Rating: 
Summary: 12 Monkeys
Review: Despite the cheesy special effects and some unnecessarily silly scenes that greatly detract from the movie, 12 Monkeys is a very good science fiction movie.Set in the year 2035, a plague has wiped out much of the human race and they are forced to live deep underground. Scientists of the era send criminals back in time, using imperfect time machine technology, to try to discover the origins of the virus so they can bring a sample back to the future to find a cure, and take back the planet. Bruce Willis plays Cole, who is sent back to find out who the 12 Monkeys are, which are believed to be a terrorist group responsible for the unleashing the virus. Unfortunately, he sent back to wrong time and finds himself in a mental institution. While there he is treated by a psychiatrist played by Madeline Stowe and runs into Brad Pitt - a wacky mental patient. It's hard to tell much more about the plot without giving the movie away, but these two characters play a vital role in the plot. The director does an excellent job with the time travel elements of the story, an aspect that become quickly inconsistent and ruinous to a movie of this nature without careful attention to detail. The acting is also superb. I would highly recommend the movie. Also note, the "Making Of" feature on the DVD is one of the few that I actually enjoyed and found quite interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, great DVD!
Review: When I saw "12 Monkeys" in the theaters, I thought to myself, "This is one of the greatest films of the past ten years." Despite working with a script written by others and under some stringent studio restrictions, Terry Gilliam more than managed to infuse the story with his trademark approach to movie-making. I had some reservations going in about the choice of Brad Pitt to play the role of a mentally unbalanced eco-terroist, but Pitt did a marvelous job and really made the character his own. (Viewers who like Pitt in "12 Monkeys" would probably do well to check out his performance in "Fight Club". Tyler Durden is what Jeffery Goins could be if he were less manic.) Bruce Willis and Madeline Stowe also turn in terrific performances, especially Willis for whom this was one of his first non-action films. Fans of the old "Batman" TV show will be amused to see Frank Gorshin (the Riddler) as the chief psychiatrist at the mental institution were much of the early part of the film takes place. Christopher Plummer is not given much screen time, but he does an excellent job with what little he has. As for the story itself, even though many people try to claim that it is about the line between sanity and madness(in the vein of Gilliam's "The Fisher King"), I just do not see it as such. I never doubted Cole's sanity, the future world was too real to make me think that it was a figment of Cole's imagination. And if one did have that impression at first, there was too much revealed early in the film to sustain that belief. I prefer to view the story as an extremely intricate "whodunit", where the viewer actually receives most of the information relevant to the conclusion by about half-way through the film, but in such a jumbled and contradictory manner that the true outcome remains obscure until the last 15 minutes. But of course, this being a Gilliam picture, even after the conclusion is revealed, a final twist is thrown to the viewer. (Note: to appreciate the twist, pay attention to the future scientists. I've known some people who didn't watch closely and they didn't understand the twist as a result.) Setting aside the film, and considering the DVD, Universal did an excellent job with this release. The documentary "The Hamster Factor" offers some great insights into both "12 Monkeys" and the movie industry in general. And the commentary track with Gilliam and the producer is very good for understanding the process of movie-making, as well as how specific scenes were set up. My only disappointment came with the "Production Notes" feature. If you watch the documentary and listen to the commentary track, the production notes really just repeat what you've previously learned.
Rating:
Summary: Monkeying around with time and viruses and crazy Brad Pitts
Review: Terry Gilliam's "nightmare vision" is pretty nightmarish, in a funny Terry Gilliamish way. There's something humorous and mischievously entertaining about "Twelve Monkeys" that keeps it from taking itself too seriously and falling prey to pretention, but then it comes back at you just as intense and creepy as a movie can get. It keeps itself fresh and fluid, with a healthy dose of quirk to it. But I don't think it knows it's an apocalyptic vision. The film is about James Cole, played by Bruce Willis, a man from the future who goes back in time to stop the disaster that sent him underground from ever happening. But that's the simple way of describing it. The story is in a constant fight as to where to go with the plot, with probably a dozen sub-ideas that could turn into something. It's twisted and elaborate and almost impossible to explain to someone without them saying "what?", but like "Memento" or "The Matrix", when you watch it, it makes sense. But these plot developements are delicious fodder and keep it moving, allowing characters like Brad Pitt's pitch perfect sort-of-insane "Jeffrey Bowen" to take a bow (deserved that Oscar nod, BTW). The film's eccentricity takes hold of it. From the cinematography, to the accordian theme that playfully plays throughout the film, to the excessive production design that you know was made that way just because they felt like it (though it does help make the film what it is). And more often than not, the miserable conditions of Mr. Willis or whoever else may be feeling miserable at the time come across the screen in an almost tangible way. But behind the running cinematic joke, and the dark atmosphere of the film, it drives itself home where it must, and Bruce Willis, surprisingly, performs in what is probably one of his best roles. There's a frusterating and pitiful scene when he is desperately trying to make psychiatrists in 1990 accept the fact that he's from the future. They don't buy it, and he realizes that on top of his original task, he now has to find some tedious way to make these people believe him. Teamed with the talented Madeleine Stowe, the duo help create a touching relationship that grounds the film, as it turns out, on a deep personal level. The film doesn't necessarily scare you into thinking all this would happen in real life, we've heard it too much before, and I don't think that was the goal of the movie. But by the end of the film you've been given a healthy sense of dread for the poor characters in the film. How often does that happen? Though when they play the Louis Armstrong classic "Wonderful World" during the credits, it stamps and seals the irony of it all, and does exactly what Mr. Armstrong probably didn't intend the song to do in the first place.
