Review of Twelve Monkeys (1995) by Lester F — 30 Jan 2013

"Back to the Future Goes to Hell" may be a worthy title and adequate description. This is a fine film in many respects but its inability to choose between serious and silly is just too much to overcome.

The music is often times inappropriate as it reflects an attempt to infuse goofiness into what would otherwise be incredible moments of consequence. Brad Pitt is serviceable in his role but any good comedian could have pulled off the same performance.

Bruce Willis is awesome and really was the saving grace as far as I was concerned. The fact is, time travel films spend a lot of time justifying themselves. They have to explain the nuances to the audience many of whom grow weary of its deployment.

Don't be fooled into thinking that time travel narratives were first being explored, they were not. Stories that work within strict confines like "Memento" or "The Unforgiven" make for better stories.