12 MONKEYS
A film review by Andrew Hicks
Copyright 1996 Andrew Hicks / Fatboy Productions
*** (out of four)
12 MONKEYS is the latest from bizarre science-fiction director Terry Gilliam (BRAZIL), a thoroughly interesting time-travel epic starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt... So where are the other ten monkeys? Just a joke, you guys. Pitt has finally earned my respect in 12 MONKEYS as the psychotic millionaire's son whom Willis comes from the future to stop (an Oscar-nominated performance, by the way). Life in Willis' time is confined to the underground, a deadly virus lurking above the surface. He is sent back to 1990 to get a sample of the stuff so the doctors of the future can immunize themselves and see the light of day again.
His mission backfires when he is committed to a mental hospital. No one believes his story about the imminent destruction of humanity by the terrorist group Army of the Twelve Monkeys, particularly not psychiatrist Madeline Stowe (go figure). After a couple days associating with the nuts (including Pitt) and trying to escape from the hospital, Willis disappears from his cell, to everyone's surprise and dismay. He winds up in the year 1955, where his mom falls in love with him and Christopher Lloyd can't fix the DeLorean... Sorry, I always use that joke when reviewing time travel movies.
Willis actually ends up in his time, with the society leaders who sent him cursing him for a failed mission. He convinces them to give him one more chance and they send him to the year 1996, six years after he disappeared from the mental hospital. He kidnaps Stowe, who remembers his mysterious escape from the hospital six years ago, but she refuses to help him, still thinking he's nuts and of course you can't blame her for that. Predictably, she slowly comes to realize he actually has been sent from the future, about the same time Willis becomes convinced he's insane after all.
This all escalates to the airport climax, with more twists than one of those donuts with all the twists (you know what I'm talking about here). The movie's ending leaves a lot of details open-ended, as the paradox of time travel dictates, while also leaving other details open to interpretation. The whole movie, though, is fast-paced and exciting, and possibly a little confusing for the less abstract thinkers in the audience. Gilliam adds his uniquely original directorial style to this uniquely original story to make a uniquely original movie for thriller and science-fiction movie lovers alike.
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