Twelve Monkeys

27 July 2015

Twelve Monkeys 1995

• Director: Terry Gilliam
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, Madeleine Stowe, David Morse, Jon Seda, Christopher Plummer, Carol Florence
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Bruce Willis  – Moonrise Kingdom, Tears of the Sun, Friends, Sixth Sense, Breakfast of Champions, The Siege, The Fifth Element, Pulp Fiction, Billy Bathgate, Lethal Weapon, Die Hard 1&2, In Country
• Brad Pitt – The Tree of Life, Inglourious Basterds, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Burn After Reading, Babel, Troy, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Friends, Fight Club, Being John Malkovich, Meet Joe Black, Seven, True Romance, Thelma and Louise
• Madeleine Stowe – The Last Mohican
• David Morse – Dancer in the Dark, The Green Mile, Contact, The Long Kiss Goodnight, The Rock, Homicide Life on the Streets, The Indian Runner
• Jon Seda – Homicide Life on the Streets, Selena, Carlito’s Way
• Christopher Plummer –  Sound of Music, A Beautiful Mind, The Lake House, The Twelve Monkeys, Dolores Claiborne, Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
• Carol Florence – In Her Shoes
• Why?  Liked it the first time
• Seen:   Once before. Now 18 July 2015 

       Oh yeah. Terry Gilliam. This might be weirder than I remember.

       Bruce Willis is a prisoner in a grim future in which the small number of surviving humans live underground. He’s sent back to 1996 to find out what caused the pestilence and where the army of the Twelve Monkeys, the ones to spread the pestilence, is.

       He’s sent back to the wrong time. The first time to 1990. The second time to 1917. But the third time he lands in 1996.

       The premise is strong, the story is well constructed. It’s exciting and convincing and it has some of Gilliam’s twisted humour. Brad Pitt’s manic performance is possibly his best.

       What a film. No wonder it’s become a classic.

4 * of 5