Twelve Monkeys Reviews

Something a little bit different.

Now this might not be everyone's cuppa. However it is original and well directed. The soundtrack effectively compliments the action and I was well impressed with all involved. Be brave and enjoy.

Ace

This is exactly what you would expect of visionary Terry Gilliam. A dark, humorous, moving film that will haunt you for a long time to come.

I don't need to review the storyline, it is there in the distributor?s blurb above. Gilliam's sense of the 'technology-run-amok' is present in this work (odd mix of obsolete with the fantastic, such as 1960s style television monitors linked with obtrusive magnifying glasses and microphones) and contribute to the paranoid feeling of the future landscape. Bruce Willis' performance is nothing less than perfect: cold, lonely, beaten yet hopeful. Brad Pitt's performance is a show-stopper, as an off-kilter schizophrenic. Madeline Stowe plays an intelligent and extremely sexy psychologist who slowly comes to realize that Willis is not a lunatic, but truly a man of the future.

The most haunting scene is when Willis tearfully listens to Louis Armstrong's 'It's a Wonderful World'. You can literally feel Willis' torment, as you ride along on his knowledge of the future's bleakness, and the recognition of how mankind had destroyed such a beautiful earth.

Haunting, darkly humorous, and ultimately memorable.

Its all in the mind

Terry Gilliam has produced what was for its time an excellent psychological / sci-fi thriller.

This is a story about James Cole (Bruce Willis) who is sent back in time from the future to find a pure sample of a virus that wipes out mankind in 1997. Cole is imprisoned in a mental institution soon after returning to 1990.

Gilliam consistently asks the audience whether or not to identify with the protagonist and believe that he comes from the future or to believe that he is just another mental patient that is out of his mind. Willis puts forward a very odd performance appearing to be quite naive and childlike but it fits his character well.

The problem with the film is that while the film was good in its time it has dated quite badly and some of the characters reactions seem stiff and implausible. All in all a good nights entertainment and a must see for fans of Gilliam's other work.

P A R A N O I A

the one word to describe this movie.

Brad Pitt hams.

Bruce Willis gives a decent performance.

Madeleine stowe looks stunning and gives a restrained performance.

She is convincing as a psychiatric student and then as a reputed psychiatrist.

The twist in the plot which is revealed at the end is interesting.

The plot of the story is complicated and sometimes leave you confused like the delusional Bruce Willis.

But everything is explained at the end.

A must see film

( at least for Madeleine Stowe)

12 Reasons to watch

1. It's directed by Terry Gilliam, the man who also directed Brazil, and did the cartoons for Monty Python.

2. Bruce Wills at his best

3. It's mind boggerling

4. Very Werid

5. A Crazy Brad Pitt

6. End of the world

7. So good its too complicated to explain

8. A Thrilling, haunting and exceedingly well acted film

9.Time Travel

10. A consistently engaging motion picture

11. Erasing humanity from the planet

12. Watch it!!!

Great Actors doing Great Acting

Terry Gilliam is simply one of the best directors around, always willing to take a risk and do something a little different. This is actually fairly accessable certainly more so than some of Gilliams weirder outings. Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis put in some of thier bext ever performances - Pitt is definatly able to put in something more than the Hollywood pretty boy that some may lable him. And again Willis shows he can act with the best of them. If you liked Brazil and the Fifth Element - this is somewhere between the two.

Very good sci fi movie, in which Bruce Willis plays a time traveller bouncing around the past trying to find clues for a future virus which will wipe out most of mankind. Very gritty and at times disturbing, this movies real strength is the inevitability of the future which builds as the movie progresses. This movie has an excellent performance by Brad Pitt as a mental patient. The confusing storyline means that it may be difficult for non sci fi fans.

Why isn't Madelaine Stowe more famous?

If you ever needed proof that Brucey can act - other than the Sixth Sense - this is it. Bruce's bewilderment as he is moved back and forth through time is - bizarely, considering the plot - truly believable. Much has been made of Brad Pitt's role but for me he hams up too much. The real show stealer for me, is Stowe. Her dilema as a scientist faced with the utterly impossible being the only probable truth, has all the resonance of a collapse in religious faith.

The sci-fi fantasy elements of this, as is so typical of Gilliam's work, are not what make it really swing - instead, the character developments instigated by the incredible events, are the driving force of the film.

Magnificently tragic - perhaps more so now in our current climate of fear, than when it was made - but again, that's what Gilliam's so very good at isn't he? If you haven't seen 'Brazil', you might want to add that to your list too. Genius.

Awesome!

This is a great film with a superb plot, great directing and fantastic acting. Apparently Brad Pitt spent some weeks in a mental institution prior to filming to work on the role, he actually went to the institution in character! The film unlike so many time travel movies ties up nicely at the end not leaving any loose ends. Very clever.

Very impressed, although...

...I'd somehow managed to not see this until last week, and now I've seen it I'm disappointed I hadn't seen it sooner as I feel the effect has been diluted by the (many) similar films I've seen since.

Basically, Bruce Willis + Brad Pitt + Time Travel = Cool. And that's right. It's a great film, which makes you think unlike most of today's sci-fi output, although again, if you're new to this don't expect movie miracles - it's been done to death since.

Still, I'd watch it again. Mmm, Madeleine Stowe.