Dazzling dystopia from Gilliam

Rating: 9/10 (17 August 2001)

Mild SPOILERS
Gilliam's dark and somewhat twisted look at the notion of a killer virus that has wiped out most of the world population is a surreal, opaque and troubling film, filled with odd characterizations and memorable images that carry the film above any other nineties thriller. The story concerns Cole (Willis, in probably his second best performance), a man from the future picked at random to go into the past and try to stop the virus from ever being invented. Willis gives Cole a warm humanity, even though we are supposed to view him as a single-minded brute, just as the scientists of the future view him, his performance is vital for giving Cole the layers he needs to give the film more reality.
Any one familiar with Gilliam's work will know of the almost satirical tone that has been present in all of his films, but with Twelve Monkeys it seems to have gone AWOL, this gives Gilliam's images more of a weight and significance, no more are they the empty cartoon frolics of Monty Python or Time Bandits... We are forced to take everything as it is depicted, and this helps give the film more impact. The plot and story twists and turns never letting us predict the outcome, we're as much in the dark as the characters themselves...
The downside of the film however is that at times it tries to say too much, taking it's ecological aspects way too far with Pitt's band of rogue Eco terrorists... The film works much better as a fantasy, dealing - as all Gilliam's films do, with the subject of mental illness. Is Cole insane, are the things we are seeing only imaginary, who knows that's up to each viewers own interpretation. At the end of the day, Twelve Monkeys is an intelligent and interesting fantasy, worth repeated viewings.
9/10