Looper

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Looper is the story of a time-traveling assassin who kills people in the past as he learns that his next target is an older version of himself. The film is a sci-fi thriller that explores the world of time travel and identity as it revolves around a young man dealing with his job and its implications where he makes a drastic discovery about who he is and who is he working for. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Piper Perabo, Noah Segan, Pierce Gagnon, Garret Dillahunt, Tracie Thoms, and Jeff Daniels. Looper is an incredible yet complex film from Rian Johnson.

Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a paid assassin called a looper whose job is to kill men who have been sent from the future under the orders of the mob. It’s a job that has kept Joe rich as he works for Abe (Jeff Daniels) who makes sure things are good as Joe is paid in silver and later gold once he kills a future version of himself. When one of his friends in Seth (Paul Dano) has left his future self (Frank Brennan) go, he becomes scared until Joe reluctantly hides him as Kid Blue (Noah Segan) arrives searching for Seth as Abe makes Joe an offer he couldn’t refuse. High on drugs and reeling from his work as a looper, Joe forges ahead to his next assignment where he suddenly faces his old self (Bruce Willis) who escapes and goes on the run. With Joe searching for his old self, he later meets his old self who has arrived from the future to kill their mysterious boss known as the Rainmaker.

With old Joe continuing on the run and goes on the search for the person that would become the Rainmaker, young Joe finds a location on a map that the old Joe had which leads him to a farm where a woman named Sara (Emily Blunt) lives with her son Cid (Pierce Gagnon). Young Joe decides to protect Sara and Cid from the other loopers and Old Joe who is searching for someone who could become the Rainmaker. While at the farm, a hired gunner from Abe in Jesse (Garret Dillahunt) arrives to find young Joe as young Joe and Cid hide out until Jesse later comes back where young Joe makes a chilling discovery about what Cid is. Realizing the implications of what would happen, young Joe decides to do whatever it takes to save Cid and Sara from old Joe and the other loopers.

What happens when a young man faces an older version of himself who comes from the future to stop something from happening? That’s sort of the idea of the film that writer-director Rian Johnson makes as it is about an assassin who is paid to kill future targets for the mob that he would never see and know about. When he faces himself who arrives from the future to stop someone would become this major mob force, the young man has to realize the implications of what might happen as it would lead to all sorts of trouble.

Johnson’s screenplay is quite intricate in terms of its narrative as it starts out in a straightforward manner to establish young Joe’s life in the first act where he is definitely a very troubled yet skilled assassin who is also a junkie. When he faces his old self, things become complicated as Johnson creates an alternate narrative that unveils what would’ve happened if the young Joe had killed his old self where it would chronicle Joe’s life as a killer and then finding salvation in a woman (Xu Qing) who would become his wife. Yet, it would drive the old Joe to go back in time to save his wife but also to stop the person that would become the Rainmaker as the second act is about the two Joes and the young Joe’s meeting with Sara. The third act is more interesting where it reveals more complexities about what the old Joe wants to do as well as the danger that is going to happen.

Johnson’s script doesn’t just feature a lot of complexities in terms of the characters that are created as well as its development. Notably in the characterization of Joe who deals with the fact that he’s just trying to do his job and try to kill his old self only to realize that ther is a life outside of the world of being a looper. Johnson’s approach to stylish dialogue definitely adds a sense of nuance to the script where it’s set in the future and there’s a lot of things that are happening that sets the rich and poor apart.

Johnson’s direction is definitely ambitious in terms of the presentation he aims for in creating a film that is set in the future. Shot on location in New Orleans and parts of Louisiana as Kansas along with scenes in Shanghai, Johnson goes for a lot of wide shots but also some interesting medium shots to establish a future that isn’t too far off but also slower in its development. Since it adds to the sci-fi elements of the film, it also gives Johnson the chance to create a future that doesn’t play to typical aspects of other sci-fi films by grounding it with a bit of realism.

