| Director | Rian Johnson |
|---|---|
| Genre | action film, crime thriller film, drama film, dystopian film, science fiction film |
| Runtime | 119 min |
| Country | People's Republic of China, United States |
| Budget | $30 million |
| Box office | $176.5 million |
In 2044, 25-year-old Joe works for a Kansas City crime syndicate as an assassin or "looper". Since tracking systems in the future of 2074 have made it nearly impossible to dispose of bodies undetected, the syndicate sends its enemies back in time to be executed. Managed by a man from the future named Abe, loopers kill and dispose of victims whose faces are concealed, recovering silver bars attached to their targets as payment. To hide connections to the syndicate, any loopers who survive until 2074 are sent back and killed by their own younger selves, referred to as "closing the loop". These targets are identified by gold bars instead of silver, marking the end of the looper's contract.
Joe's friend Seth comes to see him after Seth fails to kill his future self. Old Seth escaped after warning Seth that a jawless telekinetic called "The Rainmaker" would overthrow the five major bosses and close all loops. Joe reluctantly hides Seth in his apartment's floor safe, but later reveals Seth's location after Abe threatens to confiscate half of Joe's saved silver. Abe's elite "Gat Men" capture Seth, carve an address into his arm, and begin severing his body parts surgically. These effects appear on Old Seth's body. He then goes to the address on his arm and is killed by Kid Blue, one of the Gat Men.
When Joe's next target arrives, it is his older self, but with his face uncovered and hands unbound. Old Joe knocks him out and escapes. Returning to his apartment and finding it ransacked by the Gat Men, Joe fights with Kid Blue, falls off a fire escape, and blacks out.
In another timeline, Joe does kill his older self. He moves to Shanghai, but burns through his funds in 10 years, due to his drug addiction and wild party life. Broke, he becomes a hitman. Seventeen years later, he marries and breaks the addiction with his wife's help. Three years after that, his wife is killed when Joe is taken to close the loop. Overpowering his captors, Old Joe sends himself back to 2044, altering his history by evading Joe and escaping.
Old Joe experiences vague memories of Joe's actions in the present and meets his younger self at a diner. He wants to save his wife by killing The Rainmaker as a child. He acquires a map from a local library using numbers written on his hand that supposedly pertain to the Rainmaker's identity. Kid Blue and the Gat Men appear, and a gunfight ensues. Both Joes escape with pieces of the map.
Joe follows the map to a farm where a woman named Sara lives with her young son Cid. Sara recognizes the numbers on the map as Cid's birthday and the location of the hospital where he was born. Joe deduces that Old Joe plans to kill all three children who were born at that hospital on the same day, not knowing which one will become the Rainmaker.
Jesse, a Gat Man, comes to the farm, but Cid helps Joe hide. Later that night, Sara and Joe have sex, and Sara reveals that while she has above-average telekinetic powers, Cid's abilities are far stronger. In the morning, Joe wakes to find Jesse holding Sara at gunpoint. Cid kills Jesse using telekinesis. Joe realizes that Cid will become The Rainmaker and that Old Joe will now know this.
Kid Blue captures Old Joe and takes him to Abe. Old Joe breaks free, killing Abe and his henchmen, and goes to Sara's farm, followed by Kid Blue. While Joe kills Kid Blue, Old Joe pursues Sara and Cid. When Cid's face is grazed by a bullet, Sara calms him before he can react and kill anyone. She sends Cid into a sugarcane field and positions herself to block Old Joe's line of fire. Joe realizes that if Old Joe kills Sara, an orphaned, traumatized Cid with lethal powers will grow up to become The Rainmaker. So, Joe kills himself, erasing Old Joe's existence, saving Sara and potentially preventing Cid from becoming The Rainmaker.