Bruce Willis' 119-Minute Sci-Fi Masterpiece Officially Hits Netflix Next Week

The late '80s and early '90s were truly the golden age for Bruce Willis. After breaking out in a big way in one of the most beloved action/Christmas movies of all time, Die Hard, in 1988, he was inescapable, from Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction to the surreal fantasy of Robert Zemeckis' Death Becomes Her, and the M. Night Shyamalan classic The Sixth Sense with one of cinema's all-time great twists. However, that's not to say his later years in the industry didn't have some stone-cold hits. 2012, in particular, was a minor renaissance for him, including roles in Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom and one of the more high-concept projects of his career.

Before becoming a murder-mystery favorite with the Knives Out films, director Rian Johnson was known for his more contained, small-budget features with a unique style and premise, like his directorial debut Brick, which put high-school students at the center of a hardboiled detective story. Looper, meanwhile, imagines a world where time travel is exclusive to the ultra-wealthy on the black market and contract killers are paid by crime syndicates of the future to execute their enemies sent back through time, with all the messy implications that come with that. Willis plays the older version of one of these killers, Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who is sent back in time to be killed by his younger self to "close the loop." However, Old Joe comes prepared and goes on the run, planning to find and kill an all-powerful telekinetic known only as The Rainmaker before he can grow up and use his terrifying abilities to close all loops.

Johnson assembled an excellent cast around Willis and Gordon-Levitt, including Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Noah Segan, Jeff Daniels, and more. The results were rave reviews and a solid box office success, with the completely original concept soaring to a Certified Fresh 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and a global haul of $176.5 million. For those who haven't yet seen it, Netflix will give viewers a chance to loop back and watch it very soon, no time travel complications required. Looper is slated to arrive on the platform on Sunday, November 1.

Rian Johnson Will Return to High-Concept Original Filmmaking With His Next Project

It's been nearly a year since Johnson released his third installment in the Knives Out trilogy, Wake Up Dead Man, and so far, updates on what he's up to next have been few and far between. Leading up to the release of his latest Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) mystery, he said in a Q&A session moderated by Collider's Steve Weintraub that he was planning a return to the type of original high-concept filmmaking style he approached Looper and Brick with. This time, however, he's aiming to make a paranoid thriller that throws back to the 1970s with some "light sci-fi elements." He emphasized, though, that he's not completely done with Knives Out, particularly if audiences are still keen for more of Blanc's stylings.

Looper arrives on Netflix on November 1. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on all the biggest titles coming to and leaving streaming throughout the year.