Today Was A Good Day To Die Hard

Bruce doesn't look like he has aged a day, and still has what it takes to be a cowboy

I started this post a while back, and totally forgot about it, so I figured I should eventually publish it, even if the subject matter isn't exactly topical anymore.  I actually saw the movie on Opening Night which was Valentine's Day with a friend, and for action movie fans it would have made an awesome date.  The audiece was a really cool mixed crowd of younger and older couples (mid 20's through late 60's) all of who looked pretty stoked to be there.

Got out tonight to see the new Bruce Willis movie, A Good Day to Die Hard.  Let me start out by saying that I am a fan of the Die Hard series, and Bruce Willis in general.  But while I am a fan, it is because I recognize these movies for exactly what they are.  Fun.  Light, filled with enough explosions to give Michael Bay KA-BOOM envy, and a vehicle for an aging action hero to make a quick buck. The first film is a classic action movie, and every thing after that, up until Live Free or Die Hard, was lack luster, but fun.  Live Free or die Hard was honestly impressive in the amount of KA-BOOM it brought to the screen, so it gets full props as an over the top outlandish sequel.  This lateset installent tries to go one further, attempting to take a bite out the espionage action market of films like Skyfall, and The Bourne Legacy by pairing Willis's character with his estranged son, who happens to now be a secret agent working deep cover for the American governement in Russia.  Willis's no nonsense New York cop is once again out of his league, but he brings the BOOM and the Russian terrorists don't stand a chance.  With gun's a blazin' father & son cut a swath through the baddies a mile wide, and at the end of the day there are only two cowboys left standing.
Special mention to one of the most intense car/ armoured vehicle chase scenes I have seen in recent memory.  While it is not at a particularily high pace, the amount of devestation caused is worthy of applause.
In my mind, the real question is wether or not Bruce can still pull of the action hero role, which unlike so many of his peers he does with flying colours.  (I am looking at you Arnold, and you Sly, and definitely you Jean-Claude.)

Do yourself a favour and rent or download this movie when it comes out on DVD, you won't be disapointed.

Time traveling execution victims makes for very, very engaging cinema!

Got out last night to see Looper with a couple of friends and I have to say that I was very surprised by what unfolded on the big screen.
What I thought I was going to see was a movie about time traveling assassins from the future.  Pretty friggin cool!
All of the trailers had lead me to believe that the primary focus of this film was going to be watching Joseph Gordon Levitt track down his older time traveling self, portrayed by Bruce Willis.  While this was certainly a big part of the film, there is another sub-plot that involves Willis' attempt to locate and kill the younger version of a future crime boss that over rides the cat and mouse plot that I was expecting.
While the concepts driving the film are far from new to the film industry, think 12 Monkeys, Terminator, Back to the Future, their are also some very strong undertones of the InFamous video game franchise.
Set in the not so distant future, Looper shows us a glimpse into a broken, poverty stricken society run by crime lords with ties to time traveling crime syndicates from 30 years in the future.  Looper's are the society's assassins, 20 something young men, contracted to kill and dispose of targets that are sent back in time from the future for ease of disposal.  The target simply appears at a given time and place, bound, gagged, and hooded, with the Looper's payment - 4 bars of solid silver, strapped to his body.  The moment the target materializes, BLAM! The Looper blasts them with a specialized shotgun, designed to be deadly from within 15'.  The looper then disposes of the body, which technically doesn't exist in their timeline, and waits for their next assignment.  Its a pretty friggin cool concept.  However, there is a big catch.  Every looper agrees to the fact that at some point they will be expected to assassinate their older selves, sent back from the future to be executed, hence 'closing the loop'.  So the loopers live large, reveling in the moment, wasting their money on drugs, women, and fast cars.
Joseph Gordon Levitt gives a great performance as a detached, torn young man, so very distanced from the morals our that society so values.  Bruce Willis is also stellar as his older self...brought back from the brink of death and addiction by the love of a woman, Willis is driven by motivations that the younger version of himself, Levitt, can't begin to comprehend.
Without giving away too much of the plot, I want to take a moment to touch on one of the most disturbing torture scenes I have seen in a long, long time.  Early in the film, One of Levitt's looper cohorts fails to close his loop, allowing his future self to run off.  The younger version of this looper is eventually captured by the crime syndicate and it is explained that they can't kill him because of the ramifications it will have on the future. While the older version tries to flee the city, his extremities suddenly start to disapear, and he suddenly finds himself the bearer of a very specific, very new, very old scar.  As time ticks on, more and more of his body is suddenly displaced and replaced with scar tissue.  The theory  being that while the syndicate can not kill the younger version of the looper, they have ways of keeping him alive while inflicting horrible amounts of very specific damage. I thought this was a really interesting and graphic way for the film to depict the direct results of altering the time space continuum...alot of the audience around me cringed as the scene went on and on...and while no actual violence or dismemberment were shown, everyone knew exactly what was going on.
It was very intelligently done.
That last statement can actually be applied to the entire movie.  There are no loose ends.  The film makers allude to very specific details early in the film, then as the film progresses, all of these concepts are brought into play.  It was great to see a time travel film that didn't leave us asking 'but what if...?' or 'are they now stuck in a continual time paradox?', or 'does this mean that we are now dealing with split and divergent timeliness?'  These are things I have often asked about other films, because it is the kind of thing I like to spend time pondering.  Looper answers all of your questions in a very direct, straightforward manner.  Which means that the writers spent the time to figure all this stuff out, they didnt just say 'ah well...who cares if this plot point doesnt make sense. Just go with it" And that I appreciate.