Rhapsodies

While randomly going through Scarecrow’s science fiction section I settled on the theme that I chose to refer to as “fighting oneself.” When I say this I mean this I mean it literally. I’m talking about the completely fanciful scenario where there is another version of you, and for whatever reason they have it in for you.

In the first film on my list, James Wong’s The One, multiple dimensions exist. In this setting, if any version of you dies the rest of you get that version when Gabriel Yulaw (Jet Li) accidentally discovers this, he goes on an inter-dimensional killing spree to “become a god”. Now the last of his alternate selves must fight to survive. 

When I first heard of this film I was fascinated. It had one of my favorite tropes in science fiction, and Jet Li kicking ass. So you can understand  I was disappointed. This film was really bad. I’ve heard that it was originally intended to star Dwayne Johnson but that only excuses so much. Neither the script or the story are any good, the rules of the setting makes no sense, and the quality of the action scenes waste Jet Li’s talents completely. Frankly, it’s so bad I can’t even consider it entertaining fluff. 

In the next film on my list,   Rian Johnson’s Looper, time travel is discovered 55 years from now. It immediately becomes illegal, but that doesn’t stop shady criminals from using it. Now they appear to be using it almost exclusively to dispose of bodies. The victims are transported to the past where an assassin (well… the script calls them assassins, but really, that’s giving them way too much credit, they are barely executioners) is waiting to kill them and dispose of their body afterward. (After all, how can killing someone who doesn’t exist yet be illegal?) The executioners are paid in silver bars. The catch is that this technology is so illegal, the future mob needs to destroy ALL of the evidence. That includes the executioners if they are still alive in the future. They are captured and sent to the past where. This closes the “loop”. For this they are paid in gold bars. The assassins can can run if they want but in thirty years the future mob will catch them. 

Joe ( Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is one of these executioners. He’s doing fairly well. On one job, his older self (Bruce Willis) is sent. The older Joe manages to escape. Now Joe has to hunt his older self in order to close the loop while being hunted by his superiors who are trying to do the same thing. 

I liked this film. It’s smart, with a good script and a plot that kept me interested all the way through. Regrettably, when I put on my science fictions snob hat, I see too many unanswered questions. What are the rules of time travel? How was the arrangement with the future mob and the present mob created? How are the executions scheduled? Why is mob executions the only thing the mob use time travel for? And so on…

Because of this it was impossible to love this film.