The film’s element of suspense and action definitely plays to the story where it includes a key scene where the old Joe goes after one of his targets where Johnson knows what not to shoot in order to tell the story and then unveil the impact that follows. Even in the film’s third act where things become unveiled into what the two Joes are facing as it raises a lot of questions into what has to be done. Through these amazing wide shots along with some intimate close-ups of the characters, Johnson’s direction is very fluid in its movements along with the way he presents action scenes to get the audience aware of what is going on. Overall, Johnson creates a truly dazzling and mesmerizing sci-fi thriller that manages to be engaging in its high-brow concept.

Cinematographer Steve Yedlin does brilliant work with the film‘s colorful photography from the stylish nighttime interiors at the club Joe and his friends hang out to the more naturalistic look of the field scenes outside of the city. Editor Bob Duscay does excellent work with the editing by creating a montage early in the film to showcase young Joe‘s troubled life as well as some rhythmic cuts to play out the film‘s action and suspense. Production designer Ed Verreaux and art director James A. Gelarden do great work with the set pieces from the nightclub that Joe hangs out at to the farm that Sara lives along with props that adds to the sci-fi element of the film like the hover-motorcycle.

Costume designer Sharen Davis does nice work with the costumes as it‘s mostly casual for both Sarah and old Joe while the younger Joe wears more expensive suits to establish his character. Makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsuji does some very good makeup work to have the two Joes look like each other with some prosthetic hair and such for the characters. Visual effects supervisor Karen E. Goulekas does some superb work with the visual effects from the exteriors of the futuristic Kansas City to the jaw-dropping sequences in the film‘s third act. Sound designer Jeremy Peirson does some fantastic work with the film‘s sound in the way some of the machines sound like along with the intimacy that is created in scenes at the farm.

The film’s music by Nathan Johnson is wonderful for its suspenseful driven score that is a mixture of electronic music and orchestral pieces as it features lots of bombastic themes as well as other dramatic moments. Music supervisor John Houlihan creates a terrific soundtrack that features all sorts of music ranging from acts like the Mashnotes, Kid Koala, Richard and Linda Thompson, Son Lux, and Warren Zevon.

The casting by Lindsay Graham and Mary Vernieu is phenomenal for the ensemble that is created as it features some notable small performances from Tracie Thoms as a waitress young Joe sees every day at a diner, Nick Gomez as a fellow looper, Frank Brennan as the old Seth, Xu Qing as the old Joe’s wife, Garret Dillahunt as the hired gunner Jesse, and Piper Perabo as the showgirl Suzie who young Joe spends time with early in the film. Paul Dano is pretty good as the looper Seth who suddenly faces himself as he becomes scared of the consequences. Noah Segan is wonderful as the Gat Man Kid Blue who is trying to get things done in order to please Abe. Jeff Daniels is great as the crime boss Abe who tries to ensure that things are taken care of while making young Joe a tempting offer that would later cause a lot of trouble.

Pierce Gagnon is amazing as the young kid Cid who befriends the young Joe while revealing some things that would have the young Joe be very suspicious about. Emily Blunt is amazing as Cid’s mother Sara who tries to protect her son while helping the young Joe in realizing about what is happening in relation to her young son. Bruce Willis is outstanding as the old Joe who returns to his past from the future to find the Rainmaker and deal with his younger self as Willis brings a great sense of grit and weariness to the character. Finally, there’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt in an incredible performance as the young Joe where he tries to deal with his own issues as a person while realizing about the troubles of time travel when he faces his older self as it’s a really captivating performance from Gordon-Levitt.

Looper is a spectacular and thrilling film from Rian Johnson that features marvelous performances from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt. The film is definitely a sci-fi thriller that bears a lot of interesting concepts about time travel as well as the dangers of it. Even as it involves themes that raises a lot of questions about its dangers where it becomes a compelling suspense film. In the end, Looper is a superb film from Rian Johnson.

Rian Johnson Films: Brick - The Brothers Bloom - The Last Jedi - Knives Out - Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery - (Knives Out 3)

© thevoid99 2012

The Prestige

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 10/28/06 w/ Additional Edits.

Following the success of 2005's Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan has proved himself that he can do a big-budget blockbuster while reinventing the Batman film franchise after the campiness it suffered in the mid-90s. While Nolan is considered to be one of the finest directors after his 2000 film Memento and the 2002 remake of Insomnia made him an established director. While he still continues to work on the Batman film series, Nolan decides to go back to smaller territory by going into a film about dueling magicians based on a novel by Christopher Priest entitled The Prestige.

