Time travel story done right

Rating: 9/10 (27 November 2007)

I ask for only one thing in a time travel story: Whatever rules you establish for how it works and what the effects of paradox are, you follow them. They can be totally ridiculous from the standpoint of both physics and common sense, but whatever rules are established early in the story must be obeyed as the story continues.
Twelve Monkeys does this. There are a couple of points where the story could cheat, but the director/writer avoided the temptation. On top of being internally consistent, the plot is compelling and the ending is dramatic. The sterile future world contrasts well with the dirty polluted world of the past, and viewers will slowly understand the irony that it is the dirty, polluted world that the time travelers are hoping to restore by changing the past.
A beautiful film.