Rating: 
Summary: Stay on the edge of your seat.
Review: This movie has obviously reached out to some people, I saw a man with a 12 monkeys tattoo on his forearm the other day. It is no wonder that the following for this is so strong - it is visually one of the more intriguing movies of today under the direction of (ex monty python animator) Gilliam - which this alone is reason to see the movie - but the overall plot is a thriller and has enough twists in it to keep anyone interested - and then the themese that lie underneath that plot and what they imply about our society are intense on many levels. a great flick.
Rating: 
Summary: dts versions and re-releases of dvds = FRUSTRATION
Review: as a buff and collector / audiophile i jumped at the dts version 6-8 months ago but am rather p-0'd to see this release: i love the commentary stuff and the extras on dvds. the studios are REALLY irritating in this lack of concern for me the customer.do they really expect me to buy a second copy to get this stuff? it is not an appropriate way to deal with consumers, imo. loved the movie, love everything gilliam does... except this marketing ploy.
Rating:
Summary: Love dis!
Review: Usually I don't like Bruce Willis, he's to silly-macho;) But this movie rules! I really love it, and also Brad Pitt is a really supergood actor.
Rating: 
Summary: An all around great viewing experience
Review: If you are a Bruce Willis fan this is a good movie, if you are a Brad Pitt fan this is a GREAT movie. Willis plays a convict from the future who is sent into the year 1996 to find the individual(s) responsible for unleashing a virus that will eventually kill most of the worlds population. In the past he meets up with a mental patient whom he believes is responsible for the disaster(Pitt). Madelaine Stowe plays the psychiatrist who is treeting Willis, after all who wouldnt think this guy is crazy. First off, Willis more than holds his own is his role but it is Brad Pitt who steals the show. He is convincing enough in his portryal to make you believe his is really mentally disturbed. He also lightens up the overwhelmingly dark mood of this movie. The only problem I had with the cast was Madelaine Stowe who was as about as exciting as a bag of rocks. The plot keeps you interested throughout the film. The visual aspects of the film actually lead to believability. You get the impression that if people fell off the face of the earth, things would look exactly as they are portrayed. The sound on this film is excellent and your rear surround speakers actually get some use! The DVD comes with a documentary that is somewhat interesting, but the extras dont seem worth the extra price. Some additional footage would be appreciated. Overall it is a great science fiction movie that is a worthy addition to any DVD collection.
Rating:
Summary: WARNING TO ALL BUYERS
Review: This is to warn everyone intending to buy this movie in DTS: THIS VERSION DOES NOT CONTAIN THE SPECIAL FEATURES FOUND ON THE DOBLY DIGITAL VERSION. If I would have known this, I would have bought the DD version instead of the DTS version. Amazon.com has since corrected their error that made me think this version contained the same features as the DD version. I was hoping to see the behind the scenes documetary, not to mention La Jetee, the base for this excellent Sci-Fi movie.
Rating:
Summary: Captivating
Review: My brother bought the DVD because it had Bruce Willis in it. I don't think he really liked it, but I found it fascinating. After watching the movie I really began to think about it. Some people enjoy it while others don't. The actors are excellent especially Bradd Pitt. His role as a 'Nut' is outstanding. I was very impressed by it.
Rating:
Summary: SUPER
Review: 12 MONKEYS RULES. OK? GOOD MOVIE BUY IT! GREAT ACTING,MADELINE STOWE IS FRIGEN HOT AND GOOD IN THIS MOVIE. BRAVO! AND BUCE IS GOOD. BRAD IS JUST THERE THE REAL BIG STAR IS BUCE WILLIS. BUY IT
Rating:
Summary: A worthy addition to the Gilliam library
Review: Bruce Willis once again proves he's one of Hollywood's most underrated serious actors, Brad Pitt once again proves he can take chances with the best of them, David Morse proves once again he's good at anything they ask, and Madeline Stowe proves once again that, even though she can just be there and look good, she also has considerable depth of talent-- Terry Gilliam gives us the hardest kind of film to realize, a multiple mystery with many layers that is still fully explained and satisfying by the end of the flick. Almost impossible to do in two hours, if recent Hollywood mystery fare is to be believed.
