Twelve Monkeys (1995)

Rating: 100%

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Also Known As:

12 Monkeys

Year:

1995

Country:

Predominant Genre:

Science-Fiction

Director:

Terry Gilliam

Outstanding Performance:

Madeleine STOWE

Premiss:

In a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.

Themes:

Alienation

Compassion

Destiny

Empathy

Friendship

Humanity

Identity

Loneliness

Loyalty

Mercy

Personal change

Self-expression

White culture

White supremacy

Similar (in Plot, Theme or Style) to:

Jetée

Review Format:

DVD

Superb film about moral responsibility and doing deals with the devil.

The plotting is well-integrated with the movie’s thematic concerns and is cleverly-structured to bring these out to best effect.

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The direction and acting are first-rate and we see only what we need to see - the rest is left to our imaginations; imaginations fired-up by the story. Here, actors act without the need for much dialog; yet say all that needs to be said.

An above-average time-travel movie where the hero is not trying to avert a manmade biological disaster but, instead, seeks its origins – so it will not be repeated.

However, the film’s two endings do not so much suggest ambivalence – as desired – but a failure of dramaturgical nerve. They never fully deal with an inherent paradox: Reverse time travel is part of the historical record, yet people in the future secretly wish to change that very history even though it has already been written - like trying to avoid crying over spilt milk by never spilling the milk. Still, the film does interestingly explore – via vivisection – issues of living in the past as neurosis and the scientists’ desire to evade moral responsibility for the consequences of his work.

The subtle central romance shows Madeleine STOWE at her best; complementing this visually-imaginative romp with startling acting, a Christ-like martyrdom and the ostensibly-absurd idea that the mentally-ill are sometimes time travellers.

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