12 Monkeys
A plague killed nearly everybody way back in 1997. It’s now 2035 and James Cole (Bruce Willis) is some kind of prisoner and is sent back in time to, um, something. It’s never really clear what he’s trying to do. They keep saying things like “try to find out what happened” and so on, so my only guess is to find the virus that was released as a terrorist act, so they can effect a cure in the future. Or something. I think.
The main problem is this time travel thing hasn’t been perfected and Cole keeps landing in the wrong time. They’re aiming for 1996, but hit first 1990 (where he’s put in a metal institution), then 1914 (where’s he’s shot on the trenches of Europe) before landing in the right spot. Plenty of interesting plot twists, foreshadowing, and red herrings keep the plot lively and interesting.
The only nit I can pick is the film is just so stylistically Terry Gilliam, that I kept expecting Jonathan Price, Katherine Helmond, or the Crimson Permanent Assurance to show up.
Good film. I’d like to see the French movie this was based on.
Rating: B; would watch again.
December 20th, 2005 at 6:24 pm
I enjoyed this one. The twist near the end (in which the tru purpose of the 12 monkeys is revealed) actually caught me off guard, though after this twist was revealed the ending became predictable.
December 20th, 2005 at 6:59 pm
I agree. Also, I think it’s interesting in movies like these to see what the kid who grows up to be $adult_character looks like.