MIDDLE-AGED MATINEE! #22 - '12 Monkeys' (1995)

4/5 Stars

Director Terry Gilliam’s “12 Monkeys” is the definition of a “cult film”. Yes, the movie was a modest box office hit, but it is also one of those movies where you happen to love it or hate it due to its bleak storyline. I happened to love it back in ‘96 when I watched it for the first time with my dad, but I do remember my dad not enjoying it all that much.

The story follows James Cole (Bruce Willis), a disturbed man from the year 2035 who is sent back in time by the scientists of his time to trace the path of a virus that nearly wiped out humanity and sent the survivors underground. At first, he is sent to 1990 where he meets psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe) and a psychiatric patient named Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt).

Eventually, Cole is ripped back to his time where he informs the scientists that he was sent to the wrong time. He was supposed to be sent to 1996 when the virus is about to be unleashed. They attempt to send him back again where he reunites with Railly and they attempt to investigate a terrorist group known as the Army of the 12 Monkeys as this is supposedly the group that unleashed the virus.

James Cole searches for specimens on the surface in "12 Monkeys".

The first thing to note is that Gilliam gives this movie a very bleak tone befitting the story itself. In addition to the time travel stuff, there is also a psychological element to the movie. It is established early on that time travel messes with the time traveler’s mind and Cole even meets someone in a psychiatric hospital that sets up the idea of someone being mentally divergent.

Someone who is mentally divergent accepts a reality that isn’t really there. This makes Cole, and at times the audience, question whether or not Cole is actually a time traveler or just a very disturbed individual. It is an interesting idea on the time travel formula.

Another thing that I’m thankful for with this movie is that it doesn’t try to stop and explain how its time travel device works. We’re not bogged down by discussions of paradoxes or their ramifications. It’s simply a plot device to move the story along and that’s all it has to be.

Beyond the story, there are the performances. There is not much humor in the movie, but most of the film’s more humorous moments definitely comes from Pitt’s Jeffrey, the son of a prominent scientist and Jeffrey is most definitely disturbed. Pitt chews the scenery in the best way possible and is the breakout character of the movie as he rants and raves about society while constantly giving it the bird.

James Cole meets the disturbed Jeffrey Goines in '12 Monkeys'.

Then there is Willis as Cole, a character that has been through quite a lot. He was only a boy when the virus took down the world and often dreams about a particular moment that affected him just before the world falls apart. Cole is haunted not only by this dream but by his present time and he is prone to violence if the need arises.

Willis gives a good yet tragic performance of a man who is trying to figure out what is real and what isn’t while also carrying the burden of trying to save the world. He has great chemistry with Stowe’s Reilly, a woman who genuinely wants to help Cole figure out what is going on, whether it is simply in Cole’s head or not.

Not only is the tone of the movie bleak, but so is the future Cole is from. It is a wet, dark, mechanical world where most people are “volunteered” to travel to the surface to get specimens such as spiders and frogs for the scientists underground to study. Gilliam does indeed give us a future that we would want to either avoid or cure and that helps the audience support Cole even more.

I’ve watched this movie a few times since I was a kid. I will say that the movie features twists and turns that I thought were quite good back in the day. Today, though, I think if you’re watching this for the first time and you pay close enough attention, you’ll be able to see where things are going but it’s still a fun ride to take.

Again, based on how the movie looks and how the story plays out, you either love or hate the movie. For me, the movie is an engaging psychological thriller in addition to its sci-fi trappings as it is a good study of the human condition and the nature of the realities we see around us.