Twelve Monkeys is typically Terry Gilliam, loaded with the director's trademark quirky visuals, and, as such, should get right up my nose (I'm not a huge fan of his hallucinatory, surreal style, to say the least). And yet I still love this unusual time travel tale: it's got great performances, with a particularly strong turn from the then up-and-coming Brad Pitt, and Gilliam's chaotic storytelling actually suits the inherent madness of the whole movie. The twisty-turny plot keeps the viewer on their toes throughout, and Gilliam pulls all the threads together neatly for the finale. The occasional moment of visual excess still niggles (the steampunk/trash-heap aesthetic of the future isn't my cup of tea), but on the whole this is definitely one of the director's best films.
Bruce Willis stars as James Cole, a convict from the future who is sent to the past to try and discover the origins of the virus that wiped out most of the world's human population. After a violent altercation with the police of 1990, Cole is sent to an asylum where he meets patient Jeffrey Goines (Pitt), son of a wealthy scientist (played by Christopher Plummer), and quite possibly plants the seeds of mankind's destruction in the lunatic's mind. Together with his psychiatrist Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe), Cole tries to prevent the disaster from occurring.
At times, it seems as though Gilliam has only the slightest command of proceedings, and the film demands that the viewer puts in 100% concentration to avoid becoming as lost and confused as Cole himself, who becomes more and more unsure about what is reality and what isn't as the film progresses. Characters ramble, often seemingly incoherently, but what they are saying is, for the most part, intrinsic to the outcome, so pay attention (or have your finger on the rewind button). Those who make the effort will be rewarded by a film that is constantly inventive and frequently clever, and worth at least a few viewings to appreciate it to the fullest.
