Complex film...compelling film...very annoying film!

Rating: 7/10 (20 April 2019)

To think! This was Terry Gilliams best selling movie to date. Twelve Monkeys is a creative, mind blowing, and very twisted tale that is prepared to mess around with your head for a few hours. ( It's what Terrys great at!) Bruce Willis is offered early parole, at a great cost....he must go back to the year 1996 to gather information on why the human population was almost completely wiped out. He goes back in time. Here's the kicker: He's in the wrong year! He's in the year 1990, and he's still trying to gather the information he needs. He returns to the year 2030 something, only to tell them that he wasn't in the year 1996, he was in the year 1990. He's asked if he wants to go back. At this point, were at the 45 minute mark to the movie. Twelve Monkeys makes it clear that this is NOT a time travel film such as The Terminator. Hence, in Terminator, they went back in time to prevent something from happening. Twelve Monkeys makes it clear that this event cannot be prevented, because its already happened, they're just looking for information as to what caused the problem. And you send him to the wrong year. Or was that the right year, and you wanted information from both years? See what I mean! This movie jacks with your brain a little bit. I'm cool with it, and I love the unique formula. However, there is just something incredibly annoying and confusing about Twelve Monkeys. It's complex, its' compelling, it's damn fun and entertaining to watch. So where's the problem? Well, there's not really any clear answers to our questions, especially when the film ends with its ( I don't dare spoil it!) ending. The viewer is left to their own devices to decide for themselves what they've watched. What's real, what's not, is any of it real, was the whole film just a dream, etc, etc, etc. Your left trying to find the missing pieces of the puzzle, never finding them, and you're trying to figure and make sense out of everything and nothing, which is flipping annoying if you ask me! Solid performances, cast and crew were great, the movie never drags or slags, doesn't bore you for one minute ( this is what I love about all of Terry Gilliams films), and when its all over, oh, you're going to be SHOCKED by the ending. I don't know, Twelve Monkeys. You work, but I don't know how you work. Trial and error. Maybe. I just have one question left unanswered about your movie. Twelve Monkeys. Which one of the twelve wrote your script?