Cheap 12 Monkeys (DVD) (Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt) (Terry Gilliam) Price
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| ACTORS: | Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt |
| CATEGORY: | DVD |
| DIRECTOR: | Terry Gilliam |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | 05 January, 1996 |
| MANUFACTURER: | Universal Studios |
| MPAA RATING: | R (Restricted) |
| FEATURES: | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby |
| TYPE: | Science Fiction |
| MEDIA: | DVD |
| # OF MEDIA: | 1 |
| UPC: | 025192018626 |
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Customer Reviews of 12 Monkeys
Willis wows! Brad Pitt got most of the praise from this film for his portrayal of the demented son of a wealthy Bio-tech researcher. However, I think most people overlooked Willis' performance in this role. In my opinion this is one of the first films in which Bruce Willis shows just how good an actor he can be. Sure the Die Hard films had already cemented Willis as a movie star, but he pulls out all the stops here in Terry Gilliam's sci-fi genre bending flick.
Willis shows us how good he is at being quiet and contemplative--something that went on to win him accolades in films like 6th SENSE. But Willis also brings this haunting sense of desperation and pain to his character which he hadn't shown in his work prior to 12 MONKEYS.
As for the DVD it's got the goods when it comes to extras. Fans of Terry Gilliam will be happiest as the documentary "The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of 12 Monkeys" centers on Gilliam's vision for the film and takes you from pre-production meetings about set designs all the way to Gilliam's publicity tour to promote the film's release.
Great story (with an ending filled with so many subtle twists that it still causes much debate on Internet BBS), excellent performances, and outstanding camera work by the director and cinematographer. 12 MONKEYS is a must have for any DVD collection.
Gilliam's best film
Leaning more toward 4.75 stars here...
I love Terry Gilliam, I truly do. But so much of his work suffers from too much creativity (Brazil, Baron Munchausen, etc.) that his brilliant vision often turns into clutter and noise. He needs a steadier hand to guide him at times, and we've found it with David People's marvelous screenplay.
12 Monkeys is Gilliam's most disciplined, moving and thought-provoking film precisely because we are able to relate to its ideas surrounding insanity, paranoia and doomsday.
Bruce Willis is a convict in a dystopian future where nearly all of mankind has been killed off by a super-virus unleashed in 1996. The survivors live underground like rats and the animals (immune to the virus) are the only creatures on the surface. He is recruited to go back in time to retrieve a sample virus so that the scientist plutocrats who rule his society can develop a vaccine.
OK, typical plot developments occur, right? "Bruce, back in the 1990s, is considered a crack-pot and a looney and he's locked up. He's got to get out and complete his mission and there's one person who can help: Dr. Kathryn Reilly, psychiatrist and do-gooder."
But wait, there's more. So much more, including Brad Pitt (in my favorite performance as the maniac who may be behind the virus); complex time travel that effectively distorts YOUR idea of what's real; man's corruption of the earth; and a vision of humanity's collective madness that only Gilliam could capture.
Because at the center is Bruce Willis as James Cole. A violent person hardened by life, but who can also listen to a song on the radio with the relish of a child. Madeleine Stowe is at her most luminous as Dr. Reilly, and the love that develops between them is neither unecessary or contrived. After all, love is their last grasp at what what it means to be real. Everything else is just a collection of artifacts.
12 Monkeys
Despite the cheesy special effects and some unnecessarily silly scenes that greatly detract from the movie, 12 Monkeys is a very good science fiction movie.
Set in the year 2035, a plague has wiped out much of the human race and they are forced to live deep underground. Scientists of the era send criminals back in time, using imperfect time machine technology, to try to discover the origins of the virus so they can bring a sample back to the future to find a cure, and take back the planet. Bruce Willis plays Cole, who is sent back to find out who the 12 Monkeys are, which are believed to be a terrorist group responsible for the unleashing the virus. Unfortunately, he sent back to wrong time and finds himself in a mental institution. While there he is treated by a psychiatrist played by Madeline Stowe and runs into Brad Pitt - a wacky mental patient. It's hard to tell much more about the plot without giving the movie away, but these two characters play a vital role in the plot.
The director does an excellent job with the time travel elements of the story, an aspect that become quickly inconsistent and ruinous to a movie of this nature without careful attention to detail. The acting is also superb. I would highly recommend the movie.
Also note, the "Making Of" feature on the DVD is one of the few that I actually enjoyed and found quite interesting.