Looper Blu-ray Review & Comments

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"Time travel has not yet been invented. But thirty years from now, it will have been."

Rave preview reviews called Looper the best sci-fi movie since Moon; the best time-travel movie since 12 Monkeys; and one of the best films of 2012. They're not wrong. If I can give you one piece of advice: don't underestimate this movie.

Set in 2042, we find ourselves following the 25-year-old 'Looper'; assassin, Joseph Simmons, who lives a lavish lifestyle and has a fairly simple job: he has to execute targets sent back in time by his Mafia bosses 30 years in future. They appear before him, with a shroud over their heads, hands tied behind their backs, and kneeling - all he has to do is pull the trigger. Job done. However the Loopers all know that their own days are numbered as, one day, the person...


Read the full review...
 
Are you sure this and Lawless are Region Free as both looks Region B locked? :confused:
 
Without doubt one of the very best motion pictures of the last few years.
 
Excellent film. Wouldn't give the audio a 10 myself though, as I found the bass overbearing in a few sequences where it shouldn't have been (can't remember which now - I was too busy enjoying the film).
 
Great review. I came to similar conclusions:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/18453290-post293.html

I've only seen it once, but seem to keep thinking about it- definately on my 'to buy' list. Time travel paradoxes aplenty- but that didn't really matter for what the film was trying to convey. Superb acting all round especially from the main character. And Emily Blunt- mmmmm :love:.
 
I also found the bass over the top and boomy in places. Far from reference in my system. Picture quality I found to be a tad soft in places. Film I would give 8/10. Great review overall though.
 
I picked this up last night from Tesco (was a pleasant surprise to see the AVF review pop up after!). An excellent sci-fi I thought, well acted, good makeup (I didn't think they could make Gordon Levitt look like a young Willis, but it was just about perfect). Pierce Gagnon's performance as the child was bloomin brilliant IMO :)

Film 10/10
PQ 9/10 - Some soft shots, generally excellent though.
SQ 9/10 - The odd bit of dialogue got drowned out.
 
Excellent film although the dialogue seemed too quiet at times. Didn't receive my email alert for the review though, not sure what's happened there.
 
Excellent film although the dialogue seemed too quiet at times. Didn't receive my email alert for the review though, not sure what's happened there.

Yeah, I've flagged that up in the past too. Basically I think the database and frontpage are being overhauled and it's going to be cleaned up when the update is done. Nice to know somebody's clicking on those email alert tags though, even if they don't work at the moment!!

Cas
 
Its not quite 12 Monkeys for me but its definitely a very good sci-fi film - and we dont get too many of these. Things do seem to be changing though. I watched Looper twice in the space of a week and wouldnt mind watching it again right now...thats always a good sign.
 
The review says it's a Sony transfer, so does this mean the UK disc is identical to the US disc then, & 'Entertainment one' just used the Sony transfer?
 
Thanks for the great review.

We almost went to see it at the cinema, but ended up going to see something else (cant remeber what right now) and I had since forgeten about Looper, but I've just ordered it on the strength of your review.
 
The review says it's a Sony transfer, so does this mean the UK disc is identical to the US disc then, & 'Entertainment one' just used the Sony transfer?

I would guess it's exactly the same mate.
 
Thanks for the great review.

We almost went to see it at the cinema, but ended up going to see something else (cant remeber what right now) and I had since forgeten about Looper, but I've just ordered it on the strength of your review.

You're welcome mate, I'm sure loads of people missed this at the flicks because it was kinda under-promoted / mis-promoted.

Hope you enjoy, report back and let us know what you think!

Cas
 
Excellent film. Did take a little time to settle into it. Good PQ but not great and like others I found the sound to be a little boomy when it didn't need to be.
 
gibbsy said:
Excellent film. Did take a little time to settle into it. Good PQ but not great and like others I found the sound to be a little boomy when it didn't need to be.

Was that settling in time after the 56 minute mark by any chance? I switched off as I was bored to tears at that point. I kept waiting for it to really get going but couldn't stifle the yawns-I suspect it's a movie to be watched when you are in the mood, and clearly I wasn't! ( I'm probably in a minority of one)
 
Was that settling in time after the 56 minute mark by any chance? I switched off as I was bored to tears at that point. I kept waiting for it to really get going but couldn't stifle the yawns-I suspect it's a movie to be watched when you are in the mood, and clearly I wasn't! ( I'm probably in a minority of one)

I fully agree with this. Just tried watching it and got to 58 minutes in. I'm not sure why as I thought it'd be a film i'd really enjoy. Like you say, maybe you need to be in the mood for it. I may attempt again in the near future.

I agree with the comments regarding sound, dialogue was far too quiet in places and I was constantly adjusting the volume to get the right balance. Possibly another reason I wasn't fully enjoying the film.
 
