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1%%NOTE TO EDITORS: Remember that Fridge Logic/Brilliance/Horror/Whatever belongs on the "Fridge/Looper" page.
2%%
3[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/looper_2012.jpeg]]
4
5->'''Joe:''' So do you know what's going to happen? You done all this already? As me?\
6'''Old Joe:''' I don't want to talk about time travel shit. Because if we talk about it, then we're gonna be here all day, drawing diagrams with straws.
7
8''Looper'' is a 2012 American ScienceFiction thriller film written and directed by Creator/RianJohnson, in which Creator/JosephGordonLevitt plays a man named [[TheDanza Joseph Simmons]], and Creator/BruceWillis plays [[StableTimeLoop a future version of Joe]].
9
10The movie is set in the year [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 2044]], thirty years before the invention of time travel. The technology is immediately outlawed, but the world's high-profile criminal syndicates begin putting it to practical use in secret. Because it is nearly impossible to discreetly dispose of a body in 2074 (due to advanced tracking and tagging technologies), the criminals send the target back in time, whereupon an assassin (called a "Looper") kills and disposes of the helpless victim before he technically ever existed.
11
12Joe is one such Looper, and like all Loopers he has accepted the job knowing that if he's still alive in 2074, his employers will terminate his contract by sending his future self back to die at his own hands ("closing the loop"). The problem is that when his future self ''does'' appear, he does so of his own free will, unbound and ready to fight. Older Joe easily subdues Young Joe and embarks on his own agenda in the past -- and he will not let anyone stand in his way.
13
14The film, which also stars Creator/PaulDano, Creator/JeffDaniels, and Creator/EmilyBlunt, is the third from writer/director Rian Johnson, as well as Johnson's second collaboration with Levitt. Watch the trailer [[http://www.slashfilm.com/trailer-rian-johnsons-time-travel-movie-Looper/ here]].
15
16'''Character tropes go on to the [[Characters/{{Looper}} Characters Sheet]].'''
17
18----
19!!This film provides examples of:
20
21* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The film is set 32 years into the future from when it was released in 2012.
22* AbnormalAmmo: Sara likes to use her shotgun for intimidation against drifters who happen upon the farm, but she's all talk when it comes to killing people. A blast of rock salt, however, she's ok with. It knocks Young Joe right on his ass.
23* ActorAllusion:
24** Bruce Willis' outfit at the end of this film is identical to his outfit at the end of ''Film/PulpFiction''.
25** Early in the film, Young Joe is shown in several scenes wearing [[Film/DieHard dress pants and a wifebeater]].
26** This also isn't the first time Creator/BruceWillis [[Film/TwelveMonkeys has played a time-traveller from a]] BadFuture [[spoiler:who gets killed in the past, with his younger self just right there to see it happen]].
27* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Cid tells Joe he wants a blunderbuss just like his, and Joe replies by asking if he's gonna pole-vault with it because it's bigger than him. You can clearly see Cid suppressing a giggle.
28* AliensInCardiff: A hardboiled, time-traveling hitman tale set in... Kansas.
29* AlwaysAccurateAttack: Loopers use a [[ShortRangeShotgun blunderbuss]] that is virtually impossible to miss with when the target is within 15 yards. Outside of that range, they're ineffective.
30* AnachronismStew: While being set in the future, the common shotgun [[AwesomeButImpractical is styled like a blunderbuss]] and the [[NoNewFashionsInTheFuture clothes mimic previous fashions.]] Also, those are clearly 2000s and 2010s model cars that are seen in 2044. The US economy has fallen apart, so older cars (retrofitted with some sort of battery or energy unit hooked up to their gas tanks from the outside) may be all that's available to the proletariat.
31* {{Anticlimax}}: When Old Joe goes for Abe, who is entrenched in his room, the scene cuts away right before the shootout commences.
32* ArcWords:
33** "Closing the loop."
34** "So I changed it."
35* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: Kid Blue juggles his loaded revolver right in Joe's face, ''and [[JugglingLoadedGuns you can even see he almost drops it.]]'' Then he accidentally fires a shot when he gets hit upside the head by the opening of Abe's office door. As the movie progresses, it's made clear that Kid Blue is exactly the kind of "fuck-up turkey" he sees Joe and the other Loopers as being.
36* AwesomeAnachronisticApparel: Most Loopers (Young Joe included) seem to be riding on a 20th Century nostalgia fad with their neckties and other "past" fashions. And if the world of 2074 is any indication, it apparently stuck with everyone.
37* BadFuture: The "present" of 2044 is a CrapsackWorld. The US suffers from hyper-inflation of the dollar, rampant drug use, roving bands of violent vagrants, loads and loads and loads of shantytowns, and [[WretchedHive criminal syndicates controlling entire cities]], though Europe and Asia are at least implied to be better off. The future of 2074 seems to be more pleasant (in China, at least), but society is still at the mercy of a fearsome criminal and terrorist mastermind.
38-->'''Abe:''' I'm from the future. [[BrickJoke You should go to China]].
39* BadassBoast: Kid Blue's comparative speech between the "[[HandCannon Gats]]" and the "[[ShortRangeShotgun blunderbusses]]" is ''supposed'' to be this, but gets immediately undermined when he is established to be the mob's resident fuck-up/idiot, nobody respects him, and ''all of the gun twirling he had been doing throughout the speech had gotten him shot in the foot once already''.
40* BadGuyBar: Abe owns a club frequented by all the Loopers and Gat Men.
41* BalconyEscape: Joe tries this and ends up falling a couple stories.
42* BatmanGambit: Abe convincing Joe to [[spoiler: rat out Seth]] by banking on his selfishness.
43* BellisariosMaxim: InUniverse. Old Joe basically says this when his younger self starts to try to dissect time travel.
44* BigNo: Sara in the climax when Cid gets shot.
45* BilingualBonus: A Chinese news report in an early 2074 scene sheds light on just how horrific the Rainmaker is.
46* BingeMontage: Early on, we are treated to a montage of Joe being high on some designer drug.
47* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Young Joe kills himself to prevent Old Joe from murdering Cid's mother to get to the boy, an act which would have driven the boy to become the very Rainmaker Old Joe is trying to prevent. Though the future isn't certain, Cid possessing one parent instead of none (and all of Joe's silver, nearly 1,000 bars) at least makes it more likely he won't become the feared mob boss, while also, as Young Joe noted earlier in the film, saving Old Joe's wife from the circumstances that get her killed.]]
