This week's heat film reviews - Looper, The Campaign and Holy Motors

This week the heat team grabbed their popcorn and Minstrels and headed to the pictures to watch the three biggest releases in Moviesville over the past seven days - Looper; starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis, The Campaign; starring Will Ferrell and Holy Motors; starring Kylie Minogue.

Here's what we thought:

GALLERY

Looper

 

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Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Jeff Daniels
Director: Rian Johnson (CERT 15, 118 minutes)

The plot: Kansas, 2044. The economy isn’t in great shape, but paid assassin Joe (Gordon-Levitt) is doing OK: he gets paid in silver, which is attached to the bodies of the poor saps that are blasted back from the future for summary execution. All Loopers have to do is stand at the designated place and time, finger on the trigger, but Joe falters when he realises his latest target is none other than himself, 30 years older (Willis). He soon comes to regret that hesitation, and not just because of the wrath of his scary boss (Daniels)…

What’s right with it? From the basic premise, you might imagine that Looper is a high-concept sci-fi actioner about a younger and older version of the same person crossing time barriers to unite against a common foe, but a) it isn’t, and b) it’s actually a lot more interesting than that. As Joe holes up with single mum Sara (Blunt) and her young son in an isolated farmstead, the film achieves an unexpected emotional depth, and you’ll enjoy puzzling out the rules of this elaborately conceived universe.

What’s wrong with it? We initially struggled to care about a paid murderer that leads a swanky life in a dystopian future where others starve, even if Joe seems like a soulful type who listens to vinyl records and is learning French. In no small part thanks to Gordon-Levitt’s huge likeability, we soon got past this hurdle.

Verdict: With the notable exception of GI Joe, the presence of Gordon-Levitt is a reliable indicator of a film having some kind of intelligence, ambition and merit. With Looper, he’s picked another fun ride with both heart and brains.