<PERSON>
I first heard about this film after the publicised involvement of Primer director <PERSON> (the credits pay him ‘special thanks’), who’s hardly been heard from since his debut in 2004. <PERSON> — also a time-travel tale — is an occasionally brutal, unevenly paced and surprisingly straightforward story, pulled off with the resolute style we’ve come to expect from Brick director <PERSON>.
A wry <PERSON> (with prosthetic assistance) outdoes his older self (<PERSON>), nicely matching voice and mannerisms, in a gritty, recognisable near-future. If only <PERSON> had tried as hard. But while <PERSON> wisely skips the mechanics of what’s going on (future gang bosses send marked men through time to be executed by ‘loopers’ due to the apparent difficulties of body disposal in the 2070s), his premise is uncovered as a contrivance that isn’t fully explained or supported by the film’s narrative, and only further muddled by continuity errors.
I was constantly annoyed by the seeming ability of most of the characters to evade multiple point-blank gunshots, and by the end, with the film’s internal logic fully revealed, was left wondering why an early, somewhat grisly set-piece existed at all, other than for shock factor. 295