Rating:
Summary: Incomplete greatness
Review: This is the one of the very few that I will watch over and over again even though it is just so unfulfilling, does not live up to its promises, but produces such outstanding goods in the process, that the disappointment can be alleviated in knowing that not everything can be perfect... but some things do come close.
12 Monkeys is probably Terry Gilliam's most mainstream film to date and certainly his easiest to watch, but that does not make it any the less twisty, arty, heady or off-the-beaten track, 12 Monkeys is absolutely all of that, and more power to it for being just that, with an A list cast of Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt, the question we are all left asking in the end is... why does Troy or Armageddon get all the best special effects? Not that 12 Monkeys lacks anything in terms of production values, or that we hate CGI in every movie we see, the stunning set pieces are jaw dropping, it never really does give us a kicker of an ending or the kind of budget finale that all its window dressing emanates, and even the more heady window dressing ending does not really stimulate the brain cells beyond saying - wow, amazing art, 12 Monkeys is that, but cloaked somewhat in a premise about the end of the world, the future, time travel, corporations, viruses, the Army of the 12 Monkeys, that is all very much worth seeing, but investing your time in answers turns out to be a big kettle of fish in the final few minutes. Not that it is a bad ending... just not what this kind of film really deserved, not that we mind things ending or a high or a low, but at least answering the questions poised would have added better closure to a great science-fiction masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Unusually Imaginative and Intelligent Science Fiction Movie
Review: In 1996 a devastating virus wiped out most of humanity. A surviving rump has eked out an existence underground. Rather improbably under the circumstances they have developed time travel. They want to send someone into the past to gather information about the virus so they can return to the surface. As it's all a bit dangerous they use criminals such as James Cole (Bruce Willis). But they send him to the wrong year, 1990 instead of 1996, and no sooner does he get there than he finds himself banged up in an in secure psychiatric hospital...
This is one of the most interesting and intelligent science fiction films of the last couple of decades. It's one of the very few time travel movies that is at all logically coherent and it works both as an enjoyable, highly imaginative thriller about a man trying to cope with a truly nightmarish set of circumstances and a intriguing meditation on fatalism. It's one of Gilliam's career high point and perhaps Willis's very highest point: while his character does occasionally exhibit impressive combat skills, this desperate, confused, very vulnerable guy is a million miles away from John McClane. What almost ruins it is Brad Pitt's almost insufferably irritating over-acting as the insane Jeffrey Goines. But that is not enough to stop this being a standout in its genre.
Rating: 
Summary: Brad Pitt Steals the Show
Review: Bruce Willis (Die Hard, Sixth Sense) stars as a convict from the near future, where everyone lives underground due to a viral apocalypse that killed 90% of the earth's population. Somehow time travel was invented (this is the hardest part of the story to buy into, since it is only 30 years or so into the future...) so they send the convicts back in time to learn the origin of the virus and get a sample, with the goal of finding a vaccination.
In his first journey into the past, Willis meets Madeline Stowe, a psychiatrist who is an intrinsic part of Willis's destiny, and Brad Pitt, a fellow patient who is also woven into the fabric of Willis's life. Pitt's incredible acting is enough to make this DVD a "must own" for any science fiction collection.
