Too Much Information

Rating: 6/10 (6 January 2003)

"12 Monkeys" could have been great. It has great actors giving great performances. It has great direction of a great story. It's dark, disturbing, and mystifying. It's everything you could want out of science fiction. But the whole thing falls apart because we know too much. There's no suspense . . . unless you create some for yourself by thinking the ending will be any different than it has to be.
Am I spoiling anything with that last comment? No! Because the movie spoils it all very early on. We are shown flashes of events that will happen in the future--we see these several times, lest we forget. But we are constantly reminded that the past can't be changed. SO WHAT'S THE POINT? We know what will happen, and we know nothing can change it. All we're left with is watching things fall into place. That could be entertaining if it were a secondary part of the plot, but it's not. It's the whole story. It's like being given a self-working, two-piece jigsaw puzzle. There's no thought involved in it at all, no matter how much people may like to claim it is intellectually challenging.
My grade: D, for "disappointing" Fun to watch for a feel what what good science fiction can be. Just don't expect much in the way of suspense. There isn't any.