48* BizarreBabyBoom: It's stated that about 10% of the population has a mutation called "TK" (telekinesis) that allows them to move objects with their mind. However the effect is so weak it’s little more than a party trick. Later on, it becomes a ChekhovsGun when [[spoiler:it's revealed that the villain is powerful enough to use it as a deadly weapon.]]
49* BlackComedy: In subtle and usually stealthy ways, but there is a lot of it.
50-->''(A Gat Man sits on a chair, and the camera tilts to Young Joe, who's behind a couch, and then to Cid, who's on the stairs.)''
51-->''(Cid motions "Do you wanna shoot the guy?")''
52-->''(Joe motions "WHAT? NO!")''
53* TheBladeAlwaysLandsPointyEndIn: Joe's thrown gat lands barrel-first into the ground, if only because he threw it straight down.
54* BlownAcrossTheRoom: Almost ''every'' gun death punches the victim at least a foot away, since the guns are mostly either heavy calibre handguns chambered in .45-70 Gov't, or hi-tech blunderbuss shotguns.
55* BodyHorror: How Abe's goons convince Old Seth to surrender, with a hefty side order of TemporalMutability.
56* BreakThemByTalking: Abe's preferred way of dealing with troublemaker.
57-->'''Abe:''' You're expecting that we're gonna break your fingers with a hammer or... something awful, but I'm gonna diffuse that tension right now. That's ''not'' gonna happen. What ''is'' gonna happen is that I'm gonna talk for a little, not even that long, then you're gonna give up your friend.
58* BrickJoke: Abe hears Young Joe's plans to move to France and suggests, using his knowledge of the future, that Joe should instead move to China. Joe refuses. In the flash forward, we cut to Joe in China.
59* BulletproofHumanShield: Old Joe uses one of the Gat Men this way.
60* CallBack: Certain shots or actions happen several times.
61** The shots of Young Joe looking down on Seth hiding in his silver vault early in the film and then Cid hiding in the vagrant tunnel are virtually identical. Joe has a visible look of deja vu the second time.
62** Joe's hair. Early in the film, he inspects his receding hairline. He asks a prostitute to stroke his hair, saying it's something his mother used to do. In the end, Sara strokes his hair after [[spoiler:his heroic sacrifice]].
63** The first we see of Cid is his mother stroking his foot. In a flashback, Old Joe recalls his wife stroking his foot.
64* CarCushion: Young Joe's fall from the fire escape at his apartment is cushioned by roof of a car.
65* CarvedMark:
66** In the event of "Running Loops" (a Looper failing to "close the loop" by killing his future self), the Gat Men employ a man known as "The Doc" to carve directions onto the arm of the "young" Looper, which then appear instantly on the "old" Looper as scars, as a means of [[WriteBackToTheFuture crude communication]]. In the event that doesn't produce results fast enough, they start slowly dismembering the "young" Looper to cripple his "old" version.
67** Subverted later in the movie when Old Joe notices scars on his arm which appear to say the same thing ("Be at...") [[spoiler: but turn out to spell the name "Beatrix", the name of a waitress at the diner Young Joe frequents. Old Joe points out that Young Joe could've just as easily got his attention with the name of another waitress whose name wasn't as long.]]
68* CharacterDevelopment: Young Joe starts the film as reckless, self-absorbed and pretty ruthless. He starts to soften after arriving at Sara's farm, and he comes to care for both her and Cid. [[spoiler: When Jesse takes Sara hostage, Joe makes a point of prioritizing her safety before trying to save his own neck, and despite initially being horrified by Cid's wild power, he has gained enough compassion to understand that there is a difference between a scared child and a ruthless mob boss.]] By the time of the final showdown, Joe [[spoiler: is trying to protect Cid and Sara, rather than to get his life back. He ultimately [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices himself]] to prevent Old Joe from murdering Sara and [[StableTimeLoop inadvertently ensuring that Cid always becomes the Rainmaker]]. ]]
69* ChekhovsGun:
70** Telekinesis is introduced early and dismissed as not being that big of a deal besides cheap parlor tricks. [[spoiler:Cid, the future Rainmaker, turns out to have the power to make people explode with it, crush vehicles, and flatten entire areas. Foreshadowed by his mother hiding in an old safe when Cid gets angry.]]
71** A literal one in the form of the blunderbuss. [[spoiler:The range of the blunderbuss is so limited it's basically a close combat weapon, unlike the Gat Men's revolver. Which turns out to be a problem in the end when Young Joe is armed and dangerous, but too far away from Old Joe to stop him in time... so the only solution open to him is shooting himself.]]
72** A ball-peen hammer rests on Abe's desk in plain sight, but Abe assures Joe he won't break his fingers with it and will instead [[BreakThemByTalking talk to him for a few minutes]] get him to give up Seth. When it comes to Kid Blue, however, Abe soon responds to his screw ups by smashing his hand.
73** Seth's barely working hovercycle, which is "borrowed" by a great many characters by the film's end.
74* ChinaTakesOverTheWorld: China becomes a superpower in the future, with the United States resembling immediate post-breakup Soviet Union. Characters are shown using yuan rather than dollars, and a number of future characters talk about how great life in China is.
75* CoinWalkFlexing: People with the TK mutation (a weak form of [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]]) are often shown floating coins with their hands and it comes off looking similar to a knuckle roll. Sara shows greater control by levitating Joe's lighter effortlessly and admitting she used to hold other telekinetics' coins down to mess with them.
76* ColdBloodedTorture: [[spoiler:What the mobsters do to Young Seth to get to Old Seth, as well as the 'logic' that it wasn't actually torture. They just start removing pieces of his body. If Abe can be kept at his word that killing a young Looper is bad for the timeline, then they're going to [[FateWorseThanDeath keep him alive without limbs, a nose, or a tongue for thirty years]].]]
