Rian Johnson’s ambitious, yet confidently handled, sci-fi neo-noir thriller is set in a dystopian near future where mob targets are sent back in time to be “removed” by a hitman (or Looper). Time travel is always a dubious topic in cinema and is often fraught with plot holes, however, Johnson does a fine job in avoiding such pitfalls. Unfortunately in doing so he leaves us with a rather mixed bag of procedural film making laced with some fairly clever ideas. I struggled to know what to make of Looper as it pulled me in different directions. Its flawed protagonist motif ultimately did not strike a chord with me and I was left curiously dissatisfied.