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The trouble with time travel movies is that the more you think about them, the less sense they tend to make. This is certainly true of Rian Johnson’s pre-Star Wars calling Card Looper, a movie so dizzyingly nonsensical it practically breaks the fourth wall in order to remind you not to spend too much time dwelling on the logistics of the story it’s telling.
Not that it especially matters, as Looper is one of the smartest, most engaging sci-fi thrillers of recent years, regardless of plot holes. The perennially underrated Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Joe, a gun for hire whose stock in trade is bumping off anonymous victims from 30 years in the future – via a highly illegal time travel mechanism. The only problem is, at some point he’s expected to assassinate his future self, and when that self turns up in the form of Bruce Willis, all hell predictably breaks loose…
This week on Beyond The Box Set, we attempt to navigate gaping plot holes, bizarre eyebrow work and low budget world building as we pitch sequel ideas for this smart and audacious sci-fi thriller. Our ideas include a Mad Max inspired, female-centric road movie and a multi-generational sequel with the most expensive cast this side of the Oceans 11 franchise…
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Tune in next week, when we’ll be talking about one of the all-time great sci-fi spoofs and how it influenced our perception of the genre for over twenty years. By Grabthar’s Hammer, we’ll see you then…