Adapted into a script by Christopher and Jonathan Nolan, The Prestige is about two 19th Century magicians whose friendly rivalry turns deadly when a magician performs the ultimate magic trick that led his friend to try to discover his secrets. Directed by Christopher Nolan, the film is a study of friendship and rivalry while weaving into the world of magic in its good and bad side. Starring recent Nolan regulars Christian Bale and Michael Caine plus Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Andy Serkis, Ricky Jay, Rebecca Hall, Piper Perabo, Roger Rees, and music legend David Bowie. The Prestige is an entertaining, thrilling film from Christopher Nolan.

On a trip to the Colorado Springs, an American magician named Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) takes a trip to try and find a discovery that he hopes would become the greatest magic trick. He hopes to find a man who has done wonders for electricity in the name of Nikola Tesla (David Bowie) only to meet his assistant Alley (Andy Serkis) first. Angier's motives to finding Tesla is far more complex as his story begins. Years ago in London, Angier and a fellow magician named Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) were part of a magic troupe performing tricks with Angier's wife Julia (Piper Perabo) and a veteran magician named Milton (Ricky Jay). The trick often consists of Julia escape a tank full of water by untying herself through a knot. Often assisting and watching things go right is a inventive expert named Cutter (Michael Caine). The trick is a success though Borden wants to push the boundaries of magic as he and Angier watch an old Chinese man (Chao Li Chi) perform a trick where Borden knows the secret behind everything.

When Angier, Julia, Borden, and Milton chose to do the same trick the next night, Borden decides to make things more complicated with tragic results. Angier's friendship with Borden has officially become troubled as Borden goes at alone where he charms a young woman named Sarah (Rebecca Hall). Hoping to make it as a magician, Borden struggles to make his tricks seem beyond the ordinary expectations but one night, in an attempt to do the catching bullet trick, it goes wrong thanks to Angier. Hoping to rebound from his wife's death, Angier with the help of Cutter decides to start his own career as a magician with the name "The Great Danton" given by his wife. Joining along is a new assistant named Olivia Wenscombe (Scarlett Johansson) who helps along being his assistant in the help of performing tricks. During a night to before another of his tricks, Borden comes along, in disguise, and takes revenge. Learning that Borden now has a family with Sarah that includes a little girl named Jessica (Samantha Mahurin), Angier hopes to outperform Borden, who has now made a small sensation with his own trick known as the transporting door.

Trying to figure things out with Olivia thinking that there's a double, Angier decides to do the same trick with the help of a double and more showmanship that Borden seems to lack. Olivia finds one in a drunk who looks exactly like Angier with a beard. Angier's new version of the transporting door trick becomes a total success yet he remains obsessed in how Borden did his trick by having Olivia become a spy to find out how Borden did it. When Olivia is sent, things go wrong as she ends up falling for Borden which makes his relationship with Sarah become complicated. When Borden decides to make things worse for Angier that involved Angier's double, Angier decides to go to Colorado Springs in order, to outdo Borden. What he finds is how Tesla created a machine that would make everything seem magical. With Borden's own world starting to fall apart due to his ability in keeping secrets, Angier finally returns to perform his trick where the rivalry becomes deadly.

Taking the same, non-linear approach of Memento but in a more conventional way, the Nolan brothers take Priest's novel and turn it into a thrilling yet psychological puzzle that dazzles the audience while making them confused. Still, the film plays to the structure in a way that reveals the three-act structure of magic which starts with the pledge, then the turn, and finally, the prestige. The result is a film that reveals its secrets right in the end but leaving the audience to figure out what's going on. The result is a film that plays more in figuring out how two magicians try to outdo one another and how they're willing to do anything at all cost, even to get attention. The film's plot about dueling magicians is simple but when the story develops, it becomes far more complex.

With the script that he co-wrote with his brother Jonathan, Christopher Nolan definitely brings a sense of mystique to the film where it's all told in not one but in two perspectives of its protagonists. Nolan's observant yet mystical direction does play like magic in not wanting to reveal something though he does use tricks where the audience might know about something but does something very unexpected. Overall, Nolan brings a very strong approach to his directing that plays like a magician in the fact that he wants to create an entertaining puzzle that the audience can figure out.

