why are they sent back to themselves, why not just send them to another looper? - Looper (2012) Discussion

[–] rainofwalrus 9 years ago

The problem isn't Running Loops, to be honest. Murphy's Law suggests that given enough iterations, Loops WILL run. It's inevitable.

The self-Looper-dispatch is a form of damage control.

Send a Looper back to himself and IF he kills his YOUNG, he vanishes. Solving the Runner problem.

Send a Looper back to a stranger and IF he kills this stranger, he doesn't vanish. Creating TWO problems: A runner AND a dead stranger.

Enjoy these words, for one day they'll be gone... All of them.

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[–] geearf 9 years ago

That seems overkill...
The guys sent back are always tied up, the only time that they are not is when they are not prisoners.

To be fair, I didn't get why they couldn't actually kill them before sending them back in time to be disposed of, that would be simpler. (Isn't that what they'll do with Joe's wife anyway?)

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[–] ricky_says_hi 9 years ago

Perhaps Joe's wife will be sent back in time too just so her body can be disposed of. The point of Loopers is so they can send someone back in time to be killed so there will be no remains. No body to find and therefore no evidence to connect their disappearance to anyone. I'm guessing that killing them in the future could still leave evidence - a murder weapon for instance.

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[–] geearf 9 years ago

If you prevent them from breathing or break their neck, there is not going to be any evidence... there's plenty of no tools way to do it.

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[–] rainofwalrus 9 years ago

That seems overkill...
The guys sent back are always tied up, the only time that they are not is when they are not prisoners.

To be fair, I didn't get why they couldn't actually kill them before sending them back in time to be disposed of, that would be simpler. (Isn't that what they'll do with Joe's wife anyway?)

The answer is in the opening Voice-Over/Narrative: A system, called "Tagging," makes it impossible to get away with murder.

Yes, it's vague. But it basically implies technological advances that track all beating hearts world-wide. Even Chinese Wife's.

Now...

Dead Chinese Wife cannot be sent back in time because they also suggest that only the living (and the relics they carry/wear) can be pushed through the fold in space-time. Hence the tethering to their younger doubles in the first place; the link is SOUL/LIFEFORCE -- which is tracked via "tagging."

Once the living person is sent back in time, "tagging" would simply show a N/A as opposed to a DECEASED.

Now...

Since OLD JOE is N/A (not deceased) and CHINESE WIFE is deceased (not N/A); the gangsters did the logical thing: Burn down the house and create a "Crime of Passion" scenario. Wherein OLD JOE murdered his own wife, burnt their house to the ground, and then somehow went off the "tagging" grid.

[How OLD JOE circumvented the "tagging" grid] is a question to be answered in court -- IF they can find OLD JOE.

Otherwise, "tagging" leads them directly to the mafia's triggerman and this one gangster takes one for the team. Meaning: Does time for her murder.

Enjoy these words, for one day they'll be gone... All of them.

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[–] edbuskirkjr 8 years ago

LMAO. You're really funny. The convoluted "logic" you use to try to explain away every (legitimate) plothole everyone brings up is hilarious. I checked this message board because when I watched this yesterday, I kept thinking "there's another inconsistency Johnson didn't think about", and I wondered what inconsistencies other people noticed that I didn't. Turns out there are a lot. You seem to have made it your mission to be an apologist for this film. You sound like a theologian trying to explain away the paradoxes of religion. Your arguments are just as circular, just as full of biases as theirs. You seem to be a true-believer, and just like all true-believers, what you really believe is: "it must be true, or I wouldn't believe it". I'm glad you've devoted that belief to a mildly-entertaining but inconsequential science-fiction movie rather than anything that actually matters. Keep up the good work, lol.

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[–] mwilliams56 8 years ago

Rain Man.... Looks like I'm not you're only fan. :)

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[–] edbuskirkjr 8 years ago

Oh, don't get me started on you. At least "rainofwalrus" (is that his name? I'm not sure, it's something like that) has put some thought into this, no matter how convoluted and ridiculous his conclusions are. The best you come up with is that Young Joe is right-handed and Old Joe is left-handed. It took you "50 2nd viewings" to come up with that? Rainofwhatshisname is funny. You're just pathetic.

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[–] mwilliams56 8 years ago

Kinda early in the day to be drinking so much. That's definitely not the best I've come up with.... Besides that I think you're my ex 'cause you sound like a whiny bitch...

