Rian Johnson's LOOPER getting tons of great time traveling buzz!

A test sceening for Rian Johnson's Looper recenly occurred, and the feedback so far has been very positive. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Paul Dano, Jeff Daniels and Emily Blunt and is about a group of hitmen who receive their assignments from the future. They use time-travel to cover the tracks of their murders.

Here are some early reviews for you to check out:

Devin Faraci at Badass Digest:

Looper represents a major leap for Johnson, a huge step forward in style and scope. It’s smart and funny and thrilling, the kind of science fiction movie that wildlyentertains while never shortchanging characters or ideas. Johnson tackles time travel with confidence; at first the rules are waved away, but eventually the ways that time travel works begins to become clear to us. The rules have to work, because Looper is tight as a drum, and any hiccup in how things work would send the story careening.

Looper is set in a strongly sketched future world that’s just about two weeks from today. It’s a film dotted with small details that feel thoroughly thought out, reminding me of what Duncan Jones did with Moon. There may yet be changes to Looper, but the movie I saw was great. Bigger than Johnson’s last two films, Looper has one thing in common with them – like Brick and Brothers Bloom it’s a film that plays in a genre, but never at the expense of characters. This is an action film, and Johnson proves that not only does he have excellent action chops, he has interesting ideas on how to shoot his action so that it doesn’t look like every other action scene you’ve ever seen. Looper proves that Johnson is ready to move into the big, expensive movie game, and that he has the kind of instincts that might allow him to make a big, expensive movie that’s actually good.

Here what Jeremy Smith from AICN says of the core idea:

it’s examined in the mainstream-skewing framework of a crackerjack sci-fi/action flick that recalls the genre-blending daring of the ’70s and ’80s. And it’s not just a time travel movie. Just when LOOPER seems to be settling into one type of film, it veers off in another direction, then settles down again, then goes absolutely bonkers without sacrificing clarity of story or theme. This is masterful filmmaking – a stirring reminder that genre entertainment can be both smart and accessible.

LOOPER is an intricately structured story enlivened by Johnson’s trademark wit and wounded romanticism. It’s an invigorating, thrilling, ceaselessly inventive film, a miracle in an era of by-committee studio filmmaking. And while it’s still months from being finished, barring any postproduction monkey business, it’s already a great movie.

Here is what Mike D’Angelo, whose done Cannes coverage for the AV Club, had to say via Twitter:

Apparently it’s now ok to reveal that I’ve seen @rcjohnso’s LOOPER and it’s damn good. Takes a brilliant premise & thrillingly subverts it. (Rian’s a friend so apply salt as needed. But the test-screening reviews—of a cut two months further along than what I saw—seem to concur.) I should note that “damn good” is an extremely qualified assessment of a film that was a long long way from finished. My love may grow… It begins with a terrific, unique idea and then doesn’t go at all where you’d expect with it. Esp. w/r/t Bruce Willis.

I loved Brick and The Brothers Bloom so I am loooking forward to seeing htis film when it arrives in theaters in September 2012.