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Directed by: Terry Gilliam Starring: Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, Madeline Stowe 12 Monkeys is the story of James Cole (Bruce Willis), a prisoner from decades in the future, sent back in time to collect data for a team of scientists. He unwittingly meets up with Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt) when sent back to the wrong year. He also meets a psychiatrist (Madeline Stowe) whom he eventually relies upon to unravel the mystery of the Army Of The Twelve Monkeys. See, a deadly virus was released in the late 90s--forcing what few people survived it underground. The 12 Monkeys were suspected of being behind it. I really like how the movie doesn't present the future folks as "regretful" for what has befallen mankind. They really only care about their own time's poo poo together. Another great thing is the parallels it draws between our time and the junky underground future. Aside from the lack of sunlight and having to wear garbage bags to walk around on the surface, the future has the same claustrophobic human charm as the city streets. Gilliam doesn't waste time trying to explain time travel, or elaborate on the disease, or pontificate on any number of the other psuedo-scientific concepts that could have slowed this film to a crawl. He mostly sticks to focusing on Willis' bewildered convict, his mission and the growth of his acceptance for the past. Pitt is just way over-the-top as Goines, playing him like a garrulous stereotype of a mental patient. Another sore point is the ending, seeing as they telegraphed in from about a half-hour in. Also, we see entirely too much of Willis and Pitt's asses and not nearly enough of Stowe's. Luckily, knowing what's going to happen doesn't distract too much from the scenery, and 12 Monkeys, in its own ugly way, looks pretty drat nice. RATING: 4 PROS: Interesting story, immersive setting, a pimp gets his poo poo ruined CONS: Too many scenes of Bruce Willis getting his rear end scrubed ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114746/
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May 7, 2004 23:05
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 07:27 |
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If you have the means, check out "La Jetee", the short film this was based on. It's really cool. It's a series of still images, except for one (try to find it). It's pretty much a condensed version, without the whole "free the animals" subplot.
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May 7, 2004 23:16
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This movie had a very good plot but was dragged down by the bad acting and bad direction. Brad Pitt's role was so over the top that it was starting to get unbearable. I feel that if this movie had been better directed it would have been much better acted and much better done. As it is I gave it a 3.5/5, it could have gotten up to 4.5/5 if it had been done better.
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May 8, 2004 01:34
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Absolutely brilliant. I can't point to a single thing about this movie I disliked, except perhaps, as already mentioned, too much man-rear end. The foreshadowing of the ending only makes it more effective, in my opinion. 5.5/5, a must see for any fan of science fiction and for probably the most unique and hilarious role Brad Pitt has ever done (and that includes Snatch).
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Jul 11, 2009 14:59
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