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Joseph Gordon-Levitt time-travels in 'Looper': movie review

( R ) ( Monitor Movie Guide )

Bruce Willis stars as an older version of Gordon-Levitt in 'Looper.'

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Alan Markfield/Sony Pictures Entertainment/AP
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (r., with Paul Dano) stars as a bounty hunter of the future who discovers his next target is himself.
  • By Peter Rainer Film critic

I’m a sucker for time-travel movies, even though most of them don’t make a lick of sense. Rian Johnson’s “Looper” stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a bounty hunter who, in 2044, is in the unenviable position of having to kill off the 30-year-older version of himself, played by Bruce Willis.

The fact that Gordon-Levitt and Willis don’t look anything alike is, I suppose, part of the weirdness (although Gordon-Levitt’s make-up job tries to bridge the gap).

I suppose we should all be grateful for the heads-up that, according to “Looper,” time travel will be possible in 2074. It makes it easier to cut to the chase.

My favorite line in the movie comes when Gordon-Levitt, in a face-off with his mob boss (Jeff Daniels), informs him that he’d like to leave the business one day and move to France, to which Daniels replies: “I’m from the future; you should go to China.”

Grade: B (Rated R for strong violence, language, some sexuality/nudity and drug content.

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