Worth Seeing, but Only Once

Rating: 7/10 (26 August 2008)

"The Future Is History"
Lets put it this way, if you are going to make a movie that goes in a straight line but then brings you right back, this is the film to make. Twelve Monkeys is a clever, well thought out movie and has many hits and punches to it. However, with every punch, comes with a bruise. It's funny how it's so much easier for me to write about the things I didn't like about the movie as opposed to the things I did like about it.
Let me first try the things I did like. Twelve Monkeys took me through a sort of sci-fi-e story about a guy named James Cole (Bruce Willis), who is sent back in time by the head counsel to bring back the source of a monkey disease that kills most of the population by 1996. I'm guessing because he has a really good memory and some decent fighting skills they found he was best suited for the job. What really got interesting is when I started asking myself how would I handle James's situation by trying to explain to the people in the past that they are all going to be wiped out. It's hard to say if I would have done a better job than he did, and I would like to think that of course. The best thing about Twelve Monkeys is that it always keeps you in the dark, until it all unravels in the very end. If a movie can keep my attention throughout then I say it is worth recommending.
Finally, here are the problems I had. First off, I'm going to flat out say that I hate having famous actors in films. For me it kills the whole atmosphere because when you try to imagine a famous actor playing a certain character, it's hard to do that when you have seen that same person in dozens of other films. Anyway, the whole thing about going back in time kinda threw me for a loop, because it just seemed so out of place. Had they have made the past a little bit later and made the future look more futuristic, then maybe they could have pulled it off better. One thing that annoyed me is that it took the characters to the very end to find out that a tall, white, completely bald guy can stick out in a crowd, and it'd probably be best to give him a hat.
So to conclude it, I am going to recommend Twelve Monkeys for those who like time traveling sci-fi-ish movies with famous actors. It may not particularly be my cup of tea, but I don't regret seeing it.
***/**** Stars
Twelve Monkeys (1995): Rated R for violence and language