Close to a perfect movie

Rating: 10/10 (26 November 1999)

I usually call 12 Monkeys my favorite film, because I like the idea of time travel, but hate so much of how I have seen it done. I can easily see this film becoming a cult classic and/or being widely talked about as sadly `overlooked.' Though I am quite aware that the film is not for all tastes, I do not see how any lover of cinema could call this a bad film. Like a fine meal, how can you not appreciate the preparations that went into it, even if you do not have the pallet for it? I have never seen another time travel movie that is so well thought out, were everything ties together in a perfect circle, and there are so many details and insights to discover/change/question upon further viewing.
Most of the criticism I have seen of 12 Monkeys seems to be based on taste or on insults and name calling without substance. If it is simple personal preference I can understand that, but when they say it is lacking in its plot, camera work, acting, etc., that leads me to believe that many people simply do not understand it, or they have some jealous chip on their shoulders against big name stars. I remember seeing 12 Monkeys in the theater, and as the credits rolled two people behind me were talking over what happened. The first said they did not understand, so the second proceeded to explain the ending, though it was obvious that she too was not getting it. I know it sounds pretentious, but it takes a level of sophistication that I do not think most casual movie watchers have. In many ways I think this film does for time travel what 2001 did for space movies: It tries to think through every detail more completely.
WARRING! SPOILERS ENCLOSED FROM HERE ON:
And the last line of the film is so wonderfully delivered to give a double meaning and a ray of hope  I think the only last words I like more are from A Touch Of Evil. But once again that's just a personal feeling.

As for the often-overrated La Jetee, that some people think should not have been `remade,' it is a visually stunning and poetic film. But La Jetee lacks the well thought out fullness and development that 12 Monkeys brings to the story, and I therefore would not call this a remake (the credits say it is `inspired by,' which is more correct). My biggest problem with La Jetee is that it is not great science fiction, it is an intellectual cop out and could be better labeled as `fantasy.' In La Jetee a man from the near future is chosen to go back into the past to get items necessary for human survival after a nuclear war. He is selected because of his strong memories and obsessive dreams about the past. The scientists are able to amplify these dreams in a way that allows him to enter the past. It is far fetched, but those are the rule it sets up and I as the viewer was willing to accept them. The plot problem comes in when they decide to send him into the far future. How is this possible? He has no memories of the future for the scientists to latch onto. The film breaks its own scientific reasoning, which breaks my suspension of disbelieve, and tells me that the writer got sloppy. Worse, the idea of going into the far future, because if they are there they must have found a way to survive, therefore they can save us so they can be born, is so much illogical nonsense as to be childish. This is a clear sign of writer's block. La Jetee got its hero into a situation that it did not know how to get out of, so it decides to call on the hand of God (the far future people) to solve the problem. Whenever you introduce previously unknown and all-powerful characters late in the story it is an obvious script failure. This offers no opportunity for your character to grow, to sink or swim on their own, and leaves the audience feeling gypped. Hamlet should regain his father's kingdom or bring down everyone around him in his maddening quest  you don't have the Virgin Mary suddenly appear, give him back his sanity, and put him on the throne. It's just not good writing. 12 Monkeys corrects La Jetee's error by never going into the far future, while also added more details that pull everything together in a more intelligent manor. In La Jetee the main character's actions has nothing to do with the nuclear war, but the main character's actions in 12 Monkeys are an integral part of the virus that almost wipes out the human race. This is a far superior plot.
I fear that what most `high-minded' people are judging La Jetee on is the fact that it is French. Just as many Americans would never see a foreign film, other Americans would never dare believe that Hollywood could ever do anything right. You can see the obvious slant one way or the other in so many reviews of 12 Monkeys, La Jetee, and other films. But the fatal flaw of La Jetee can not be wiped clean just because it is big in `artistic' circles. It was a wonderful idea that was later improved upon.