Before taking on the Star Wars universe with The Last Jedi, director Rian Johnson proved himself in the field of sci-fi action with the impressive time travel thriller Looper starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the same hitman on opposite sides of an unfortunate time loop.
If you're a fan of the movie, and regularly find yourself craving more of the same kind of time-bending and mind-melting concepts, then make sure to check out these 10 similar sci-fi thrillers that are just like Looper in many ways.
12 Monkeys (1995)
Terry Gilliam's hugely-influential time travel movie is the most unusual kind of blockbuster. Following Bruce Willis' conscripted time-traveling convict, sent back to find the origins of a deadly virus that has destroyed the world as we know it, 12 Monkeys may sound like a typical Hollywood sci-fi action movie but is anything but.
The story calls for Willis and co-star Brad Pitt to demonstrate their skills as vulnerable character actors (earning Pitt his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor) and its off-kilter view of causal loops, not to mention Willis' performance, was clearly one of the biggest influences on Looper's development.
The Jacket (2005)
This psychological drama thriller from producers George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh bears a number of striking similarities to 12 Monkeys also but focusses on a much more intimate story framed by the aftermath of modern conflicts in the Middle East.
Adrien Brody leads a very robust cast as a wounded combat veteran who finds himself slipping through time via a brutal and experimentative drug therapy in a mental hospital. A bizarre kind of anti-war movie, The Jacket is much lighter on the action than a movie like Looper but they both clearly stem from the same roots.
Predestination (2014)
This thriller, based on a short story by revered science-fiction author Robert A. Heinlen, explores a number of the same hypothetical concepts as Looper and chiefly shares its fixation on paradoxes.
Ethan Hawke begins the story as a time-traveling agent on a mission to prevent a deadly bombing but things quickly shift away from a linear mystery narrative to something more complex about the overall nature of being.
Déjà Vu (2006)
Denzel Washington leads one of his many impressively-cast thrillers with the late great Tony Scott, this time with an added sci-fi spin, in this stylish and explosive Jerry Bruckheimer-produced detective movie.
Washington plays another agent using time travel to try and solve the case of a deadly bombing but the movie is much less concerned with the philosophical side of Looper's equation and far more with the action part.
Timecrimes (2007)
Nacho Vigalondo wrote, directed, and starred in this small-scale–but still hugely thought-provoking–tale of an average middle-aged man who accidentally stumbles into a troublesome time loop involving murder and a masked maniac in the quiet countryside.
Devilishly inventive and darkly funny, Timecrimes is an unconventional thriller that will still grab the attention of a Looper fan and hold it all the way to the end.
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt lead this thrilling time travel action movie as two soldiers who tap into the Groundhog Day powers of an invading alien race and must learn how to use it against them in order to save the planet.
Filled with fascinating tech and slick setpieces, Edge of Tomorrow (A.K.A. Live. Die. Repeat.) is a must for fans of time-bending blockbusters.
Primer (2004)
More on the cerebral side of the sci-fi equation, Shane Carruth's low budget revelation slows down for no one but is a hugely rewarding experience for those who aren't afraid to really pay attention to a truly labyrinthian plot.
Carruth not only wrote, directed, produced, edited, and scored the movie but also stars as one of two engineers who create what they believe to be a time machine and the fearless degree to which Carruth delves into the philosophical and technical implications of a time loop makes Primer a genuinely one of a kind experience.
The Terminator (1984)
James Cameron's game-changing thriller quickly became one of the most integral entries into the overall pantheon of both time travel movies and science-fiction movies in general.
The story of a seemingly-unstoppable robot sent back to kill the mother of a future human resistance leader has inspired many imitators but virtually nothing has ever quite matched the original's striking balance of technophobia and creative action, even within the Terminator franchise itself.
Source Code (2011)
Jake Gyllenhaal plays a man who awakes on a train, in a body that is not his own, with no memory of how he arrived there only to die minutes later in a massive explosion. When he begins to relive these final moments over and over again, a wider mystery unravels as he attempts to escape his unending fate.
Though another relatively claustrophobic story, Source Code is brimming with large-scale qualities, not least in its impressive cast.
Minority Report (2002)
Steven Spielberg's loose adaptation of Philip K. Dick's short story amps up the Tom Cruise factor but still keeps many of the thought-provoking elements that the author is so well known for, as well as the director's trademark emotionality.
Following Cruise's framed future cop, who uses the prescient powers of a group of precognitive savants, the breakneck chase plot showcases Spielberg's chameleon-like talents with genre filmmaking; effortlessly blending elements of noir, sci-fi and action together into an engaging whodunit.