It's a good film but the time travel logic is among the worst I have encountered in a film. I normally wouldn't criticise the paradoxes as it's unavoidable in this sort of story but this film really seems to go out of its way to push some pretty big logical flaws in your face so you can't help but notice them.
 
dankent85 said:
I fully agree with this. Just tried watching it and got to 58 minutes in. I'm not sure why as I thought it'd be a film i'd really enjoy. Like you say, maybe you need to be in the mood for it. I may attempt again in the near future.

I agree with the comments regarding sound, dialogue was far too quiet in places and I was constantly adjusting the volume to get the right balance. Possibly another reason I wasn't fully enjoying the film.

Yes,the sound was quite low in some places an my missus doesn't like the tv too loud when the explosions and gunfire kick in. I will attempt it again when I'm in the mood. I can honestly say I missed pieces of the story as I couldn't hear clearly what people were saying and I was also put off by how strange JGL looked-my missus thought he was a young De NIro!
 
Saw this last night (on Blu-ray) with the family. I absolutely loved it.
Very thought provoking and the best movie I have seen for a while.
The soundtrack is loud compared to other Blu-rays. More dynamic is probably the best description.
Could hear and understand the dialogue just fine, but there was an impact to gunshots which is way more impressive than those in some other movies. Interestingly compared to the elevator lobby scene in the Matrix, the audio in this movie is mixed much more dynamically. It's way better.
It actually caused the subwoofers to clip in a few places so I had to drop the volume a bit.
Highly recommended from me.

Edit: just re-watched some of the film. I had to drop the volume from -5 to -12.5 to stop the subwoofers from clipping in chapter 16.
when the lighter lifts off the table
The soundtrack is monstrous in this movie!
 
It's a good film but the time travel logic is among the worst I have encountered in a film. I normally wouldn't criticise the paradoxes as it's unavoidable in this sort of story but this film really seems to go out of its way to push some pretty big logical flaws in your face so you can't help but notice them.

Just out of curiosity, what paradoxes are you specifically talking about?

I'm interested because I too was frustrated with the time travel in this movie immediately after a first viewing, but further digestion changed that.

At the end of my cinema review here (which I reference in the blu-ray review) I wrote a whole segment dedicated to the time-travel twists and I'd be interested to see what you think / what you believe are flaws.

Thanks, Cas
 
Just out of curiosity, what paradoxes are you specifically talking about?

I'm interested because I too was frustrated with the time travel in this movie immediately after a first viewing, but further digestion changed that.

At the end of my cinema review here (which I reference in the blu-ray review) I wrote a whole segment dedicated to the time-travel twists and I'd be interested to see what you think / what you believe are flaws.

Thanks, Cas

Ok, this is how I saw it...

The film follows the idea that the actions of the younger Joe directly affect those of the older version. So, when he scars himself or experiences something new, the older Joe is affected by it and is constantly changing.

Therefore, in establishing this principle early on, the film has subscribed to a single timeline theory - no alternate universes or multiple realities can be used to explain what follows.

This generally makes sense and I don't really have any qualms with the idea of 'closing the loop' as, in movie land, there's no logical reason why the younger version of a person couldn't kill the older version either in the 'present' day or in the future - especially if that younger person didn't know they were killing their older self.

However, it all falls apart at the end when young Joe kills himself to stop old Joe killing Sara thus preventing the child from becoming the Rainmaker. This is a paradox as the act of suicide ensures that older Joe would never exist to kill Sara anyway. Therefore, not only should old Joe not even be in the scene (or the entire film for that matter) but Joe's entire motive for the suicide becomes totally irrelevant as the older version would never be there to create it.

It's like if 50-year-old me came back in time to the present day and did something terrible that made 28-year-old me kill myself to stop my older self doing whatever it was he did. It can't happen as the older version would therefore never exist to come back and do it.

I totally accept that lots of films fall into a similar trap (ie The Terminator series), but because the whole plot of Looper ultimately hinged on this ending AND it had already established that it was set in a single timeline, it just felt like it was advertising its logical flaws to me.
 
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Ok, this is how I saw it...

I agree with everything you said. I love time travel movies and get a kick out of thinking through the paradoxes that most movies create. For me, this one was just too big, specially when you consider all the praise this movie is getting.

How could old Joe be in the field to disappear, if the life that young Joe lived from then on never happened? God, I sound like my wife now. What has this movie done to me?:facepalm:
 
I agree with everything you said. I love time travel movies and get a kick out of thinking through the paradoxes that most movies create. For me, this one was just too big, specially when you consider all the praise this movie is getting.

How could old Joe be in the field to disappear, if the life that young Joe lived from then on never happened? God, I sound like my wife now. What has this movie done to me?:facepalm:

Yes, I thought it was generally a good film and, for the most part, it's well thought through, but
the paradox at the end is so in-your-face that it was all I could think about when I left the cinema.
 

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