Twelve Million Reasons to believe science-fiction may be back

Rating: 9/10 (23 August 1999)

Terry Gilliam. Time Bandits, Monty Phiton, Life of Brian Different film-making, almost revolutionary. With Twelve Monkeys he achieves three fantastic things: a) a great movie; b) a great science-fiction movie and, c) he extracted from Bruce Willis a very good performance, his best to date.
Alternate realities and time-travel have always been the focus of written science-fiction since Jules Verne and H. G. Welles. Many authors have produced stories that leave a long lasting impression on the minds of those who read them. So, every time someone dares to make a movie using the element of time-travel (or alternate realities), he/she runs the risk of being anything but original. But Terry Gilliam picked a story from a French director, used it, transformed it to his liking andvoilá, Twelve Monleys.
The acting is good, whether you´re looking at Willis, or Pitt and Madeleine Stowe. The plot is excellent, although nothing tremendously original.
WARNING: SOME OF THE NEXT WORDS MAY CONSTITUTE SPOILERS. WARNING: SOME OF THE NEXT WORDS MAY CONSTITUTE SPOILERS.
Gillian created a post-apocalypse world that is horrible to contemplate, but very possible to come true. Making his character go back to the past, not knowing where he is going to end up, what society he will be put against, going through the trial and error task of getting to the exact point in time where the character should be in order to stop the ultimate cataclism, Gillian shows us the terrifying `reality' behind time travel, the risks involved in it, the possibility of a traveler going mad over it.
You feel sorry for Bruce´s character, you go side by side with him in his struggle to leave the lunatics hospital and finally his struggle to stop the menace.
There is mystery, strange discoveries, the skepticism of Stowe´s character, the dizziness in Willis´character´s struggles, a larger than life issue at stake (the salvation of mankind and the future), sacrifices and as usual, the irritating paradox of why would anyone try to remake the past (for whatever reason) when he/she would cease to exist as the person who fears and suffers and wants to change something
This movie does make one think about life, sacrifices, today´s madness, altruismIt´s dark, it does not offer hope, only despair and sadness, and brings many questions to life. It´s frightening, mad, and holds your attention from the beginning. But you do have to have an open mind and hope for the worst (in the story). Great movie. Very much anti-Hollywood, a Gillian´s usual.