Well-crafted and intelligent
by Nav Qateel
For those of you that haven’t seen Looper, it’s set in 2074, and is about time travel. It has already been invented and quickly banned by the government, however the organized crime bosses still have access when they want someone dead and gone. The reason such measures have to be taken in the future is because it’s extremely difficult to get rid of a body. They use hitmen labeled “Loopers” from 30 years in their past to do the job for them. The Looper is well paid for their service yet they understand that eventually their “loop” will be closed. The future Looper is sent back to the present Looper with retirement gold-bars attached to the body. There’s a new boss in the future known as The Rainmaker, who has been closing all the loops quickly and killing them off one by one. The Looper is then living with the knowledge that the clock is ticking. But what if there was a way around it? Enter The Outsider: A Looper’s Story.
- The Outsider: A Looper’s Story
- Written & Directed by
Tony Sebastian Ukpo - Cast
Haruka Abe - Internet Release Date
20 November, 2012 - Nav’s Grade: B+
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A short fan-film by the stylish filmmaker Tony Sebastian Ukpo, a British-based filmmaker who has several features under his belt and one due for release shortly, titled After the World Ended (review), a sci-fi movie that looks to have more of Tony’s unique touches. Starring the lovely Haruka Abe (About Time) as Anna, a lady looper with a plan, set in 2044 Chicago, each time a body is sent back from the future, Anna craftily questions her victims, asking about the goings on of the person who is killing off her fellow loopers. Known only as “The Rainmaker,” a person with great telekinetic power that’s taken it upon himself to rid the world of all the assassins. However, Anna is quickly learning as much as possible to give her a fighting chance of survival.
Tony has managed to weave his own tale into the Rian Johnson universe, with some excellent results, by keeping it simplistic yet true to Johnson’s vision of Looper. Anna uses a transparent automatic pistol and instead of the old-fashioned watch used by the Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character and Bruce Willis’ Joe, she uses a futuristic wristwatch that looks perfect for this film. Mostly shot in an alley, and lensed by Maria Bloom, Tony has put Anna in an intelligently thought out position, because everything she learns from her sent-back victims, is automatically “learned” by her future self. How would this affect her future actions? Tony answers some of that question by showing us what Anna is gonna be capable of, but it would be great to see the journey that got her there in the first place, after obviously putting all that information her present self has been gathering to good use. The camera-work is very good with Tony keeping it interesting at all times, which isn’t an easy task when you have only a few minutes and mostly use a single location. Yet we appear to be in constant motion, and mixed with the actual Nathan Johnson score from Looper , helps elevate the material.
This is a fan-film made for the love of Looper and the love of celluloid, and was not made for profit. Please watch the full film to the right of the review that has been very kindly supplied by Mr Ukpo and is for personal use only. Tony is currently putting the final touches to his latest movie After the World Ended but has promised Influx Magazine an interview, so watch out for it here shortly. Click to visit Tony’s Website or visit Facebook.