Helping Nolan with his presentation of the late 19th Century is cinematographer Wally Pfister whose photography of intimate, interior settings are wonderful with sepia-like colors and dark tones while the exterior, notably a sequence with light bulbs are amazing to watch. Production designer Nathan Crowley with art director Kevin Kavanaugh do great work in the film's look of the late 19th Century including the areas and most of all, the work of Tesla with help from visual effects supervisor Stephane Ceretti. The costume design of Joan Bergin also excellent in not just the suits for the men as magicians but for the women in their roles. Editor Lee Smith did great work in playing to the film's non-linear structure and dazzling approach for the characters in the perspective cutting. Music composer David Julyan creates an ominous, yet epic-like score that plays to the emotions of the characters and everything to create some suspense for the film with an additional track from Radiohead's Thom Yorke in the film's final credits from his album The Eraser.

The film's cast is superb with small performances from Roger Rees as a man named Owens, who wants to know Borden's secrets plus William Morgan Sheppard as a promoter, Chao Li Chi as the Chinese magician, Samantha Mahurin as Jessica, and noted magician Ricky Jay who also serves as a consultant in magic tricks. In a small yet wonderful role, Piper Perabo is great in her brief appearance as Angier's wife Julia who inspires her husband into taking a name while being a great assistant. Andy Serkis is also great as Tesla's assistant Alley, who brings some humor and morals to a man who is aware of what Angier is seeking. While Scarlett Johansson is fine in her role as Olivia, who is a bit complex in her role as a double, her character in some ways feels unnecessary to the plot since nothing new is brought. Yet, it's confusing to see why she has a top billing when her role isn't that big or that important since she ends up playing a love interest to both Jackman and Bale.

The film's real breakthrough comes in the form of Rebecca Hall as the innocent Sarah who falls for Bale with as she is amazed by his ability to play and be magical while being his biggest supporter. Her character goes through the great development from a loving wife to a woman being kept in the dark as Hall is really amazing in her role. In his first major film role since 1996's Basquiat (1999's Mr. Rice's Secret and the cameo in 2001's Zoolander don't count), the legendary David Bowie makes a grand impression in his small yet memorable role as Nikola Tesla. With his knowledge of science and illusion, Bowie gives Tesla a broad personality whose morals about games and magic is a man who gives warnings while making a machine that reveals to be something more. Bowie's performance is amazing in every way where one hopes he can do more acting roles. Michael Caine is also great as the inventive mentor Cutter with his moral judgement and guidance as a man who enjoys magic but knows when things go to far while he plays a supporter for Angier. Caine is the film's real moral guide and sense of wisdom who knows what good magic can do but goes his way into not exactly revealing its trick.

Hugh Jackman delivers an amazing performance as Robert Angier with his obsessive, determined personality as Jackman delivers all the right notes. Known to people more as Wolverine in the X-Men movies, Jackman gets to be a bit more charming and complex as man who seems to have everything only to have his obsessions become more troubling. Jackman also gets to play in disguises including his role as a drunk double that reveals his humor. It's a great performance from Jackman who also has great chemistry and tension with his co-star Christian Bale. Bale delivers a knockout role as Alfred Borden. Using his charm and wit, Bale's character is truly a multi-dimensional man who can be sweet and charming while being totally driven and arrogant at the same time. Bale proves his worth in this character while also noting that he has become one of the finest actors of his generation.

While The Prestige is a bit flawed in its puzzle-like approach, it's still a fantastic film from Christopher Nolan highlighted by a superb cast led by Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, Rebecca Hall, and David Bowie. Fans of Nolan's work will indeed find the director returning to some old-school tricks while conventional audiences will be entertained by its mystical, magical approach. For a movie where Batman battles Wolverine in a game of one-upmanship, The Prestige is the film to see.

Christopher Nolan Films: Following - Memento - Insomnia (2002 film) - Batman Begins - The Dark Knight - Inception - The Dark Knight Rises - Interstellar - Dunkirk - Tenet - Oppenheimer - The Auteurs #13: Christopher Nolan

© thevoid99 2011