In the futuristic action thriller Looper, time travel will be invented - but it will be illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a "looper" - a hired gun, like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) - is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good... until the day the mob decides to "close the loop," sending back Joe's future self (Bruce Willis) for assassination...

Nathan Johnson's score for Looper is technically brilliant, but sadly not one that works outside of the movie. It's atmospheric cues all the way and that's something that really doesn't work for me.

The only track that I actually thought showed some true spark of genius was 'Everything Comes Around' - which reminded me a little of Vangelis's work on Blade Runner. There are also brief segments in 'The Rainmaker' and 'La Belle Aurore' which sounded promising, but ended up going nowhere.

It's difficult to review scores like this, because while it no doubt adds much atmosphere to the movie, it just sounds rather flat on its own merits. Personally, this is one score I'd rather enjoy through the magic of the movie, rather than listen to in isolation.

3

Darren Rea