77* ComplexityAddiction: One of the common complaints about the movie based on the trailer was that time travel plot seemed like a needlessly overcomplicated means of execution. However, this is actually averted in the film proper -- advanced tracking and forensics in the future have made disposing of bodies nearly impossible, so they kidnap the targets and send them to the past for Loopers to kill. Though it could also be a "[[HiddenInPlainSight stealing wheelbarrows]]" gag; both the Loopers and any law enforcement personnel investigating them think it's "just" a means of DisposingOfABody, a purpose it serves excellently. However, the Loopers never think twice about the ''tons of precious metals'' strapped to the bodies when they're looking for disappearing witnesses and informants, so why should the cops? [[spoiler:This neatly explains why Old Joe's wife is killed without a second thought; sure, it's a murder, but it's not one anyone's too concerned about investigating for organized criminal connections and thus not a Looper target]].
78* ContrivedCoincidence: Both TimeTravel and TK powers suddenly appear at the same point in history, which also happens to be TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture. [[spoiler:The two are combined to generate the Rainmaker's story as it is written, which purportedly drives the plot of the movie. However, this is contrived and not the AnthropicPrinciple because the Rainmaker's TK powers are not pivotal to the rest of the story. It simply fed the RuleOfCool for the Cid / Rainmaker subplot.]]
79* CooldownHug: Cid gets this after [[spoiler:his TK powers spiral out of control]].
80* CreateYourOwnVillain: [[spoiler:Old Joe would have inadvertently ensured Cid becomes the Rainmaker in every future loop if he killed Cid's mother to get to the boy.]]
81* CripplingOverspecialization: As noted by Seth, the "Blunderbusses" are very powerful and guarantee a kill within fifteen yards-- good for committing executions where the target's delivered near point-blank -- but can't hit anything beyond that. They consistently fail to hit when used against anyone who isn't on their knees with a bag on their head.
82* CruelAndUnusualDeath:
83** Jesse, the only decent Gat Man in the movie, a man who seemingly wouldn't hurt an innocent person, gets the most gruesome and violent death of them all; telekinetically lifted into the air and torn apart from the inside out. Although most of it is hidden from view, what we do see only fuels our imagination for the worst.
84** Seth is also a contender for this trope. After he's ratted out by Joe and caught by the Gat Men, his fate is to have his limbs removed and his face mutilated until his future self shows up. While this is happening, we're treated to a disturbing scene in which Old Seth's limbs disappear in a rather creepy manner. By the time he finally shows up at his destination, there's hardly anything left.
85* CyberPunk: The film's genre; set [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture twenty minutes]] into a BadFuture with heavy noir elements, [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld China as the dominant superpower]], and abundant SchizoTech.
86* CycleOfRevenge: {{Discussed|Trope}} in the ending monologue, as a matter of ViciousCycle caused by time loops.
87-->'''Young Joe''': [[spoiler:Then I saw it: I saw a mom who would die for her son; a man who would kill for his wife; a boy, angry and alone. Laid out in front of him, the bad path, I saw it. And the path was a circle. Round and round. So I changed it.]]
88* DaysOfFuturePast: The US of 2044 is somewhat reminiscent of TheGreatDepression... only this time around, [[FromBadToWorse things got MUCH worse]]. Meanwhile, 2074 looks like a more futuristic mix of TheForties and TheNewTens.
89* DeathIsTheOnlyOption: Young Joe [[spoiler:kills himself to stop Old Joe from killing Sara and ensuring Cid becomes the Rainmaker]].
90* DeathOfAChild: A kid is shot on his porch as he arrives home from school, (seemingly) randomly.
91* DelayedRippleEffect: Changes to the timeline affect future selves as soon as they happen, but have no effect on any event before the change. For example, when the mobsters [[spoiler:cut Young Seth's legs off, his future self's legs instantly disappear]]. However, events continue as though [[spoiler:Old Seth still had two perfectly good legs]] up until that point, which is why he could even escape in the first place.
92* DinerBrawl: When the two Joes meet in the diner, the scene ends with Old Joe giving a GroinAttack to Young Joe, beating him down, then shooting his way out when back-up arrives.
93* DisappearedDad: No mention is made of Cid's father, or where he might be. It's possible that Cid's mother, Sara, doesn't know who or where he is herself.
94* DownOnTheFarm: The film takes place mainly in (future) Kansas, with nearly everything outside the unnamed city being nothing but farmland.
95* DramaticSlip:
96** Sara backs away and falls down during her encounter with the mute kid on her property. She also slips and falls in the climax on the field.
97** Cid is startled and slips on the stairs of his home leading to a massive TK outburst.
98* EmpathicEnvironment: A large neon arrow pointing the direction of the stairs helpfully points which direction a Gat Man is coming from the shoot Old Joe.
99* EnemyMine: Young Joe briefly teams up with the Gat Men as they shoot at Old Joe. As soon as Old Joe escapes he realises how bad an idea it is and runs.
100* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
101** Kid Blue accidentally firing his gun -- and being asked if he [[NoodleIncident shot off his other foot]].
102** Abe jokes and talks with his subordinates like they're old friends, even chiding Joe on dressing up even though there isn't a dress code. And then you notice the hammer sitting on his desk...
103** Old Joe refuses to show Young Joe a picture of his wife, unwilling to sacrifice their relationship for a sure way of saving her life.
104** Cid, upon seeing Young Joe in the middle of a very painful withdrawal and begging for water, [[ChildrenAreInnocent immediately gives him a water bottle]]. Then, while bombarding his mother with questions, [[ChildProdigy he astutely notes that Joe can't be just another vagrant]] -- [[SherlockScan his shoes are too shiny.]]
105* EtTuBrute: [[spoiler:Joe betrays his friend, Seth]], by handing him over to Abe and his men, albeit reluctantly.
106* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: [[spoiler:What drives this loop's Cid [[StartOfDarkness to become the Rainmaker]] -- he loses his mother, his [[MoralityChain moral compass]] and the only person who can calm him down in a TK tantrum, and decides to take revenge on Loopers.]]
107* EvenEvilHasStandards: An instant after pointing his gun at Cid, Jesse [[WouldntHurtAChild turns it toward the ceiling and raises his hands to show he's not a threat. It doesn't help him]]. According to the deleted scenes, [[spoiler:he says he has a wife and kids of his own.]]
