5. The Terminator
I will start with the obvious and then work from there. If Looper steals from one film the most it is certainly this classic, and incidentally one of my all time favorite films. I have zero problem with films taking large plot points from The Terminator franchise because I am desperate for more films as great as the first two Terminators were. The concept of both films share very obvious similarities. In Looper, Bruce Willis travels back in time to try to kill a child who will grow up to cause tragedy in the future, and another man, Levitt's character, tries his best to prevent this time traveler from succeeding in his goal. In The Terminator, the Terminator travels back in time to try to kill a woman who will have a child who will grow up to be man kinds leader against the robot uprising, and another man, a human, tries to prevent this time traveler from succeeding in it's goal. Because this film is very iconic, I am almost guaranteed Johnson referenced this film purposely, and I don't care at all that he did. There are even a few shots and scenes which are very similar to The Terminator just from a directors point of view. When Bruce Willis hunts down and kills the first child who may be the "Rainmaker" he is in a suburban street which looks very similar to the suburban street where The Terminator kills his first "Sarah Conner". Also, the scene in which Bruce Willis machine guns all his enemies down the hall ways is so reminiscent of the many times The Terminator did exactly the same thing... in the police department for example. But, if Johnson were to copy from any film using time travel, it is a good job he copied from the very best and made the genre cool once again. We all forgive you.