12 Monkeys is a quirky science fiction film that is above average in almost every way. The herky-jerky, tilted camera angles preferred by director Terry Gilliam take some getting used to, and some of the minor characters (especially Stowe's older psychiatric colleague) are REALLY ANNOYING. These minor details make it a 4 star rather than a 5 star movie in my opinion, but 12 Monkeys is still a unique and very interesting film.
Rating: 
Summary: You call this a movie?!?!?!
Review: Sorry guys, but this movie(?) was an absolute bore. Both Willis and Stowe have made some good movies, both before and after this piece of crap, but c'mon!!! I've seen better acting during high school plays. This ludicrous film should be avoided at all costs unless you're suffering from insonmia and need something to put you out for the night. 12 Monkeys. One can't help but wonder if that's the name of the movie, or if that's who wrote the script.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: The world's population is practically wiped out by a killer virus. The survivors are forced to live in underground communities. James Cole ( Bruce Willis) is a time traveler from the year 2035. He is forced against his will, to go into the past and obtain a sample of the pure virus, to help the scientists find a cure. Along the way, he manages to cross paths with a beautiful psychiatrist ( Madeline Stowe), and an extremely unstable mental patient ( Brad Pitt). With danger closing in, Cole must race to find a radical group linked to the disease known only as The Army of the 12 Monkeys.
"12 Monkeys", is probably one of my favorite science fiction films. It features an incredible script that takes us back and forth between the past and the present and we see the lives of the main characters all intertwined over a period of six years. The film is quite complex, and even strange at times. But the one thing that it never fails to do is entertain you. The set designs and stunning visuals are one of the film's best features. The costume designs from the future could only be created by Terry Gilliam. He is the master of the unusual. The ending to the film is very shocking and ties all the events of the film together perfectly. While it will be upsetting to some, it was extremely satisfying and it made perfect sense.
Bruce Willis gives the performance of his career with James Cole. There are so many things about the role that are pleasing. The first being his adjusting to the past, and living above ground. Willis accurately captures the suprise one in his situation would feel. The second being his fight to prove what he is saying about the present time is true. This is where she shows fierce determination. The third being his fight to remain sain and rational. Willis actually could pass for a mental patient. The transition from sane to insane is amazing to see. Madeline Stowe is sexy and intelligent as Dr. Kathryn Railly. Watching her go from skeptical doctor, to helping James on his mission is great. But the best performance however was given by Brad Pitt. Pitt is truly off of his rocker for the entire film and will not only make you laugh, but amaze and shock you with what he does as well.
"12 Monkeys" is a complex and beautiful masterpiece in the science fiction genre. The acting, complex story, effects and visuals, and outstanding ending all equal one thing : perfection. The Collector's Edition DVD is amazing. The best feature is "The Hamster Factor". It is a short film about the making of "12 Monkeys". You also get cast and crew biographies, the original theatrical trailer, production notes, and more.
Rating:
Summary: Adding To What Has Already Been Said
Review: Willis, Stowe and Pitt turn in spectacular performances. All three and Gilliam as well, have already been deservedly praised. Like others, I was astonished by Brad Pitt's acting ability, which I had previously dismissed. Some reviewers asserted, however, that Pitt's performance was overdone. The interesting aspect to this accusation is that the film is highly stylized, and all of the other supporting actors are deliberately cartoonish - over-the-top by design. So are the supporting roles. If you single out Pitt for such criticism, you unwittingly reveal that you are close to believing him... even as he is playing a necessarily outrageous character that serves as antidote to an otherwise bleak dystopia.
In college, I had a paranoid schizophrenic friend, and visited him a few times when he was institutionalized with others like him. Pitt must have studied these people. Not only does he have the right delusional intonations, he has the right quirky medicated movements too. He isn't just histrionically mad; he's _really_ mad. Overdone? I beg to differ! He's spot on.
A number of reviewers have mentioned that the film should be viewed several times. More important in this context is that the film _can_ be viewed repeatedly with great enjoyment. Viewability is a rare quality in American cinema, and it is precisely the quality that makes 12 Monkeys a worthy addition to home video libraries.
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly heart wrenching
Review: I had no clue what to expect when I walked into the theater to see this movie. What I saw is probably the best performance of Bruce Willis's career. His interpretation of a time traveler from a bleak future dealing with the beauty of the past he had merely a taste of as a child is mesmerizing.
It also showed me that Brad Pitt wasn't simply a pretty face. In fact, I found him quite repulsive in this movie.
As usual, Terry Gilliam has a wonderful eye for the visual. While I understand that he went through a great deal of self-doubt while making this film he delivered one of his best works.
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