Too clever by half

Rating: 6/10 (18 February 2003)

I love the work of Terry Gilliam. He is one of my favorites. Alas Twelve Monkeys isn't one of them. I'm not saying it's a bad movie. I just can't get my arms around this one.
One of my problems with it is the time travel aspect. I don't believe in time travel. I find it impossible to believe that the cosmos are marks on the tape of time. Events define time; time doesn't define events. And in the entertainment cosmos, time travel is used too much as a device of convenience. In Twelve Monkeys, Bruce Willis' character is sent back to a time when a deadly agent is released around the globe resulting in the deaths of 5 billion. Confusingly, he can't alter events but is only expected to retrieve a sample of the agent to take back to his present.
Another big problem is the Brad Pitt character. Movies love the giddy and manic crazy person. Brad Pitt is this - too much so. It's so apparent that Brad is acting crazy although in his defense, I don't know what actor could do better. What's worse is his character is a leader of a group of activists which is absurd. Insanity is a sad and lonely place.