Review of Twelve Monkeys (1995) by Xgary X — 02 Jun 2011
Yet another inventive fantasy from Terry Gilliam, 12 Monkeys is the story of a prisoner in the future who volunteers to go back in time and gather information on a plague that wiped out the human race originating in modern day Philadelphia.
Brad Pitt's idea of insanity seems to be to channel Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now after 3 gallons of espresso, but Bruce Willis gives easily one of his best performances as the man out of time, tortured by the burden of the knowledge of the deaths of 5 billion people he seems completely unable to prevent and fearing for his sanity.
Madeleine Stowe displays her usual appealing combination of beauty and vulnerability and the future scenes show off some more excellent production design born of Gilliam's fantastic imagination. The story penned by one of the co-writers of Blade Runner is an intriguing time paradox based on short film La Jetee and although it lacks much of the ex-Python's trademark satirical humour, it still ranks amongst his best.
This review of Twelve Monkeys (1995) was written by Xgary X on 02 Jun 2011.
Twelve Monkeys has generally received very positive reviews.
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