12 Monkeys

1995 Sci Fi

An intense film about time travel, this sci-fi entry was directed by Terry Gilliam, a member of the comedy troupe Monty Python. The film stars Bruce Willis as James Cole, a prisoner of the state in the year 2035 who can earn parole if he agrees to travel back in time and thwart a devastating plague. The virus has wiped out most of the Earth's population and the remainder live underground because the air is poisonous. Returning to the year 1990, six years before the start of the plague, Cole is soon imprisoned in a psychiatric facility because his warnings sound like mad ravings. There he meets a scientist named Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe) and Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt), the mad son of an eminent virologist (Christopher Plummer). Cole is returned by the authorities to the year 2035, and finally ends up at his intended destination in 1996. He kidnaps Dr. Railly in order to enlist her help in his quest. Cole discovers graffiti by an apparent animal rights group called the Army of the Twelve Monkeys, but as he delves into the mystery, he hears voices, loses his bearings, and doubts his own sanity. He must figure out if Goines, who seems to be a raving lunatic, holds the key to the puzzle. more..

Director: Terry Gilliam

Starring: Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, Christopher Plummer, Jon Seda

Reviews

  • Gilliam, along with the gifted cinematographer Roger Pratt and production designer Jeffrey Beecroft, fashions a disturbing and dazzling lost world.

    Peter Travers - Rolling Stone

    29 November 2012

  • Bruce Willis is bruisingly good as the hero and Brad Pitt is suitably zany as the activist who dogs his trail.

    David Sterritt - Christian Science Monitor

    29 November 2012

  • Fierce and disturbing, with a plot that skillfully resists following any familiar course. The film's hero fears that he's half-crazy, and for two hours Mr. Gilliam artfully keeps his audience feeling the same way.

    Elvis Mitchell - The New York Times

    29 November 2012

  • A Hitchcockian chase...A crowd-pleasing airport-pursuit pic.

    Mike Clark - USA Today

    29 November 2012

  • As the jabbering psychotic Jeffrey Goines, Brad Pitt has a rabid, get-a-load-of-me deviousness that works for the film's central mystery: We can't tell where the fanatic leaves off and the put-on artist begins.

    Owen Gleiberman - Entertainment Weekly

    29 November 2012

Awards

  • Top Box Office Films

    ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards (1997)

  • Best Actor in a Supporting Role

    Academy Awards (1996)

     
  • Best Costumes

    Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (1996)

  • Best Foreign Language Film

    Awards of the Japanese Academy (1997)

     
  • Terry Gilliam

    Berlin International Film Festival (1996)