SPOILER WARNING: I’ll be talking about a few of the story elements from the film, Looper, below. Nothing that hasn’t already been revealed in the trailers, mind you, but if you want to go into the movie completely untainted, read no further.
First off, let me say that I thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt did a great job playing the younger Bruce Willis. He brought just the right amount of Willis’s mannerisms and expressions peppered with the right cadence of voice and delivery of lines that gave the impression of Willis without just doing a full-on mimic of him. But why did they have to try and make Joseph physically look like Bruce Willis with prosthetics and make-up? Seriously, every time he came on screen I’d be taken out of the movie, since my brain was trying to process his Looper mutant face with the big, dark eyebrows, too-blue contacts, a painted-on five o’clock shadow and a nose that didn’t quite belong there. It was almost like watching someone wearing a JG-L Halloween mask, or a videogame character that hadn’t quite crossed the uncanny valley, or a villain from the Dick Tracy movie. Okay, maybe not that bad – a few of my friends didn’t have much of a problem with Joseph’s face, or got over it after an hour or so into the movie – but I thought it looked bizarre and distracting the entire time. And since his performance was so good, why even change his face in the first place? If we can buy rocket-motorcycles, telekinetic abilities and time travel, I think we’ll buy JG-L as a young Bruce Willis.
Go see Looper. It’s good. There were some things that bothered me, mostly with the time travel stuff, but it was entertaining and the acting was good. Probably the best thing I’ve seen Bruce Willis do in years, actually. Just why did they have to tinker with Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s face? Let me know if I’m off base here. The human brain’s wired to recognize faces, and I realize my brain could be a bit overly-sensitive when it comes to this stuff, as I’m always processing how to draw people and this made that difficult.
What’d you guys think: did JG-L’s face look OMG Dreamy? or OMG Freaky?
Am I first? Really?
you are indeed first, Sarah W! congrats!
and, yep – this means you just got the Shades of Firsting. wear them well: these make you resemble whoever you want to appear as, without the weird uncanny valley look:
😎
I can’t believe it! First for the first time in a year with a cougar-ish comment. Timing is everything . . .
I watched J-GL grow up on Third Rock, so calling him *dreamy* is a bit squicky, but Bruce Willis is fair game and I’d go so far to say that if he showed up on my doorstep with flowers wearing a fedora, I’d have to think long and hard—perhaps for a week, just to be sure—before deciding to stay with my family.
And since, make-up aside, I could see the same intensity and intelligence and *weight* in J-GL’s expression and mannerisms as I saw in Mr. Willis’s performance. . . I’d go so far to say *Whew!* and fan my flushed face with one hand.
Uh, what was the question again?
has it been a year since your last Shades, Sarah W? seems like only yesterday.
ha! so you’re saying the JG-L/BW hybrid makes you swoon? okay, i’ll buy that.
First!
I dont have an opinion. Ill watch the movie, then make one. But in trailers his face did seem off, but not enough for me to not enjoy the trailer. Maybe its more prominent in the movie and this was just too fast but I didnt realy mind.
Thats what I get for taking my time writing… sigh. Grats Sarah.
🙂
let us know what you think once you see the movie, Maryz – while i was disturbed by his look in the trailer, i was even more uncomfortable with it during the movie, most likely due to longer shots on his face in the film, rather than the quick shots of the trailer.
I haven’t seen it yet, so I can’t really comment on the movie. But I like J-GL, and Bruce Willis, so I think I’ll make a point of seeing Looper soon, since everyone so far has loved it. Maybe on one of my rare days off…
yep, there’s a ton of love for this movie, T, and while i liked it a lot, i didn’t love it. maybe i need to see it again now that i (hopefully) won’t be so distracted by the face weirdness. let us know what you think.
That’s the problem with a lot of time travle movies where you meet yourself. Do you go with the same actor in old people makeup like Biff in the Back to the Future movies, or do you go with actors who look close enough that they could be related, or do you just get two different actors and try to make them look alike. I’m sure there’s good reasons for all of them but, in any movie like that, it will take you out of the movie for a moment to think about it. I did when I saw the trailer so by the time I saw the movie (which, BTW, was great, I agree) it didn’t bother me too much.
