Looper (2012)

In 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent 30 years into the past, where a hired gun awaits. Someone like Joe, who one day learns the mob wants to 'close the loop' by transporting back Joe's future self. 

 Director: Rian Johnson

Writer: Rian Johnson

Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt

Cast:

• Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Young Joe
• Bruce Willis as Old Joe
• Emily Blunt as Sara
• Paul Dano as Young Seth
• Noah Segan as Kid Blue
• Piper Perabo as Suzie
• Jeff Daniels as Abe
• Pierce Gagnon as Cid
• Xu Qing as Old Joe's Wife
• Tracie Thoms as Beatrix
• Frank Brennan as Old Seth
• Garret Dillahunt as Jesse
• Nick Gomez as Dale
• Marcus Hester as Zach

Production:

Looper was written and directed by Rian Johnson. After Johnson released The Brothers Bloom in 2008, he re-teamed with producer Ram Bergman, who produced Johnson's previous two films, with the goal of starting production of Looper in 2009. In May 2010, Joseph Gordon-Levitt was cast in one of the lead roles, which he would play after completing Premium Rush.Later in the month, Bruce Willis was also cast. In the following October, Emily Blunt joined Gordon-Levitt and WillisNoah Segan, Jeff Daniels, and Piper Perabo were cast in January 2011

Filming began in Louisiana on January 24, 2011

Makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsuji created the prosthetics that Gordon-Levitt wore in the film so that he would physically resemble Willis.

Talking about Looper and time travel in film, Johnson said:

"Even though it's a time-travel movie, the pleasure of it doesn't come from the mass of time travel. It's not a film like Primer, for instance, where the big part of the enjoyment is kind of working out all the intricacies of it. For Looper, I very much wanted it to be a more character-based movie that is more about how these characters dealt with the situation time travel has brought about. So the biggest challenge was figuring out how to not spend the whole movie explaining the rules and figure out how to put it out there in a way that made sense on some intuitive level for the audience; then get past it and deal with the real meat of the story.

Plot:

In 2044, the United States has suffered economic collapse, causing severe social decay and growth in organized crime. In addition, a mutation has occurred in ten percent of the population giving them telekinetic powers—the ability to levitate small objects. Thirty years further into the future in 2074, time travel is invented, but is immediately outlawed. Tracking technology has rendered it nearly impossible to dispose of bodies secretly, so crime bosses use illicit time travel to send those they want killed to the past where they are killed by "loopers": assassins paid with silver bars strapped to the victim. When crime bosses want to end a looper's contract, they send his present self back to be killed by his younger self, referred to as "closing the loop". Failing a contract is a death sentence.
In 2044, Joe Simmons works for a mafia company in Kansas as a looper. His boss Abe was sent from the future to manage the loopers and also owns a club that Joe frequents, and where he spends time with Suzie, a showgirl. Abe controls his own group of hired muscle, the "Gat Men", including the unstable Kid Blue, who is desperate to prove himself to Abe. One night, Joe's friend Seth visits him and tells him that he was supposed to close his own loop, but hesitated. Before Seth's future self escaped, he mentioned the Rainmaker, a mastermind who has taken over future organized crime and is closing all loops. Joe attempts to protect Seth, but later chooses to betray him to Abe instead of surrendering half of his silver savings, which he has stashed secretly for retirement instead of cashing in. The mafia mutilate Seth's body so that his future self will sustain the same wounds as scars. As Old Seth begins losing body parts, he arrives at a location that had been scarred on his arm by the mafia, and they kill him.
During another contract Joe hesitates when he recognizes the target is his future self, allowing him to escape. After meeting in a diner, Old Joe tells Joe that the Rainmaker sent him back to be killed, and that Old Joe's wife was killed during his capture. Old Joe killed his captors and traveled back to kill the Rainmaker as a child. Joe attempts to kill Old Joe and fulfill his contract, but both of them flee when they are attacked by the Gat Men. Joe tears a scrap off a map from Old Joe's possession, bearing a marked location and a string of digits.
Joe follows the map to a farmhouse owned by Sara, who lives with her son Cid. When Joe shows Sara the map, Sara recognizes the digits as Cid's birthday and the serial number of the hospital he was born in, prompting Joe to explain the situation about the Rainmaker. The database Old Joe used with the string of digits produced three possible children born on the same day in the same hospital, and he intends to kill all three.
As Joe and Sara become close, he learns that she is a telekinetic, and that Cid was raised by Sara's sister for most of his life until she was killed. Cid does not believe that Sara is his real mother. One morning, they are attacked by Gat Man Jesse, who is killed when Cid falls down the stairs and lets out a telekinetic blast. His extraordinary telekinetic abilities cause Joe to believe that Cid is the Rainmaker, and Sara confirms that her sister was killed by Cid when he lost control of his powers. Meanwhile, Old Joe is captured by Kid Blue.
Joe tells Sara and Cid to flee, surmising that his employers or Old Joe will target the farm. Meanwhile Old Joe breaks free, killing Abe and all the Gat Men except for Kid Blue. As the two Joes confront each other near Sara's house, Kid Blue attacks and is killed by young Joe. Old Joe escapes during the attack, then finds and attempts to kill Cid, prompting Cid to let out another telekinetic blast. However, before Cid can kill Old Joe, Sara calms him down and assures him mother is here. Old Joe tries to kill Cid again, but Sara stands between them. Joe realizes that if Old Joe kills Sara, it will lead to Cid becoming the Rainmaker due to his tormented childhood, thus creating a closed time loop. Joe kills himself, erasing Old Joe from existence and saving Sara and Cid.