108* EverythingIsAnInstrument: As explained in the DVD/[=BluRay=] extras, the non-orchestral side of the soundtrack that contains industrial-sounding techno stuff was actually made from sampling industrial material and machinery, then remixed into music. Even the recurring harpsichord-sounding music was created by building a custom instrument that Nathan Johnson dubbed "The Gat Piano."
109* EveryoneIsArmed: Due to the nature of the CrapsackWorld, causing a quite violent separation in social and economical classes, anyone can be killed for the sake of property or caprice with little to no consequence.
110* ExactlyExtyYearsAgo: Loopers have 30 years to live after closing the loop.
111* FadeToWhite: The film's ending leaves [[spoiler:the future of Cid]] up in the air. Though it is heavily implied it will be better, since [[spoiler:his mother survives (thus removing his revenge motive) and inherits a sizable fortune, and Young Joe had a decidedly positive impact both on Cid's life and his relationship with his mother]].
112* FantasticDrug: An unnamed designer drug administered via eye drops.
113* FeetFirstIntroduction: A rare example involving a [[FutureBadass minor]]. The first we see of Cid is his feet on the bed stroked by Sara. Even in his next scene he is only shown waist downwards as he gets Joe some water on the front porch.
114* AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted: Explored in detail.
115** Loopers are technically "the lowest men on the totem pole" - men of minimal competence chosen for short-sighted hedonism so they will gleefully gun down their targets for the money they're paid, without ever thinking about how they've basically signed up to commit suicide (assuming they survive until 2074). Up until the events of the film, Young Joe has never killed a man who wasn't bound and helpless at his feet. He saves up half of his silver (which is viewed by Abe as a smart financial move), but blows the rest just like all the other Loopers.
116** As a result, in the timeline where Joe successfully closes his loop, he takes all of his money and goes to China, but within a decade, winds up wasting it all on partying and drugs. He ends up working as a hitman, only this time in broad daylight.
117** Based on Young Joe's egging, Seth's hoverbike cost a large chunk of money and he never managed to get it running before his death.
118* {{Foreshadowing}}:
119** The UrbanLegends about the Rainmaker. Hell, the term "[[ItMakesSenseInContext Rainmaker]]" itself.
120--->'''Old Joe:''' There are stories he has a synthetic jaw, saw his mom shot, shit like that.
121** Sara uses a futuristic crop duster which essentially makes rain, foreshadowing her son Cid's moniker of "The Rainmaker".
122** [[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1276104/trivia?item=tr1855148 Clouds symbolism]].
123** Not to mention the double ChekhovsGun. [[spoiler:With Seth as an example, telekinesis is suggested to be worth basically nothing. Then we find that Sara is much stronger than Seth. And finally there's Cid, who is much stronger than ''her''...]]
124** An InUniverse example is the posters, drawings and action figures [[spoiler:of a man in black wearing a wide-brimmed hat in Cid's room, just like the outfits worn by the Rainmaker's mooks in the future.]]
125** Abe makes several references to future events that would happen in Joe's life. In fact, the entire conversation between Abe and Joe is ''very'' important.
126* FilmNoir: Rian Johnson's trademark love of noir comes through in certain spots, perhaps most noticeably in the retro outfits of the 2074 mobsters.
127* FlyoverCountry: The film mostly takes place in UsefulNotes/KansasCity. Abe, the gangster who manages the Looper program in 2044, has a lot of down time and uses it to gather some Gat Men as muscle to take over the city; Joe remarks that [[TakeThat in any other city this would be viewed as impressive]][[note]]Although Kansas City actually has a fairly robust history of organized crime[[/note]].
128* FurnaceBodyDisposal: A method used by Loopers to dispose of the bodies of time-traveling execution victims. With the body incinerated and no missing person in the present to be searched for, it’s a pretty fool-proof method.
129* FutureMeScaresMe: Old Joe is more dangerous and ruthless than Young Joe, who isn't exactly scared of him but is trying to kill him.
130* GoingColdTurkey: We see Old Joe in the future being gently nursed through withdrawal symptoms by his wife. Young Joe is (much less gently) guided through his own withdrawal by Sara.
131* GoldSilverCopperStandard: Loopers are usually paid in silver ingots, which are conveniently strapped to their targets. However, if they get gold instead, they know that they have "closed their loop" and killed their future selves. They are now free to enjoy their lives... for the next 30 years.
132* GoryDiscretionShot: Several.
133** Right at the point where Old Joe goes GunsAkimbo, the camera angle casts his entire body in profile, with his targets conveniently out of frame.
134** [[spoiler:Although we see some blood coming out when Cid starts to murder Jesse, we don't see anything significant before the camera cuts away. As Young Joe and Sara run back into the house to look for Cid, the camera pans by the house on the outside, with one set of curtains almost completely red. When Joe finds Cid, his face and shirt are drenched in blood.]]
135** [[spoiler:All we see of Young Seth being tortured is its effects as scars on Old Seth -- then body parts vanishing -- and then its aftermath -- a lump of something swathed in a bloody sheet next to a heart monitor. As for his future self, the camera cuts away as Kid Blue shoots him through what's left of his face.]]
136* GoThroughMe: In the climax, Sara uses her body to block Old Joe's line of fire on Cid.
137* GreaterScopeVillain: The Rainmaker, the BigBad of the near-future whose reign of terror-to-come colors the actions of everyone else in the film.
138* GroinAttack: Old Joe does this to Young Joe.
139* GunTwirling: Kid Blue's FailedAttemptAtDrama. The accidental discharge didn't help either.
140* GunsAkimbo: Old Joe wields two FN-P90s in one scene. [[RuleOfCool It's as ridiculous, and cool, as it sounds.]]
141* HandCannon: The Gat Men carry Magnum Research B.F.R.'s ("Big Frame Revolver").
142* TheHeroDies / HeroicSuicide: [[spoiler: In the end, Young Joe kills himself to stop Old Joe from killing Cid's mother, averting the CycleOfRevenge and creating an AlternateTimeline where Cid still has his mother. There is still a non-zero chance that he will become the Rainmaker, but it's better than the original timeline, which was Cid's StartOfDarkness.]]
143* HeroStoleMyBike: Not really all that heroic, but Young Joe steals Seth's hoverbike at one point to escape into the fields.
144* HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct: Old Joe is trying to kill The Rainmaker, the "Hitler" of his time... [[spoiler:but, as Young Joe realizes, is merely the catalyst which will ''create '' him.]]
145* HumanNotepad: [[CarvedMark Carved directions on the arm]] are used as a way of [[WriteBackToTheFuture communication between young and old time travellers]].
146* HumansArePsychicInTheFuture: By 2044, 10% of the world will have minor telekinetic powers.
147* IHatePastMe: A CentralTheme is the friction between a man at two different points in his life with incompatible goals for each of their futures. Joe's older self is particularly annoyed by Young Joe's actions, since everything Young Joe does affects him, and he keeps getting into trouble.
148* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: Kid Blue does a lot of fancy-but-dangerous spinning of his revolver, and at one point misfires it. [[NoodleIncident It's all but stated that he shot one of his own feet off this way.]]
149* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Kid Blue also notes that gat revolvers have accuracy that the blunderbuss lacks; despite this claim, Kid Blue and the Gat Men rarely hit anything with their [[HandCannon badass pistols]].
150* InsertCameo: Rian Johnson's hands appear in the scene where [[spoiler:Seth's older version starts losing his fingers, nose and other extremeties as the younger version is being tortured]].
151* ItsAllAboutMe: Joe is incredibly selfish, willing to give up his best friend to protect his bank account. Even his future self is unwilling to make a profound personal sacrifice to save his wife's life, despite this being his supposed mission.
152* ItsAllMyFault: Sara blames herself for [[spoiler: her sister]]'s accidental death, caused when [[spoiler: Cid unintionally unleashed his telekinetic powers]].
153* JerkassHasAPoint: Young Joe (who at this point is still a fairly selfish {{Jerkass}}) bluntly tells Old Joe that if he truly wanted [[spoiler: to save his wife]], he could easily have Young Joe [[spoiler:not marry her and thus her fate is averted]], and Young Joe offers to promise just that right then. While very cold, he's still right.
154* JobTitle: Joe is a Looper, and he spends the opening scene explaining what that is.
155* JunkieParent: Joe mentions that his mother was a drug addict who sold him to a panhandler gang.
156* KarmicDeath: All the loopers. After making a life by killing people, they end up killed by themselves. On a more specific example [[spoiler:Old Joe, and to a lesser extent, Young Joe]].
157* KeepItForeign: In the French dub, Joe learns Italian to go to Florence.
158* KillingYourAlternateSelf: How often do you get a job, even as an assassin for hire, where killing your future self is considered normal? Young Joe pre-empts this in the end with a [[spoiler:Heroic Suicide, killing his older self and stopping the Rainmaker from being created.]]
159* LampshadeHanging:
160** Old Joe's explanation to why they should NOT touch the fickle TimeTravel subject. After they present such an eerie subject as TimeTravel, they drop it for the most part -- up until it starts slamming back into their faces. WordOfGod says Old Joe doesn't quite understand it himself, and doesn't really want to talk about it.
161** Also mentioned by Abe.
162--->'''Abe:''' This [[TimeyWimeyBall time travel shit]] just [[MindScrew fries your brain like an egg]].
163* LeaveYourQuestTest: A DeletedScene has Old Joe balk at shooting a child, remembering that his wife wanted him to stop being a killer. He's about to throw his gat in a rubbish bin when a vision of his wife disappearing makes him reconsider. A rare example where leaving the quest would be the right thing to do.
164-->"If I picked up this gun...life, my life, given back to me, just like it was before. And she would never know what I did."
165* LensFlare: All over the place. The creators seem to have a special liking for horizontal-blue-line flares.
166* LostInTheMaize: Joe manages to lose the Gat Men in a field of maize.
167* LostInTranslation: The Spanish dub translates the "Rainmaker"'s name as the "Founder," as "rainmaker" has no equivalent in Spanish. This means that all of the rain metaphors get lost in translation.
168* LoveAtFirstSight: Old Joe was completely head over heels with his wife when he met her the first time.
169* LoveRedeems:
170** Subverted and inverted. At first, it seems that Old Joe's main motivation is to [[spoiler: save his wife's life. But when Young Joe offers to memorize her picture and walk away when he meets her in the future, ensuring that she'll live without him, he refuses. Old Joe wants the life he had with his wife back, and he is willing to kill three children to get it. Love has made him more selfish, not less; he wants to have his cake and eat it too.]]
171** Double subverted when [[spoiler: Sara's love for her son and his memories of his own mother inspires Young Joe's HeroicSacrifice, setting things right]].
172* MeaningfulEcho:
173** When Abe tells Joe why he hired him in the first place, he tells him that, when they first met, he could see how his entire future life was going to go. He says that things were going to end badly, "so I changed it." At the end, Joe uses almost the same words.
174** Joe asks Suzie to stroke his hair like his mother did. [[spoiler:After his heroic sacrifice, Sara strokes his hair in the same way]].
175* MeaningfulName: The Rainmaker, named for his "Reign of Terror." Or the fact that he makes it [[GoryDiscretionShot rain blood]] as evidenced by his countenance after [[spoiler: Jesse's]] death.
176* MeanwhileInTheFuture: Any change to the timeline instantly updates the future self from the point of its occurrence.
177* MindOverMatter: Telekinesis has been discovered by 2044, with 10% of humanity born with the potential for it. However, most people can't do much more than clumsily levitate quarters, with varying degrees of focus and effort required. Sara can easily levitate a metal cigarette lighter and casually spin it around in smooth circles. [[spoiler: Cid can levitate all the furniture in a room, apply enough force to flip a moving vehicle, send out a shockwave that knocks over everything within a hundred yards, and make people explode. And that's ''before'' he learns to focus his abilities.]]
178* MisappliedPhlebotinum:
179** The mafia uses time travel for executions and corpse disposal.
180** Telekinesis is also stated to have amounted to basically nothing, since there are [[ChekhovsGun no known humans]] who have a dose of it that's ''strong'' enough to accomplish anything meaningful.
181* MissingMom: [[spoiler: Revealed to be the Rainmaker's StartOfDarkness if the loop Old Joe inadvertently started continued: Cid, enraged and in grief over his mother's death, decides to become the Rainmaker and kill all Loopers.]]
