Can anyone answer these questions for me about the plot?

1. Abe, the mob boss from the future who was sent back from the future to run the present-day mob, goes out of his way to explain to Young Joe (read: the audience) that it is dangerous to have someone from the future running around in the past/present. If that's true, why is Abe there? Does his younger self in the year 2044 know about him being there?

2. Why would the mob mandate that loopers in the present day kill their own future selves? It's extremely risky to assume that anyone would be okay with doing such a thing. It's already risky enough that they hire junkies, some of them with telekinetic powers, to do their dirty work. Are they trying to test the loopers' loyalty? Are they just being sadistic? It would seem more logical to send the future retired loopers to other looper assassins, and therefore keep them in the dark about their ultimate fate. This would make them much more obedient too.

3. So we learn early on in the film that whatever happens to people in the present will carry the effects to people in the future, including body mutilation and death. And this happens no matter what timeline the future people are living in. So why did the mob in the present find it necessary to cut off Young Seth's body parts in order to lure Old Seth just so they can fatally shoot Old Seth before eventually killing Young Seth? Why didn't they just shoot Young Seth in the head? They would have literally killed two birds (or, men) with one stone (or, bullet) without so much blood and carnage. And as we clearly see at the end of the film, if you kill someone in the present, including yourself, their future selves will cleanly disappear, even if their future selves are residing in the present. My only guess is that the mob wanted to be extremely sadistic and dole out the worst punishment possible to anyone who lets someone from the future run loose, especially if it's themselves. And speaking of killing your future self...

4. How does Sara know about loopers? Young Joe seems surprised that she knows, and he asks her about it. But she never answers.

5. What exactly does Young Joe accomplish by killing himself at the end? Old Joe tells Young Joe in the diner that the Rainmaker "saw his mom get shot." Now of course, that was somewhere during the original timeline where Old Joe does not survive his execution. But what that means is that the rainmaker apparently rose to power even without any interaction from Old or Young Joe. Why didn't he at least try to kill Old Joe? Old Joe wouldn't be able to retaliate without seriously hurting himself. And even if Old Joe succeeded in killing Sara so that he could get to Cid, it would have given Young Joe all the time he needed to kill Old Joe and try to find Cid. He could then use his excessive amount of silver and gold to raise Cid in a positive environment. After all, Cid likes Young Joe, and he's a smart kid, so Cid would be a low-maintenance child to care for. And if he succeeded in protecting Sara, then his job would be even easier with the two-parent household, AND his enormous sum of money. Not to mention the fact that Old Joe killed the rest of the mob in the present day, so they're safe from their enemies.

If Young Joe was serious about killing Old Joe, he should have done it when Old Joe pulled up in front of him and told him to go "live your life," instead of shooting randomly at the truck that Old Joe was driving when he clearly could have hit him.

How many times? It's 'the lovely' Emily Blunt.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt looks like Jim Caviezel on the cover.