Subject: REVIEW: 12 MONKEYS

From: [email-masked] (vermillion billy bud)
Date: 5 Feb 1996 18:29:04 GMT

12 MONKEYS
                       A film review by Billy Bud Vermillion
                        Copyright 1996 Billy Bud Vermillion

Twelve Monkeys, a film by Terry Gilliam
starring Bruce Willis, Madeline Stowe, Brad Pitt, 
and(hee-hee!)Frank Gorshin

	I've always been a great admirer of Terry Gilliam's films. His 
dark, often humorous, always edgy vision of the world has had  me 
enthralled since Time Bandits(one of my favorite films--favorite as 
opposed to those films which I acknowledge as great; it just has that 
certain magic which grabs me). 
	Twelve Monkeys, in a lot of ways, is sort of a follow-up piece to 
his other films. He manages to incorporate the idea that insanity is 
relative(seen in The Fisher King), the concept of a dystopian future 
where one cannot trust anyone else(Brazil), and, the death of loved 
ones(seen in Time Bandits--though they weren't really so well-liked in 
that case, The Fisher King, The Adventures of Baron Von Munchausen, and, 
in a weird kind of reversal, Brazil). In fact, Twelve Monkeys seems to 
place Gilliam in the position of reworking many old ideas, often those of 
other people(La Jetee is mentioned as source material, and Vertigo is 
actually paid tribute to in the narrative, itself). 
	This aside, the film is very much Gilliam's own novel work. He 
has created a strikingly original time travel movie, drawing some fine 
performances out of Bruce Willis(wow, I didn't use to think this guy 
could act!)and Brad Pitt(who, for a welcome change, isn't playing a dumb 
bohunk in this one, but rather an intelligent lunatic). 
	Time travel movies tend to be difficult for filmmakers to present 
in realistic ways, the paradoxes involved often clouding up viewers minds 
to the point of numbness. Gilliam doesn't elude this bugaboo, though he 
does throw some interesting tricks into the mix. I especially enjoyed the 
ambiguity Willis felt towards his perceptions of reality. At the end, we 
are left wondering whether Willis' character, James Cole, caused the end 
of the world or not. 
	Lemme explain: sometime in the future, Cole is sent back in time 
by a group of scientists to learn about the Army of the Twelve Monkeys 
who, in 1996, allegedly let loose a virus capable of destroying the 
world.He is sent back to 1991, however, where he meets Pitt and Madeline 
Stowe, a psychiatrist. He's incarcerated in a mental institution(Gilliam 
may be making a strong statement of social and moral outrage at the state 
of mental health care by his depictions of the hospital). He tries to 
warn them about the future, but it only helps in cementing his status as 
"insane." He is then brought back to the future, sent back to 1996, where 
he kidnaps Stowe(who has written a book on lunatics with end-of-the-world 
theories, shuttles back and forth a few more times, becomes convinced 
he's crazy, gets shot in 1918, Stowe ends up believing his story, they 
search for the Army of the Twelve Monkeys, etc. etc. Kinda confusing, but 
the confusion is necessary for Gilliam to keep his form consistent with 
his intentions. Did Cole, by going back in time to 1991, cause Stowe to 
write her book, which was read by a virologist/nutbar,which in turn led 
to the unleashing of the plague and the endanger-ification of mankind? 
Don't know the answer to that one. Gilliam gives us a few clues, but no 
hard and fast answers. The film's final shot is touching and provacative 
and is the best pseudo-answer available: a boy's eyes, staring up into 
the sky, weeping. The boy is Cole(woops, gave it away!sorry to those who 
ain't done seen it)and this scene seems to suggest a circularity to time, 
that the future has ramifications for the past and present and vice 
versa. 
	In short, it's a damn tasty flick.