Repetitively enjoyable.

Rating: 10/10 (1 June 2000)

I have a lot to say about this film and I'll doubt I'll get it all out. Who would have thought Bruce Willis can act? I mean, he is always a very entertaining action hero- but despite all the kudos that went to the maniacal Brad Pitt for his role, it was Bruce as the lost, intense, quite possibly insane but vulnerable James Cole. They say you'll never forget your first time, and this is true for Twelve Monkeys, who wasn't caught up in the relentless, intense and fascinating plot that tightened up around the characters? Who's mind wasn't left shattered at it's finale? But this movie isn't to be discarded as a one time thrill ride, no, for as James Cole himself says while watching Vertigo- the film is different every time you watch it. Sometimes it is the funniest of comedies, sometimes a great tragedy, sometimes just breathlessly intense. And every time I watch it I appreciate the care and intelligence that has gone into every aspect of it. The script by David Peoples (and wife), who also wrote the perfect Blade Runner, is brilliantly structured, complex, but too much so, and peppered with great humour. Director Terry Gilliam is great at creating an intense paranoid, what-is-going-on-am-i-crazy world and without him the film could have been totally ruined. The acting, Brad Pitt, yes is entertaining, memorable and riveting, but he rips a lot off Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now. The real respect should be going to Madeline Stowe (subtle, but the more you watch her the better she gets) and Bruce Willis, who is absolutely brilliant. OK, time to shut up now, even though there is plenty more to say, if you haven't watched it, watch it, if you have and enjoyed it, buy it and watch it over and over, and if you didn't enjoy it... well... it's your loss.