Looper (2012)

Time-Travel Noir from the filmmaker who gave us Brick, Rian Johnson: how could I not love it? This is one of the best science fiction films to come out in recent years, a stylish and dark story with a wonderful cast and subtle, terrific special effects (meaning the special effects don't derail the story by being eye-popping and exhausting.)  Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a Looper, an assassin who kills people from the future.   Loopers are paid in silver bars attached to their target (who appears hooded out in the middle of a corn field for the Looper to gun down a second later).  When the Looper kills the target with gold bars on their body they are officially retired having closed the loop by killing their future self, that's right the guy with the gold bars is them.  A great mind warp that does bump into some pesky time-travel-paradoxes along the way but still very entertaining.  The always excellent Emily Blunt also stars along with Bruce Willis as the older version of Mr. Gordon-Levitt.  More for the Blade Runner crowd than those who like happier science fiction like E.T.  Grade: A-

Spoilers:  There's a fun sequence where a Future Looper escapes near the beginning of the film.  While on the run he looks down to suddenly discover that he is missing two fingers.  Next a message is scarred on his arm that tells him to go to some address and turn himself in.  Basically the younger or present Looper is on some operating table and when the organization cuts off one of his limbs that limb also disappears from the future version.  As the Future Looper hurriedly tries to get to the address he loses his legs and then ends up crawling.   Really cool idea, but there's one problem.  If you cut his legs off when he's in his twenties, how would he be able to run away in the first place without legs?  Also by changing the future doesn't the Organization risk changing something that will happen that they need to happen?  There's a big paradox here that is explained away by saying these kind of paradoxes work themselves out.   Nice try, Mr. Johnson, but it seems like you were more interested in focusing on the story than the science, which is fine.   The story is king so I'll let you slide on this one but that's one of the hang ups with Time travel stories, the more you mess with time the more you'll write yourself into a paradox.