Solid but hardly terrific.

Rating: Null/10 (22 January 2007)

This futuristic mystery/thriller has a relatively solid first hour, then slips a little once it becomes just a thriller. That the ending wasn't going to be "happy" was to be expected from Gilliam - hint: "Brazil". But while "Brazil"'s ending is emotionally powerful, this one is without a real high point, plus the film ends with the too-oft-heard Louis Armstrong tune.
As far as the logic is concerned in this complex film: the puzzle bits and pieces fit well, apart from a few huge coincidences. There is "only" one, big, logic problem: Willis indirectly caused the virus to spread by going back to the past to investigate it! As it turns out towards the end, Pitt didn't bring about the virus, BUT he indirectly helped by distracting the investigation of Stowe and Willis. Secondly, Stowe - having written books and given seminars on the end of the world - influenced the madman working in the laboratory to destroy the planet. Or did she? To what extent? This is open to argument.
There are other unanswered questions; was it a coincidence that young Willis was present at his own death as a grown-up at the airport, or did the scientists who sent Willis know about this little fact and send him for that reason (among other things)? At the end we find out that one of Willis's mates from the future got a new order - to kill Stowe, as she was indirectly responsible for the madman's success. But wasn't it too late at that point to correct the mistake by deciding to kill Stowe on the airport? By that time Stowe's murder wouldn't have changed anything. And didn't Willis anyway say in the first half of the movie that he didn't come back to stop the spread but to get a sample of the original virus-carrying monkeys? If he said that it was not possible to change the disaster then why did his bosses from the future order for Stowe's murder, thereby implying that they tried to change the past, i.e. the spread of the virus? Could it be that they lied to Willis, or did they just change their minds? In either case, why? Still, all in all, the logic could have been worse. Gilliam isn't as clever as he thinks he is  at least not clever enough to do a time-travel movie that makes complete sense.
Stowe and Willis do a decent job, but Pitt overacts in his role too much, for my taste. Just because you play a madman shouldn't mean that you should be waving about manically and uncontrollably all the time. Visually, I expected a bit more from Gilliam. Only some scenes from the future are visually good.