Rating:
Summary: Visually and intellectually complex
Review: It only takes twelve monkeys, strategically placed throughout the world, to kill five billion people with a mutant virus. (Actually glass canisters are used.) The central character, James Cole, played with heavyweight restraint by Bruce Willis, is a convict from the future where the survivors live underground, leaving the surface to the animals. He and other nonconformists live in cages and are made to "volunteer" to go back in time to search for the original virus before it mutated in 1996. Problem is they keep getting the destination year screwed up. Once they send him to 1917 and land him naked in the middle of a battle from World War I, where he gets shot in the leg. Another time they send him to 1990 where he ends up in a mental institution and meets attractive co-star Madeleine Stowe, who plays psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly, leading to an interesting subplot: shrink falls in love with her mentally disturbed patient. Brad Pitt entertains as Jeffrey Goines, a hyperactive nut case, son of a sick virologist, and leader of an animal rights activist group. He is crazy/wise. The film is heavily populated by unfeeling, semi-competent scientists, mental patients and their caretakers. There are all sorts of apocalyptic fools ranting and raving about the end of the world, etc. Most of human society as we know it is in shadow, off camera. There's an understandable terror of psychoactive drugs among the patients. Thorazine in particular is mentioned. Cole's body is continually being assaulted by hypodermics, electrodes, the fists and boots of the guards and other hard objects. His face is continually smeared with blood. One gets the idea that director Terry Gilliam had a bad dream and wanted to share. Regardless, this brooding, atmospheric yarn is the best cinematic sci-fi I have seen since Blade Runner (1982); and it is no co-incidence that it was scripted in part by the gifted David Peoples who helped write the screen play for Blade Runner. Never mind that time travel to the past is an absurdity. We're forced to rise above that because Gilliam presents time similar to the way Kurt Vonnegut did in his novel Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), namely that all time is happening "simultaneously" and especially right now, forever. Notice that when James Cole dies Dr. Railly is not sad because Cole lives on in the person of his younger self, the child at the airport watching his death. This will be the case for eternity. In typical Gilliam style there are a number of funny bits in the script. After Cole beats up the pimp to save Dr. Railly, and forces a trade of teeth (to evade the trackers implanted in his teeth), and the cops come, the pimp says, all hurt, "I was attacked by a coked-up whore and a crazy dentist." Another nice touch is to have the virologist father of crazy visionary Jeffrey Goines sound like a southern politician instead of your usual mad scientist. I also liked it when psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly said, "Psychiatry is the latest religion...I'm in trouble. I'm losing my faith." She's right: psychiatry and clinical psychology in general is a secular religion less than two hundred years old that we as a society ought to regard with suspicion. In short this is not your usual Bruce Willis outing. The action/adventure stuff is secondary to story and character development and to the social and political statements of the film, the more important of which is to protest the suppression of the individual by the larger society. The forces of evil really are those who dictate what is normal and those who enforce conformity. This film is commercially successful because many of us feel the constraints of society and can readily identify with Cole's struggle. What is worse, Thorazine and Prozac or marijuana and beer? Anyone who identified even in the slightest with this film can answer that question. The second statement is that humans are ruining the planet and should be killed to save the animals. This melancholy idea is not so far-fetched. That some cult of nuts (or visionaries, as you like) might someday infect humanity with a deadly virus so that the flora and fauna of the planet might resume their natural state is at least plausible.
Rating:
Summary: Good entertainment, nonglamourous and convoluted story
Review: I liked "Twelve Monkeys" for keeping me guessing about the story. The story is told from the point of view of person whose perception of reality is faulty. Crazy for want of a better word. This is well handled and adds plot twists which enhance the entertaining aspects of the film. The crux of the story is that the world has experienced a disease fatal to humans which has driven society underground. John Cole is selected to go out on the surface to collect samples for analysis and determine whether the atmosphere is safe. He emerges out into a an abandoned city where amongst other things he sees a sign with twelve monkeys painted on it. He thinks little of it at the time and returns underground. There he is debriefed and given a new task to travel back in time and stop the release of the epidemic into the atmosphere. Nobody believes hes from the future and anyway he is a demented mental state with violent tendencies. A psychiatrist, Dr. Railly, played by the elegant Madelaine Stowe, who comes to interview him, sees him as useful to her studies and she takes an interest in his case. If you like a bit of irony in a story this film has lots of it. As improbably as love blossoms between Railly and Cole so the story of the twelve monkeys criss-crosses past, present and future. The film builds to a thrilling if sad finish not without a ton of irony.
| 
