Film Review: Twelve Monkeys

Director: Terry Gilliam

This film was recommended to me a while ago by a couple of people and then hit my usual film to see list that at times is quite lengthy. With it being directed by Terry Gilliam I had a good idea what to expect after seeing Brazil and knowing he likes to film highly imaginative fantasies. There is always method to the madness but you don't usually see it until the end of the movie.

Movie poster for the release of Twelve Monkeys

Bruce Willis plays James Cole who is a convict from 2035 who is part of the 1% of the population who survived a deadly virus which was unleashed by the Army of the Twelve Monkeys in late 1995. The remaining humans now live underground and Cole reluctantly volunteers to go on a mission to the past to find information or even a sample of the virus to take back so scientists can work on a cure. Throughout the film Cole is haunted by dreams that slowly begin to take meaning as the film progresses. The first hour is slow progress as the film sets the scene and makes you take notice of every detail as he travels back to the present from 1990 and then back to 1996. There is a sense that one small detail from 1990 could hold the key to it all.

As the film progressed, I was expecting some hugely unexpected twist that I hadn't seen coming to take effect but never felt this happened. I slowly started to predict what was going to happen as the film progressed and was pretty much right with my predictions which is never a good thing when watching a movie. I think it would be unfair to completely dislike this movie for that as I think other films since have copied some plot elements and made it seem very familiar and over-done. The apocalyptic view of the future is becoming a bit of a cliché which means my view of the film now might be quite different had I seen it when it was released in 1995.

Brad Pitt as Jeffrey Goines in the mental institution

Brad Pitt's performance of Jeffrey Goines who is a patient in a mental institute is superb and fully deserved his Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in this film. It was an incredibly frenzied yet disturbing performance by Pitt. He seemed to catch all the nuances to make his character believable as a person and as somebody with mental health issues. I also liked Madeline Stowe whose portrayal of conflicted psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Reilly as she tries to piece together what is happening.

There references within the film to Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' where a bit stretched as Bruce Willis is certainly no James Stewart, the comparison when Stowe and Willis were in disguise seemed a bit laughable to be honest. The study of obsession within both of the films was a clever idea but presented in a poor manner.

1.5/4 Sorry to the fans of this film but I wasn't engrossed and could predict what was going to happen.