The film that completely changed my taste in entertainment.

Rating: 10/10 (12 February 2011)

In 2003,I was one night channel surfing,and on one of the channels (the UK Sci-Fi channel)I noticed the channel was showing a short intro,about the first showing on the channel of a film called 12 Monkeys.Intrigued massively,due to how much
the documentary discussed, what seemed to be the many interesting plot threads that feature in the film.Sadly,my brothers were desperate to watch one of their videos at the time,so I did not get a chance to watch the film.
A year later...
I was downstairs with my dad at 1am,and we were trying to find any films that was on,that looked interesting.After seeing that the movie channels were not showing anything,we decided that we would instead watch some comedy shows on the UK Gold channel.When we went on the channel,we found out that instead of showing comedies that night, the channel was showing 12 Monkeys!.
Although the film was at the half-way point,from the very first scene that I saw,where a man-was holding a woman hostage in her own car and telling her to drive to a state that is over 100 miles away.I was gripped from that very moment.
The film grabbed my attention by the throat,in a way that hardly anything I had seen,or read before had.Before viewing the film,almost all of the stories that I had enjoy,had been ones with very simple a- to- b narratives.But in the final hour of this film,I was completely astonished at how amazing well the film was able to hold very complex plot threads,in an unforgettable way.From the moment that the end credits appeared,I knew that I had seen a true modern classic that I would never forget.
The plot-1997:
A virus (that is spread in the air) gets realised that kills 99% of the human race,which causes all of the survivors to go deep underground,as all of the animals start to regain there foothold,in being the dominant species.
2035:
After having failed to figure out what caused the spread of the virus,a group of scientist decide to build a time machine,so that they can send a human to late 1996 to gather information about how the virus got released,so that they can try to start rebuilding humanity.
The selection process to choose a traveller (and to make sure that it is someone that they don't urgently need in the present)is to randomly select a prisoners number.The prisoner selected is James Cole,a man who has been put in prison,due to his violent disorder in the past (although none of the scientist know that for his whole life James has been having the same dream/nightmare of something that has left his subconscious permanently damaged.)With having no choice at all,Cole is told that he is going to be sent to late 1996,to find out about the virus,and to find out about a group named The Army of the 12 Monkeys.As James goes into the machine,he is told that because of how advance the machine is,he will defiantly arrive in 1996.When he wakes up,Cole realises that he is in 199...
1990:
As Cole awakes,he discoverers that he is being held in a police cell,for allegedly beating up a cop.The police get a psychiatrist (Dr.Kathryn Raily) to speak to him,due to Cole talking about lots of "crazy stuff".With James telling Kathryn that five billion people are going to die in seven years,she decides that the best place for Cole to go,is to a mental hospital.At the hospital,Cole meets Jeffery Goines- a fellow patient in the hospital,who tries to help Cole escape.Later, Goines latches on to something that James says to him in a conversation about animal-testing,(which,as Cole gets pulled back to 2035,to (hopefully) be sent again to late 96) has affected Jeffery ,in ways that Cole cant even dream of...
View on the film:
Whilst Pitt and Willis are praised for there excellent performances,I've always felt that Madeleine Stowe has always been over looked,for her strong performance as Raily.As Kathryn,Stowe does very well at expressing views that most audience members would have in the same situations.Stowe also performs the switch that the character experiences in the film,(where Raily starts at being very doubtful about what Cole is saying,to being the one that becomes more hungry to discover the truth about the virus than James is)extremely well,by making the progression of Railys attitude,feel very natural.
Whilst it seems that most people are now very accepting about Pitt doing roles of people who are a bit "loose",here he gives a stunning performance as Jeffery,with the scenes of him and Cole in the mental ward-which most actors would have performed with Goines being a ranting loony nutter,being impressively performed by Pitt as a man who is defiantly mentally disturbed,yet someone who is also very smart,who really wants to succeed with his plans.Although he will mainly be remembered for his fun action films,Willis is truly astonishing as Cole,giving a brilliant,strong,mature performance,with Willis also giving Cole a surprising amount of humanity,as the time travailing starts to scramble his brain.
Whilst the brilliant cast are always given attention,I feel that the star of the film is the truly breathtaking screenplay by Janet and David Peoples,which is able to keep the amazing complex plot going,with out ever letting it fall apart,that uses threads in the story that are set up right at the very beginning ,and instead of being hinted at too strongly,they are instead used intelligently as an underlying issue through out the film,until the unforgettable ending,when they are brilliantly revealed.Even though though the main love story,does have a few nods to Hitchcock's "dream" classic Vertigo,12 Monkeys is still its own thing,with it being wisely used,to let Cole show his desire.
Final view on the film: A mind-blowing perfect film.