Brilliantly bizarre masterpiece from Terry Gilliam

Rating: 10/10 (1 February 2005)

I expected to find myself disappointed in TWELVE MONKEYS. I was not. I loved it. It's probably Terry Gilliam's best film, but then again every time I see a Terry Gilliam movie I always find myself saying this. (Except for BRAZIL, which I must confess I did not like.) TWELVE MONKEYS is, I suppose, a time travel movie; but when I was watching it I never considered it to be one. It's so bizarre and multi-layered and multi-genre that I didn't have time to stop and label it as one specific kind of movie. It's a drama, it's a horror, it's a thriller, it's a comedy, it's a satire, etc. It has everything.
I would be willing to recommend it on the superb acting alone - Willis gives one of his best (perhaps even THE best) performances of his career, and Brad Pitt is similarly at the top of his game. (His nervous and verbal ticks are classic stuff.) Gilliam keeps this going from beginning to end, never losing momentum. It's interesting from the first shot to the last, and I think TWELVE MONKEYS contains far more depth than many of Gilliam's other films. This is the "epic" of Gilliam's career. Because of this fact, some of his die-hard fans will claim it's not any good, because it's not the typical Gilliam style. It's a bit more dramatic, perhaps, than his other films (particularly the ending).
But Gilliam's vision is still clear in every frame (with the awkward camera angles, blue tints, crazy outfits and styles and surroundings). I love this movie.