182* {{Motif}}
183** Clocks, loops and circles: Loopers' careers involve time loops. Characters are frequently seen checking analog clocks, with hands that move in a circle. Sara spins her lighter in a circle using her TK. Abe notes the cyclical nature of fashions. When Old Joe returns to Abe's hide-out, Abe notes that they've come full circle, like the fashion for neckties.
184** Rain: Clouds in the sky. A crop-dusting drone on the farm. The mysterious "Rainmaker" of the underworld.
185* MyCarHatesMe: At one point, Joe has to use Seth's incredibly unreliable hoverbike to escape, and only just manages to start it up in time.
186* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Old Joe has one of these after killing a child suspected of being the Rainmaker. When nothing reverts back to the way it was, and Old Joe is still in the past, he comes to the brutal realisation that he has just murdered an innocent child, and breaks down in tears.
187* MutilationInterrogation: What happens to [[spoiler:Seth's younger self, leading to his future self having his body parts disappearing one by one]].
188* NeverTrustATrailer: Certain adverts make it seem that Young Joe was on the run from Abe due to being rather unwilling to kill Old Joe, and that the two would end up grudgingly cooperating with each other. Sara and Cid are barely mentioned.
189* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Old Joe tries to kill Cid, only to ensure he becomes the Rainmaker in the process.]]
190* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:Kid Blue captures Joe and brings him back to Abe's club, only for Old Joe to wipe out Abe and his henchmen once there.]]
191* NoHonorAmongThieves: Common theme throughout the film.
192* NoKillLikeOverkill: The ex-Looper who passes on the Rainmaker's location in the past to Old Joe is shown to be under siege from a couple of armored personnel carriers manned by the Rainmaker's mooks.
193* NoNewFashionsInTheFuture: Discussed as part of the "time loop" motif. Clothes of 2044 recycle 20th century fashions, which annoys Abe. He tells Young Joe to wear "something new." From what people see of the world leading up to 2074, fashions continue to trend backwards, to the point that by 2074, the Gat Men are wearing [[TheForties 1940s]]-style fedoras, overcoats and ''Casablanca''-ish dresses.
194* NoodleIncident:
195** Abe, cracking on Kid Blue's clumsiness, asks him if he's shot off his other foot now. What happened there is never explained. Then again, one can probably guess.
196** When Abe learns Joe plans to live in France when his loop closes, he advises that Joe go to China instead. We never find out why visiting France is a bad idea in the future.
197* NoteToSelf: First, Old Joe pins a paper note on an unconscious Young Joe's jacket, warning him to skip town before the mob figures out he didn't kill his older self. Later, Young Joe carves the name of his favorite waitress into his arm. Old Joe reads the scars that appear on his arm and meets his younger self at the diner.
198* NothingIsScarier: [[spoiler: We never see Young Seth's mutilation in detail, just a brief shot of a bloody cloth on the operating table. But with what happens to Old Seth...]]
199* OhCrap: More like [[spoiler:Oh, I just remembered I shoot myself 30 years ago]]. All the more priceless.
200* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Pretty much the entire motivation of any given Looper. They kill their targets, cash in the bars of silver strapped to their victims as payment, spend the money on women and partying, lather, rinse, repeat until killed or loop is closed. Comes through especially clearly when Abe gives Joe the choice of turning Seth in or giving up half his silver; he quickly chooses the former option.
201* OpeningMonologue: Young Joe gives one, introducing the Looper concept.
202* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Sara has a very noticeable Southern accent when she first 'meets' Joe. It disappears as the movie goes on.
203* OurTimeTravelIsDifferent: Displaced persons appear with no fanfare -- they just... appear and disappear, though traveling back into the past is a dramatic build-up of heat and wind. And what affects the past affects the future: this is used to dispose of those who escape their own Loops by chopping off parts, as well as scrawling messages via scars. [[spoiler:Seth gets executed this way, and Old Joe simply disappears.]] In addition, traveling to the past [[LaserGuidedAmnesia screws your brain up and tears away chunks of important memory, especially when events that may-or-may-not-have-happened appear to happen, either restoring their memory or showing what "really" happened in the new timeline.]]
204* PosthumousNarration: [[spoiler: Joe narrates the movie before his suicide.]]
205* PrematurelyBald: When looking himself over in the mirror before a night out, Joe gives a brief but critical glance at his widow's peak hairline. As we later see in the montage of his next 30 years, his hair doesn't last long and his older version is played by famously bald Bruce Willis.
206* PsychicNoseBleed: Sara recalls how one would-be suitor burst a blood vessel in his eye trying to lift a quarter using his TK while Sara was keeping it down.
207* PunchClockVillain:
208** Jesse is polite in his mandatory search of Sara's farmhouse. Joe says that he's a good guy and will leave once he's finished without hurting Sara. When Jesse realizes that he's pointing a gun at Cid, he immediately raises his hands to show that he's not a threat.
209** Joe himself, who is a hitman for an organized crime syndicate but only seems to be in it for the money and loyalty to Abe for rescuing him from the streets and giving him a sense of purpose.
210* RansackedRoom: When Joe returns home after bungling to close his loop, he finds his apartment turned over by the Gat Men.
211* RegionalRiff: The soundtrack is a mix of jarring industrial themes and powerful orchestral pieces, with the former taking precedent during the more violent sequences and city scenes, and the latter taking over for the more dramatic and rural parts. A prime example of the transitioning exists in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzCN96j7K60 "A Life In A Day" sequence (spoilers)]]. [[spoiler:The piece starts with pianos and percussion as Young Joe travels to Shanghai, then immediately gives way to industrial noise when it cuts to him partying, abusing drugs, and committing crimes. The noises briefly die as the character transitions to Old Joe, then return for a shot of a needle and the bar fight, before finally dying fully as Old Joe spots his future wife and then settles down with her for the sequence end.]]
212* RevolversAreJustBetter: This is Kid Blue's claim; while the Loopers do the grunt work of killing targets and use crude blunderbusses, the elite Gat Men carry long-barreled, large-caliber revolvers. However, when Old Joe gets his hands on some automatic weaponry, he is able to massacre dozens of the Gat Men with relative ease.
213* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: In the alternate timeline where Joe closes his loop, he cashes in both the gold he gets for the job and the silver he's been saving up, and moves to Shanghai. Within six years, he's blown all his money on drugs and partying and started working as a mercenary to support himself.
214* RightForTheWrongReasons: Kid Blue manages to capture Old Joe by staking out the apartment of a sex worker that Joe was fond of, assuming he might come see her. Joe ''does'' show up, but he didn't even know that the woman lived there; he's only there because her child was coincidentally one of the three that he had identified as potentially growing up to be the Rainmaker.
215* RousseauWasRight: The Rainmaker was rumored to have lost his mother at one point. [[spoiler:In present time, the Rainmaker is just a boy named Cid who isn't able to control his powers and like any other child requires parenting.]]
216* SelfFulfillingProphecy is doubled up to create the titular causal loop: [[spoiler:Young Joe finally realizes that Old Joe attempting to kill Cid in 2044 (before he as the Rainmaker can kill Joe's wife) and the resulting death of Cid's mother is what turns him into the Rainmaker in the first place, in turn leading to Joe's loop being closed and the death of his wife in 2074. The Rainmaker himself is similarly implied to have closed the loops in an attempt to save his mother, which is how Joe ended up running his loop in the past in the first place.]]
217* SelfMadeOrphan: Subverted. [[spoiler:The woman who Cid killed wasn't his mother, even though he thought she was.]]
218* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Old Joe's goal, [[VillainProtagonist in his own mind at least]].
219* ScrewDestiny: Young Joe's final act in the film, after trying to ensure a StableTimeLoop through the rest of the story.
220-->'''Joe:''' [[spoiler: Then I saw it. I saw a mom who would die for her son, a man who would kill for his wife, a boy angry and alone, laid out in front of him the bad path. I saw it, and the path was a circle, round and round. So I changed it.]]
221* ShadesOfConflict: Hoo ''boy''. Either [[GreyAndGrayMorality Gray vs. Gray]] or [[BlackAndGrayMorality Gray vs. Black]], though the former has the edge.
222* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler:While the film ends with the Loopers wiped out and Cid's mother alive, there is nothing to suggest that time travel will not be invented still and the mafia in the future cannot re-establish the Loopers, and there is no promise that Cid will not become the Rainmaker. WordOfGod even admits that Joe is just one person, and it's unknown how large or small an impact his actions could make in the grand scheme of the time travel plot.]]
223* ShootHimHeHasAWallet: [[spoiler: Joe's Chinese wife is shot by a Gat Man who mistakes her ergonomic garden trowel for a gun.]]
224* ShortRangeShotgun: The "blunderbuss" is an extremely short range weapon. It is impossible to miss anything closer than 15 yards, but beyond that range, it's effectively worthless. All a Looper needs to do is stand close to the spot where their target is going to appear and pull the trigger to ensure a kill.
225* ShoutOut:
226** [[WordOfGod Director Rian Johnson]] has stated that his film has references to among other things ''Film/TwelveMonkeys'', ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'', ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'', ''Film/{{Primer}}'', ''Film/{{Timecrimes}}'', ''Film/{{Witness}}'', ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', ''Manga/{{Domu}}'' and ''Manga/{{Akira}}''.
227** Johnson also said the time-travel device was inspired by the Creator/{{Infocom}} game ''VideoGame/{{Trinity}}''.
228** Abe's club is named "La Belle Aurore", the French bar Rick and Ilsa were at during the German invasion in ''Film/{{Casablanca}}''. Joe's CharacterDevelopment was also loosely based on Rick's own growth from a selfish man into a hero who would sacrifice his happiness to ensure another's. The scene in which Seth pleads with Joe to hide him is extremely similar to a scene between Ugarte and Rick. The message Joe carves in his arm is "Beatrix": the name of the waitress at the diner ... but it's also "Be at Rick's".
229** Joe's use of the FingerGun and narcotic eyedrops are also borrowed from various UsefulNotes/FrenchNewWave films. Both also appear in ''Anime/CowboyBebop''.
230** Early in the film, Young Joe is shown in several scenes wearing dress pants and a wifebeater like [[Franchise/DieHard John McClane]], somewhat {{a|ctorAllusion}}lluding to Willis playing his older counterpart.
231** A scene where Young Joe lays injured in the middle of the road, struggling with his shotgun while Kid Blue races toward him on his bike, is reminiscent of a climactic scene from ''Film/MadMax''.
232* ShowDontTell: The effects of future drugs, how TemporalMutability works, and the Rainmaker's power are all shown in often horrifying ways before any explanation of them is given.
233* ShownTheirWork: ''[[ChekhovsArmory To a ludicrous degree.]]'' Numerous questions about the movie can often be sated by [[RewatchBonus simply watching through again]] and paying ''very'' close attention.
234* SimultaneousArcs: The scene where Joe finds the Gat Men looking for him after failing to kill his future self is seen from the younger and future selves' point of views.
235* SnowyScreenOfDeath: When Joe shoots his way into the hit men's headquarters, blasting security cameras as he goes.
236* SmokingHotSex: Sara has her first cigarette in a long while after she and Joe have sex.
237* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Seth screws up closing his loop because his future self arrives singing a familiar song, making Seth hesitate long enough to confirm his identity. From there, Seth didn't have the nerve to follow through.
238* SoundtrackDissonance: An alternate montage of Joe's future in China is set to "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" as we see Joe committing shakedowns, firebombings and murders for his future employers.
239* StealthPun: Kid Blue shooting himself in the foot, and then proceeding to fuck up just about everything he tries to do in the film.
240* StableTimeLoop: Averted. You can mutilate or kill somebody's past self and their older self will be affected. [[spoiler:Old Joe also nearly creates one by trying to kill Cid, thereby ensuring the Rainmaker will exist in all future loops, only for Young Joe to destroy the loop at the last second.]]
241** Though most of the intents ''are'' to create Stable Time Loops. It's even alluded to with the job title "Looper:" execute everyone the Mob sends back for you until you kill your future self, get a big payday, and are free to live the good life... until you're kidnapped by the Mob and sent back in time so your past self can "close their loop." The implication seems to be, under the film's rules of time travel, Stable Time Loops are the norm, and breaking out of one requires extranormal effort.
242* StartOfDarkness: [[spoiler:This would have been Cid's if Old Joe killed his mother. Fortunately Young Joe was there to turn the situation around]].
