the last couple of superb Cruise outings, Edge of Tomorrow and Oblivion, struggling in that respect - left Johnson a shoe-in for Star Wars and, even if he's sold his soul to Netflix for a bunch of Knives Out sequels, there is no denying his skills at turning in a memorable sci-fi narrative.
... it's crazy to think that, less than a decade ago, you could get this kind of performance out of the same guy who now churns out rubbish like Cosmic Sin and Anti-Life
Looper is a superbly wrapped-up loop-within-a-loop-within-a-loop affair, positing a far future where time travel has been invented, and a near-future where victims are sent back from the future to be executed by assassins - Loopers - who will eventually see their elder selves at the end of their own barrel. Working wonders on a budget, Johnson goes for moody atmosphere and retro future design - the blunderbusses and old school pistols - and the facing-myself threat which was so effectively staged here in comparison to similar efforts like Gemini Man. Gordon-Levitt's the star and despite some possibly distracting and unnecessary prosthetics, it's actually his mannerisms that make him come across like a younger Willis, whilst a young(er) Emily Blunt shows some early mettle, and Jeff Daniels makes for a suitably menacing boss, but it's - perhaps ironically considering where we are now - Willis who arguably steals the show, both in performance and in character, going to some dark places in an excellent bit of sci-fi plotting. It's crazy to think that, less than a decade ago, you could get this kind of performance out of the same guy who now churns out rubbish like Cosmic Sin and Anti-Life with bi-monthly regularity. Still, that doesn't detract from just how good this was and is, with Johnson at the height of his early game, and everybody clearly committed to the intoxicating ride.
Looper 4K Video
Looper comes to UK 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray courtesy of Entertainment One, with no US counterpart on the horizon. This Ultra HD Blu-ray release boasts a perhaps surprisingly rich 4K presentation despite being ostensibly from a 2K Digital Intermediate.
The disc presents a 3840x2160/24p BT.2020 image in the film's original aspect ratio of widescreen 2.39:1, and uses 10-bit video depth, a Wide Colour Gamut (WCG), High Dynamic Range (HDR), and HDR10+, and is encoded using the HEVC (H.265) codec for HDR10.
We reviewed the UK 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of Looper on an LG 55B7 Dolby Vision 4K Ultra HD OLED TV with a Panasonic DP-UB820EB-K Dolby Vision HDR10+ 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player.
... Looper's 4K release takes on a strikingly classic look in terms of presentation and it's superb
Although only a 2012 production, less than a decade old, Looper's 4K release takes on a strikingly classic look in terms of presentation and it's superb. It's rich and positively decadent, brimming with some excellent detail and precision as well as a sharply resolved grain structure. Clarity is excellent, revealing writing on background documents, metal zips streaking across leather, facial hair and lines
The grain structure is fabulous, almost perfect throughout but for a couple of fleeting instances where it wavers and shimmers barely noticeably. The colour scheme is rich and deep and, even without Dolby Vision, it looks wonderfully vibrant, gifting the more decadent trappings a lived-in feel, along with a fabulously minimalist future replete with subtle nuances. Lens flare abounds, searing across the image, whilst skin tones are healthy and tanned and black levels rich and impenetrably deep. After their recent stellar work on In the Line of Fire, this presentation wouldn't look out of place on the Sony roster; Looper looks great in 4K.
Looper 4K Audio
Looper's 4K Blu-ray release doesn't enjoy any kind of object-based immersive audio update in the form of Dolby Atmos, instead delivering the same old DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Thankfully it was already a stunner.
... a stunner
Dialogue comes across clearly and coherently throughout, eagerly presented across the frontal array and taking precedence – wherever appropriate – over the rest of the elements incorporated into the track. Effects are myriad, used both subtly – to craft a convincing background atmosphere for each specific locale – and more prominently – to levy a volley of shot in your direction, and rendered accurately throughout. The film manages to balance the natural sounds of the rural in-the-middle-of-nowhere farm, with its rustling fields and creaking wooden boards, with the more claustrophobic noises attributed to the urban locales, with their buzzing vehicles and sweltering, dirty streets. The score similarly perfectly matches the respective environments, clinically cranking up the tension in an almost imperceptible fashion, before delivering a more rousing, thunderous accompaniment to the key sequences. The LFE channel gets a fair amount of work, mainly through the louder weaponry – gunshots from the blunderbusses and the revolvers are easily distinguishable! – and thus the more noisy scenes in particular get that added oomph. Overall, this is an excellent track.
Looper 4K Extras
Entertainment One's UK 4K release of Looper includes all of the old and fairly comprehensive extras from the Blu-ray, welcomely ported over to the 4K disc proper.
... all the old extras, ported over to the 4K disc
The original Audio Commentary enjoyed the participation of not only the Director, but stars Gordon-Levitt and Blunt too, and the accompanying Featurettes dip into the production, the score and the science, whilst a whole slew of Deleted Scenes make for interesting curios, even with some of the effects incomplete. There's also a nice little animated preview of the film to round out the disc.
Conclusion
Looper 4K Blu-ray Review
Looper is possibly no longer an underrated gem and closer to a recognised modern sci-fi gem, a relatively low budget - but immensely stylish - noir action thriller with a sci-fi time-travel pitch, which enjoys the last memorable performance of Bruce Willis' career, and an extremely effective little twisty-turny narrative that's fun to unravel. It's almost a shame Johnson got side-tracked by a shot at a blockbuster as it would have been great to have had a few more gems like this from him first.
Highly recommended
Entertainment One's UK 4K release of Looper delivers surprisingly gorgeous 4K upgrade which more than does the film justice and, even without a commensurate audio upgrade, the original track was pretty damn excellent, as were the extras. It comes highly recommended.
Looper is released by Entertainment One in the UK and available on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray™ from July 12th.
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