There was one movie where it bothered me a lot, it wasn’ a time travel movie, it was the last Star Trek movie (which I think is way underrated) Shinzon was supposed to be Picard’s clone yet he looked nothing like Picard other than being bald. That took me out of the movie for a while, which made me not like the movie for a long time, but now I kind of like, espcially after I found out Shinzon was played by Tom Hardy and actor I like a lot now.
i’m happy you were able to enjoy the movie without being distracted by the face stuff so much, TPC. and i know what you mean with Star Trek: Nemesis. i actually just happened upon the scene between Picard and his clone and was like, hey! Tom Hardy! i don’t think that scene bothered me much years ago when i watched it in the theater, cuz i had no idea who Tom Hardy was.
That was JGL?!?! I kept waiting for him to appear since I heard he was in the movie. Who knew. Go figure.
ha! yep. it was either him or JG-L and BW’s cloned love child.
rofl The second you said anything about ‘eyes’ I immediately thought about mermaids. Frakkin’ mermaids. -shudder-
now you got mermaids in my head again, Anime fan! NOOOOOOOO!
Eh, I never saw the special about it because I immediately thought the whole thing was bunk. But I had nightmares about mermaids when I was little, kid that likes history decided to look into mythological creatures, etcetera etcetera, found out they ate sailors. Next thing I know, underwater, glowing eyes in the dark water, then teeth. So many teeth. -shudder- That’s why I don’t swim in the ocean. c:
i was the same way, Anime fan: liked them when i was a kid right up until i read the Odyssey, at which point i pretty much vowed to avoid them.
I would think that the crazy thing is that he’s gonna look like Bruce Willis in the future.
that’s the funny thing – they gave JG-L features of old Bruce Willis rather than young Bruce Willis. on purpose, for sure, but that made looking at them weirder, especially in the diner scene.
Good Morning BOTVilians
*blinks* All i heard was “blah blah blah” Joseph Gordon-Levitt *words words words* Bruce Willis. I haven’t seen the movie yet, will have to wait for it to come out on DVD before I do.
morning, Pixie! blah blah blah weekend. blah blah blah WOO!
^^ this? Is the reason I have Love for the Botsan in my heart!
<3
It looks like an interesting movie, but I guess I’m not familiar enough with JG-L for the changes to bother me.
my workmate had a similar view, Shanna – she didn’t really know JG-L well, so thought he looked a bit weird but it didn’t bother her much.
Several things about the movie bother me, but not JGL’s face. He sort of reminded me of James Dean a bit.
Neat. God’s Eye Nebula avatar. You rock.
Anyways, haven’t seen Looper, but I want to. I’m also looking forward to Wreck-it-Ralph, The Hobbit, Man of Steel, and to my own very great surprise, Rise of the Guardians, which includes what looks like a sarcastic Russian Santa Claus, and is therefore probably going to rock.
can’t wait for Wreck-It Ralph, Drakey!
i, too, have problems with the movie beyond JG-L’s weird look, TimeGhost, probably cuz i was overhyped by some of the reviews claiming it was the “best time travel movie ever.” nope.
I didn’t have any issues with his face. At least none that jumped up and down and shouted at me. I did have that slimy kind of SEP field feeling about him though. Maybe it was the face, maybe it was something else…maybe I was still trying to address the paradox issue that the movie so blithely ignored. Although the future Seth scenes were pretty well done.
seems a lot of people here would agree with you, #include – that JG-L’s face wasn’t too bothersome for most. i still can’t get over it, though. even when i see trailers, that face weirds me out! and, yeah: lots of paradoxes and too-convenient plot devices irritated me, too. would be interested to see a director’s cut to see if any of those get ironed out.
I hear he’s looking old!? I’m going this weekend!!! Can’t wait!
let us know what you think of the movie, Funnyshaffer.
I LOVE WALKING DEAD~!!!! and i cant wait to see P.A.4 thats me and my dads scary movie series for rite now lol
i love The Walking Dead, MrSnow! especially the comic books. (pretty much love anything Mr. Robert Kirkman does, actually.) anxiously awaiting season 3 of the show!