243* StrollingThroughTheChaos: This is how Old Joe catches sight of his future wife, calmly walking through a BarBrawl in a hotel lobby; Joe stops fighting to stare at her and make an (unheard) pass. She responds by FlippingTheBird.
244* TapOnTheHead: During their first encounter, Old Joe punches Young Joe in the jaw, knocking him out so long that the sun has changed positions when he awakens.
245* {{Telekinesis}}: For unexplained reasons, in 2044 roughly 10% of the population is telekinetic. While most are weak enough that it's little more than a parlor trick, there is one character who is slightly stronger and another significantly so.
246* TeamMercyVsTeamMurder: Old Joe time travels to the past to kill children who have the possibility of growing up to become a powerful future crime lord known as The Rainmaker. His past self protects the child Cid from Old Joe's hunt, but quits when he witnesses [[spoiler:Cid's powerful telekinesis]] and realizes why the Rainmaker is so dangerous. [[spoiler:Ultimately he realizes that Old Joe's effort to murder Cid will fail but kill the boy's mother Sara in the process, creating a StableTimeLoop that will give Cid the motive to become the Rainmaker. Thus Joe shoots himself to eliminate his future self from existence, preventing the loop.]]
247* TemporalMutability: History can be altered, but the timeline actively tries to correct itself to absurd degrees. [[spoiler:For instance, Old Joe almost ''ensures'' a StableTimeLoop that will create the Rainmaker in his attempt to destroy him.]]
248* TemporalSuicide: How every Looper's life is supposed to end.
249* TerminatorTwosome: Old Joe and Young Joe, who are technically the same person.
250* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodSandwich: Young and old Joe order steak, egg and fries at the diner but never touch their tasty meals. Old Joe sips both his beverages and plays with the plate, but never eats.
251* TimeMachine: TheMafia uses it to cleanly kill off those they have marked for death.
252* TimeTravelForFunAndProfit: Since time travel was outlawed as soon as it was invented, only powerful criminal syndicates have the capability to time travel. They use it to effectively perform hits and discard bodies, but it's never fully explained why they don't use their knowledge of the future to [[CompoundInterestTimeTravelGambit make guaranteed investments]] or [[ParanormalGamblingAdvantage bet on sporting events]], which would [[CutLexLuthorACheck legally and safely make them obscene amounts of money]].
253* TimeyWimeyBall: Time travel works on some form of the DelayedRippleEffect... most of the time. But while this lets characters ScrewDestiny, create a GrandfatherParadox or [[ButterflyOfDoom ruin the future]], history will try very hard to self-correct into a StableTimeLoop. [[WordOfGod Director Rian Johnson]] noted this is how [[spoiler:Old Joe killing Cid's mother would prompt Cid to become the Rainmaker in ''all'' future loops]].
254* TooDumbToLive: Seth. First, for signing up to be a Looper in the first place. Then, for letting his Loop run. Doubly invoked by Old Seth, who isn't any smarter than Young Seth, for [[YouCanRunButYouCantHide trying to run in the first place.]] Young Seth ends up dismembered and placed in a coma for the rest of his life. Old Seth is consequently relieved of his limbs and shot.
255* {{Troll}}: Sara, back before she settled down, mentions that she used to mess with the [[spoiler:"party trick" TK users by using her own TK to completely short-circuit the tricks they did.]]
256* UsedFuture: Related to BadFuture above, in the 2044 American Midwest a lot of physical infrastructure shows signs of decay, neglect and simple age: old cars patched up with solar panels, rampant poverty and lowered quality of life in urban settings and so on.
257* VomitIndiscretionShot: One result of the drug withdrawal is young Joe getting sick and vomiting in front of the farm house.
258* WeaponForIntimidation: [[spoiler:Sara's shotgun. Joe quickly deduces that she has no intention of killing anyone with it. He's right, but when he mentions Cid, she shoots him with rock salt]].
259* WellDoneSonGuy: While he doesn't seem to be Abe's biological son, Kid Blue has this relationship with his boss. Abe actually seems to encourage this to a certain degree, taking in boys and making them part of his organization young in hopes they'll view him as a father figure. His whole AffablyEvil demeanor is built around it.
260--> "All I wanted... all I ''ever'' wanted... was for you to tell me I done good."
261* WhiteShirtOfDeath: [[spoiler:Old Joe's wife]] wears a white dress when she's shot.
262* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:Old Joe plans to kill three, knowing one of them will become the mass murdering Rainmaker.]] He still has a breakdown after doing it.
263* WouldntHurtAChild: When Cid startles him, Jesse aims at him with his gun, but the moment he realizes its a kid, he raises his hands in the air to show he's not gonna hurt Cid. [[spoiler:Not that it saves him from getting exploded by Cid's mind seconds later.]]
264* WrestlerInAllOfUs: Old Joe hits a leaping DDT during his escape from the Rainmaker's goons.
265* WriteBackToTheFuture: Messages can be sent in real-time to a future version of someone by “[[CarvedMark writing]]” messages on their skin… with a knife.
266* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: Cid insists on calling Sara by her first name until one crisis too many; she talks him down when able. At which point he calls her "Mom."
267* YoureNotMyMother: Played with. [[spoiler: The truth is that Sara ''is'' Cid's birth mother, but she abandoned him for the party life, so he was raised by Sara's sister, and called her mom instead. He killed his aunt with his TK and feels guilty about it. That comes out as anger and resentment at his mother for having created the situation by abandoning him.]] Cid eventually recants having said it.
268* YouWouldntShootMe:
269** When Sara tries to intimidate Joe with her shotgun, he's not impressed.
270-->'''Joe''': You point a gun at me, I'm not scared, so you ''describe'' the gun to me? It's not the gun I'm not afraid of.
271** Subverted when she ''does'' shoot him -- with a load of rock salt.
272-->'''Sara''': You're right, I'm not a killer. But I'm okay with what rock salt will do to your face.
273* YourDaysAreNumbered: Any Looper who survives until 2074 is sent back to be killed by his younger self, terminating his contract. The Looper doesn't find this out until he recovers his payment from the body -- gold bars instead of the usual silver. He now knows that he has exactly 30 years left to live.

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