We can see multiple times in Looper, more accurate weapons such as pistols are available but for some reason, elite assassins still choose to use blunderbuss.
Is there an explanation for this?
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3I thought the narrator mentioned something about this but maybe I invented headcanon about it. I thought it had to do with being untraceable or something.– Todd WilcoxJul 6 at 13:16
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20Separately, I never saw them as “elite assassins”. More like people who can’t get any other job and are willing to take a terrible one. Remember they don’t have to take out anyone who is guarded or dangerous - just be at the right place at the right time and shoot an unarmed bound person at point blank range.– Todd WilcoxJul 6 at 13:17
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2 Answers
They are not skilled elite assassins, they are skill-less thugs willing to take a terrible but well paid job.
The blunderbuss is intended to be easy to use and lethal at short range. From the script:
You know why they call that pea shooter a blunderbuss? Cuz it's impossible to hit anything farther than 15 feet, and impossible to miss anything closer.
Their job is to kill and dispose of unarmed, bound people.
It may be that the organization that uses the Loopers doesn't want them to be well trained on real weapons.
answered Jul 6 at 14:17
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2Another thing is that these weapons are single shot -- at the very last it's much slower. The person can go back, do their job, and that's all they have the firepower to manage.– SidneyJul 7 at 15:09
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The Looper script includes the following dialogue. I don't remember if it was actually in the film.
You know why they call that pea shooter a blunderbuss? Cuz it’s impossible to hit anything farther than 15 feet, and impossible to miss anything closer.
So, within the universe of the film, the explanation is that the Looper assassins are very unskilled.
More to the point, the blunderbuss' short range is a plot device that enables the entire movie to happen. As other dialogue establishes, if the assassin hesitates, the target can easily get away,
which is how we end up with a present and future protagonist chasing each other.
Then, in the climactic scene,
the protagonist is watching his future self doing something that will cause a war. Because his future self is out of blunderbuss range, the protagonist turns the gun on himself. According to the time travel rules set out by the movie, his future self then also disappears from this timeline.
In my opinion, the time travel rules and the weaponry in this movie are contrived to force that moment.
