On a little bit Noir with Looper

It’s a little bit Blade Runner (1982), a little bit The Terminator (1984) and a lot noir, but entirely original. Looper is the latest film from writer, director Rian Johnson. Johnson has created a futuristic, time travelling story and in the vein of Inception (2010), has told a complex narrative with impressive ease. Yet, more than science fiction, Looper is a neo noir. A film that takes the conventions of the most uncertain genre, film noir, and updates them.

Like film noir, Looper focuses on a down and out anti-hero. A drug addict and a man stuck in a dead end job, literally. This man tells us his story in flashback surrounded by a shadowy, dirty, urban environment and with a sense of pessimism. All conventions of film noirs.

The differences come in the representation of the film noir staple, the femme fatale and this is not unusual for neo noirs. In classic film noirs like Double Indemnity (1944) and Detour (1945) the femme fatale is manipulative and dangerous, often knowingly leading the anti-hero to his end. Here and in other neo noirs, like Drive (2011) and The Dark Knight (2008), the main female character is dangerous, but in different ways. Looper’s protagonist is lead to his end by the involvement with a woman, but she is not bad, she does not lead him to his end, he takes the decision himself. Just like Drive’s Driver was led to his end by attachment with the female neighbour, she would have preferred his company; he chooses his absence or death.  

There seems to be some key to successful and creative films that attach themselves to noir, as Looper, like those films mentioned above, is fantastic. It has the potential to be both a financial success and a critical success.