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[–] edbuskirkjr 8 years ago

No, that IS the best you came up with. I've read all your posts about this film. It's your life, if you want to waste it watching this movie 100 times, go for it. As for rainofwhatshisname, you can't argue with a true-believer. They will NEVER say "Gee, I never thought of that. Good point." They'll just continue to believe their own BS.

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[–] mwilliams56 8 years ago

You've read all my posts?? Such devotion.... Thanks Honey 😂😂😂

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[–] rainofwalrus 8 years ago

The convoluted "logic" you use to try to explain away every (legitimate) plothole everyone brings up is hilarious.

By legitimate you mean non-paradoxical? Or do you simply mean popular_theory on IMDB and perhaps your groupthink of local well-gatherers?

Yes, there may be plotholes in this film. No, I will not take, "others said so, woot" as evidence of this. Not every grievance is a plothole.

I checked this message board because when I watched this yesterday, I kept thinking "there's another inconsistency Johnson didn't think about", and I wondered what inconsistencies other people noticed that I didn't. Turns out there are a lot. You seem to have made it your mission to be an apologist for this film. You sound like a theologian trying to explain away the paradoxes of religion. Your arguments are just as circular, just as full of biases as theirs. You seem to be a true-believer, and just like all true-believers, what you really believe is: "it must be true, or I wouldn't believe it". I'm glad you've devoted that belief to a mildly-entertaining but inconsequential science-fiction movie rather than anything that actually matters. Keep up the good work, lol.

We all spin the truth to favor our beliefs. If that makes me "zealous/religious" in your eyes, I cannot argue that. I find Fantasy Football to be a "religion." And the argument either way could last days or weeks. But as for circular, I only present a point counter to theirs... Nothing more.

Enjoy these words, for one day they'll be gone... All of them.

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[–] PlayView 8 years ago

The loopers are also paid with gold when they are sent back to close the loop. So they got to kill their older self to get the gold.

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[–] Takhom 8 years ago

There are dozens upon dozens of ways to kill a guy in the past without having to pay anyone at all. Using a Looper to kill his old self is probably the dumbest "fraught with risk" way possible.

1. Take the guy on a boat with chains on his ankles. Send him back 30 years when there is no boat and he goes directly to the bottom.

2. Dig a hole in some derelict building. Send him back. No hole then. The dude is part of the concrete foundation.

3. Send him/her back from the slope of Mount St.Helen...to the time when it was erupting and full of lava. Instant vaporization.

4. Open a branch in Hiroshima. Send all you abduct there. Everyone sent is sent back to the exactly the same time. Ground zero, T-.01secs before the atomic bomb went off.

So many ways...

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[–] rainofwalrus 8 years ago

There are dozens upon dozens of ways to kill a guy in the past without having to pay anyone at all. Using a Looper to kill his old self is probably the dumbest "fraught with risk" way possible.

But it is more than just Temporal Erasure for a middle manager named Abe(). Confirmation is key. Guesswork and assumption make for terrible confirmation.

1. Take the guy on a boat with chains on his ankles. Send him back 30 years when there is no boat and he goes directly to the bottom.

Hard to confirm with certainty without having a boat in place to confirm. Sea levels rise and fall. Partially-submersible boats (read: not a submarine) are a thing. http://i.bnet.com/blogs/bluemarlin-799506.jpg

2. Dig a hole in some derelict building. Send him back. No hole then. The dude is part of the concrete foundation.

XRAY equipment needed for confirmation. Seems expensive.

3. Send him/her back from the slope of Mount St.Helen...to the time when it was erupting and full of lava. Instant vaporization.

I feel like I don't need to repeat myself here.

4. Open a branch in Hiroshima. Send all you abduct there. Everyone sent is sent back to the exactly the same time. Ground zero, T-.01secs before the atomic bomb went off.

Yikes.

So many ways...

Without confirmation; yes. With affordable confirmation; no. Once you accept that [confirmation of erasure] is more important that the risk of Loopers "running," you'll find peace.

Enjoy these words, for one day they'll be gone... All of them.

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[–] bluerisk 8 years ago

Two more things:

They get their major payment via this way, and even if a Looper botches up, they (Abe's men) have the younger version - sooner or later. And we saw what happened to an older self...first a finger, then the next one...the nose, a leg...he came back begging, literally on his very knees for the legs were gone.

Ich bin kein ausgeklügelt Buch, ich bin ein Mensch mit seinem Widerspruch.
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer

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