I hates to tells you Jefbot and fan-jefbots http://www.thepunchlinesismachismo.com beats ya’ll to it once again. Heh. But it was on this webcomic that I learned that he was the kid from Third Rock from the Sun. Because I don’t think that JG-L was the chick who was in love with Newman from Sienfeld. And wasn’t it “My name is Earl” where we got to see the soup-nazi again. Or was that “Monk.”
just looked up Punchlines take on it, Pat wolfman dude, and it’s totally different, so i wouldn’t say anyone “beat” anyone else to it. just means we’re both movie fans that noticed JG-L’s weird makeup.
Well, okay, but you still haven’t let me know where the soup nazi showed up outside of Seinfeld, which was what I was kind of hoping for with the whole free floating six degrees of kvetch.
I haven’t seen Looper yet. I did see Hotel Transylvania. It was pretty hokey, but cute. Of course, that’s to be expected in a kiddie movie. What I’m looking forward to this year is Wreck-It Ralph and The Hobbit Part 1 (have you noticed that they’ve been doing that a lot recently? Putting out movies in 2 parts, Harry Potter 7, Breaking Dawn, and now the Hobbit). I can’t wait to see what other video game characters are in Wreck-It Ralph. I saw a new trailer at Hotel Transylvania, and saw what looked like a beholder at the Villains meeting.
I’m looking forward to the same movies! I’d really like to see the Hobbit after reading it! Can wait for Smaug. Oh! and the Battle of the Four Armies! epiiic!
can’t wait to see what Smaug looks like, ROM!
i’ve been wanting to see Hotel Transylvania as it was directed by one my favorite animators – Genndy Tartakovsky – KenderBryant! much like your review, i’ve heard it’s just “okay” but i still gots to see it to support him. 🙂
and have you heard, they’re actually breaking The Hobbit into THREE parts now? not sure about that decision, but i’m gonna trust PJ on this one.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
I thought I was going crazy. I knew this was the guy from Inception but he JUST LOOKED SO DIFFERENT. And I simply couldn’t figure out why and now I know. He looked so different in fact I almost started to question is it really were the same guy. Man, they should have just left his face as normal. His mask-thingy really didn’t make him look more like Bruce.
glad you thought the same thing, Shruikan! agreed: they should’a just left his face alone. heheh.
Thanks to you, this movie is on my Maybe-watchlist. I haven’t heard of this movie before, but I agree after a few clicks around image search. He looks very strange indeed! J-GL to what-the-hell. Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit… xD
the movie’s definitely worth watching, ROM!, especially if you like science fiction, and even more so if you dig time travel movies. just try and look past JG-L’s face.
He’s not human JB, he’s a mutated radish or something
ah. that explains it, Jiro Maeda!
Robin. That’s what I’m waiting for.
that would be awesome, TCG. but i don’t think it’s gonna happen.
That makes me think of how they Aged back Alan Rickman for DH part II. It was creepy
true dat, dj. luckily, that was only done for a small part of the movie. imagine if they had made AR look that way the entire time!
I didn’t even realize it was JGL in the trailers, not until I saw a still of it as a background ad on Pandora. Even then, I was looking at him like “I know that name, but why don’t I know that face?”
Turns out, I wasn’t losing my memory. They just slapped Tommy from 3rd Rock with Bruce Willis.
it was weird, E. A. – the first time i saw the trailer, i was like, “oh, good. JG-L’s in another movie.” then the next time i saw it, i was like, “wait. who is that? i thought JG-L was gonna be in this movie.” and the disconnect kept growing and growing from there.
I did not think that J G-V looked even vaguely like Bruce Willis. To me they NEVER looked alike. I just figured BW looked very different as a kid. Several others I have spoken with since (a photographer, a writer, a graphic artist) agree with me – so I don’t get the hype. Maybe I am just weird. [shrug] Still thought it was a decent movie – worth the watch…loop(er)holes and all.
glad you concur, Dante – i thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt looked more like Bruce Willis in The Dark Knight Rises! okay, that might be hyperbole, but i did think he looked less like a young Bruce Willis and more like a weird JG-L.
and, yes: still a good movie and worth the watch.
I was distracted all through Loopers. I started out thinking JGL was looking a little odd and decided it must just be some sort of “what’s trendy in the future” thing. Then I decided that wasn’t it and took a while deciding it was a poorly done attempt to make them look more alike. I spent way too much of the movie trying to remember what he really looked like so I could decide what they’d done. Then I noticed that while they’d played with a lot of his features, they made no effort to make their ears match. Slackers!