Customer Reviews
Brucie at his best! - By: ossian, 19 Feb 2008 
This flim is rightfully cited as one of the best sci-fi flims of the 90s. The acting is brilliant- it reallly explores the talents of Bruce Willis & brad Pitt in challlenging roles. The plot is expertly exposed & is full of twists & turns, so that the viewer is unsure if the sci-fi elements of the flim are real of just in Cole's (Willis' character) head.
The only thing that annoyed me about this film is that the futuristic underground world is not explored as much as I would like. Despite this not being a 100% Gilliam flim- he took no part in writing the screenplay- he certainly left his mark.
Modern Classic - By: Rebel Scum, 27 Jan 2008 This is without doubt one of the best sci-fi/time travel movies ever made. 12 Monkeys demands more from the viewer than your average movie.
The plot is intelligent, the acting is superb & it looks beatifully gritty.
I never get tired of watching this film, it's a classic that constantly rewards the viewer with each subsequent viewing.
monkeys eh - By: E. Palmer, 26 Jul 2007 This film was on the good ol' 'amazon reccomends' list. & at nearly a fiver it was worth a pop. In fact, i was absolutely bowled over by one of the best acting performances i've seen on film. Brad Pitt as the unquestionably derranged Jeffrey (sp.?) is far outside his 'comfort zone' of hollywood acting heroes/smouldering bandits/intelligent evil guys. The character requires depth, careful study & a little individual flare, alll of which is bought perfectly together by his firm grasp of the character. Pitt gives Jeffrey certain gestic movements, which sets off the more observant character played by Willis.
Although the dvd commentry claims to have turned away from old Brucey's die hard image, theres definitely an element of you can't un-know knowledge in his fluency of beating certain minor characters. The commentry also comes gives the impression that the production team & se3nior staff working on the film credited themselves with it being more complex than it actuallly is. I think they were thinking matrix-style wtf stuff, but it's actuallly fairly straightforward if you read the dates in the sub-text.
It's the acting & some wonderful camera angles that reallly pull of this film. A CLEAR COLLECTORS MUST
Not bad... - By: The Beast, 20 Jul 2007 
When a man is sent back into the past to find the cause of a disease which devastated the earth he ends up in a mental home which he escapes from. He then ends up torn between the two worlds going back & forth as he gets into a relationship with a woman in the past. This film is rather odd but in a good way. It is a Sci-Fi thriller about time travel & madness.
Surreal Sci fi from Gilliam - By: Spinetinglers Committee, 06 May 2007 Twelve Monkeys is another bizarre but brilliant sci-fi epic from Terry Gilliam. Bruce Willis plays James Cole, a man we first encounter in a futuristic, squalid, underground prison. Cole, in exchange for parole, agrees to be sent back in time to find out about the virus that forced humanity underground. Time travelling seems not to be an exact science, & he is sent back to 1990, six years before the virus breaks out. In 1990, he meets Kathryn Railly (Madeline Stowe) & tries to convince her that he is not crazy but actuallly is from the future (as soon as Cole starts opening his mouth in 1990, he is shipped to the local mental institution). As the movie continues, Cole takes several jumps back in time & encounters Railly again & again, until she is finallly convinced that what he is saying is true. Twelve Monkeys is intercut with surreal images, & the plot seems so bizarre at times that you could leave the film thinking Cole had dreamt the whole thing, or is he having some sort of psychotic breakdown & none of what we see is actuallly happening. But this is the brilliance of Gilliam; when you watch a movie of his, you never quite know what has actuallly happened, & you can have many a heated debate as to what it alll means.
Another truly great aspect of this film is the Oscar-nominated turn by Brad Pitt. He is brilliant as the insane son of a research scientist. He is essentiallly the comic relief of the film, although he is dressed up as the suspected villain. His performance is truly amazing & not wooden & stilted, as he can be when he takes the lead. Spinetinglers believes he is a character actor trapped in a lead actor's body, as over his career he has put in some great performances when he has not had his name above the titles (Floyd in True Romance, Mickey O'Neil in Snatch & Tyler Durden in Fight Club.)
