Complex, one of a kind story is only fitfully entertaining

Rating: 6/10 (23 November 2016)

Terry Gilliam, the man responsible for the many wacky cartoons in Monty Python's Flying Circus, directed this film which turns out to be clever, haunting, and also extremely confusing. The plot twists and turns every ten seconds, and is set in half a dozen time periods, so you need to keep all your wits about you to work out what exactly is going on. Strangely enough though, in some instances the film seems to completely lose the plot and meanders along for quarter of an hour or so before kicking back into gear, so that it's about half an hour too long in the end.
These minor quibbles aside however, TWELVE MONKEYS is a refreshingly intelligent slice of science fiction. As I've mentioned before, time travel films always appeal to me because of the paradox aspect, and I've always been hooked on themes such as these. Bruce Willis turns in one of his more interesting performances as the anguished, belaboured time traveller, who spends most of the film either being beaten up or humiliated, yet finds his own humanity at the end of the film. He is given solid support by Stowe, Plummer and Brad Pitt, who comes across well as a twitching lunatic.
It's difficult to review a film like this because of the complexity, but everything on the production side comes across glossily, while the music and atmosphere puts it into the same class as art house fare like THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN; there's a definite French flavour to it. TWELVE MONKEYS is clever stuff, but also liable to give you a headache if you don't watch out, and in that respect it can be frustrating. However it does have a quality ending which I won't spoil for those who haven't seen it. Good acting and good direction, let down only by occasional moments of silliness, make this film interesting viewing for those in the right frame of mind.