Love in a Puff

In the year 2044, 25-year-old Joseph Simmons / Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), works for a mafia company in Kansas City as a "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. Time travel had been invented but was outlawed. So, only the large mafia organizations could afford to use it. Led by a man sent from the future named Abe (Jeff Daniels), Loopers kill and dispose of victims sent back in time from 2074 and are paid by employers with bars of silver attached to the target as payment. Victims appear at a designated location and at a designated time, with their head sacked and hands tied. Additionally, when a Looper is retired (if they are still alive after 30 years of service), the Looper's future self is sent back in time exactly thirty years as a routine target, but with a gold bar payment. This event is referred to as "closing the loop", and, similarly to routine hits, carries serious consequences if not carried out. Post closing the loop, the Looper is released from their contract and can look forward to a life of peace for the next 30 years. One night, Seth (Paul Dano), Joe's friend and a fellow Looper who is a telekinetic, visits him in a panic. On the verge of closing his own loop, Seth's future self (Frank Brennan) warned him of a mysterious character called the Rainmaker, who overran the future crime bosses and was retiring all of the Loopers' contracts in 2074, resulting in numerous premature Looper deaths. Hesitating, Seth unintentionally allowed his future self to escape and is being hunted by his employers for failing to close his own loop. Joe hides Seth in his apartment and is taken to Abe (the leader of the Loopers, who was sent back in time by the mob bosses to control them). Under threat of losing half of all his silver, Joe reluctantly tells Abe where he hid Seth. 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 (Noah Segan), 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 time-line, Joe does kill his older self. When Joe closes his own loop, he shoots his older self (Bruce Willis) without hesitation, as his head is sacked and is therefore initially unidentifiable. He retires to Shanghai, China, where he later falls in love and marries. He burns through his funds in 10 years, due to his drug addiction and wild party life. Broke, he becomes a hit-man. Seventeen years later, he marries and breaks the addiction with his wife's help. After his 30 years pass, Joe is taken from his home to be sent back to 2044 to close the loop, but his wife is killed in the process. Fighting and killing his captors as a result, Joe returns to 2044 unmasked and unbound, allowing him to surprise his younger self and avoid death. 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. Young Joe, still trying to close his loop, ends up in a struggle trying to kill old Joe. Stealing a map containing coordinates and a code from old Joe that supposedly pertain to the Rainmaker's identity, young Joe then flees when Kid Blue and Abe's men appear with the intent to kill them. Young Joe, following the map, reaches a farmhouse owned by Sara (Emily Blunt) and her son Cid (Pierce Gagnon). When Joe shows Sara the map, Sara recognizes the code as Cid's birthday along with the zip code of the hospital he was born in, prompting Joe to discover old Joe is going to kill the three children that could become the Rainmaker. Joe then decides to wait at the farm for the arrival of his older self and becomes close to Sara. 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. Joe soon learns that Sara is a telekinetic, and that Cid was raised by Sara's sister for most of his life until she was accidentally killed by Cid during one of his telekinetic rage episodes. One morning, they are attacked by one of Abe's thugs named Jesse (Garret Dillahunt), who is killed when Cid falls into a rage and lets out a large telekinetic blast. Cid's extraordinary telekinetic powers - which are far more powerful than any other mutant's - cause Joe to realize that he is the Rainmaker. However, the realization radically changes old Joe's memories, tipping him off that Cid is the Rainmaker. Before old Joe can act, however, Kid Blue captures him. Escaping capture, old Joe kills Abe and his gang, and heads for Sara's house. Kid Blue, reaching the farm, is fought and killed by young Joe. Concurrently, old Joe pursues Sara and Cid into the farm cane fields where he maims Cid, resulting in Cid causing a telekinetic blast. Before Cid can kill old Joe, Sara calms and reassures him to stop his telekinetic rage. Then, telling Cid to run, Sara stands in old Joe's path to stop him shooting Cid. Young Joe realizes that his older self will shoot Sara and enrage Cid, perpetuating the creation of the Rainmaker rather than preventing it. Unable to stop his older self and knowing it's his last chance to stop the Rainmaker, young Joe instead shoots himself. By doing so, he erases his future self through suicide, saving Sara and potentially preventing Cid from becoming the Rainmaker.