Product description

Twelve Monkeys [1996]

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Average customer rating: 4.5

Binding : DVD
EAN : 0044005192025
Label : Universal Pictures UK
Manufacturer : Universal Pictures UK
Publisher : Universal Pictures UK
Release date : 1999-09-20
Title : Twelve Monkeys [1996]
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Suitable for 15 years and over
Format : Array
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 1996-04-19
Region code : 2
Running time : 124
Studio : Universal Pictures UK
Theatrical releaseDate : 1996-01-05
Number of discs : 1

Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Inspired by Chris Marker's acclaimed short film La Jetée, 12 Monkeys combines intricate, intelligent storytelling with the uniquely imaginative vision of director Terry Gilliam. The story opens in the wintry wasteland of the year 2035, where a virulent plague has forced humans to live in a squalid, oppressively regimented underground. Bruce Willis plays a societal outcast who is given the opportunity to erase his criminal record by "volunteering" to time-travel into the past to obtain a pure sample of the deadly virus that will help future scientists to develop a cure. But in bouncing from 1918 to the early and mid-1990s, he undergoes an ordeal that forces him to question his own perceptions of reality. Caught between the dangers of the past and the devastation of the future, he encounters a psychiatrist (Madeleine Stowe) who is initially convinced he's insane, and a wacky mental patient (Brad Pitt in a twitchy Oscar-nominated role) with links to a radical group that may have unleashed the deadly virus. Equal parts mystery, tragedy, psychological thriller, and apocalyptic drama, 12 Monkeys ranks as one of the best science fiction films of the 1990s, boosted by Gilliam's visual ingenuity and one of the finest performances of Willis's career. --Jeff Shannon

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-10-26 rating:

A flawless film
Sci-fi film in which Bruce Willis plays a time traveller who travels back to the year 1990 from a dystopian future to stop a virus that in the year 1996 will wipe out most of mankind and forces the survivors to live underground. However, when he arrives in the year 1990, he is believed to be mad and is placed in a mental institution, under the care of psychiatrist Madeleine Stowe. Stowe also believes that Willis is suffering from mental illness, with paranoid delusions of the end of the world, but then Willis mysteriously escapes from the solitary confinement cell he has been placed in following an attempt to escape the mental institution. Six years later, in 1996, Willis appears again and tracks Stowe down, taking her hostage and forcing her to drive across country to Philadelphia, because he needs her help to stop what he refers to as the `army of the twelve monkeys'. Stowe believes that she has been kidnapped by a dangerous schizophrenic and does not believe his claims, that he is from a future in which most of the world's population has been wiped out by a deadly virus and that he has come to try and stop this virus. But when strange things start happening that verify that Willis is indeed a time traveller, Stowe is forced to put her professional scepticism to one side and accept that Willis is not insane but has been speaking the truth the whole time. Now Stowe tracks Willis down, and is anxious to help him try to stop the virus and the end of the world. But now Willis has become the unbeliever, and has started to doubt his own sanity and wonder whether his memories of time travel and a dystopian future are real or rather the invention of a deranged mind. Ironically, Willis' psychiatrist now has to convince him that he is sane after all, and the stakes could not be higher, because if he does not start to believe this, all will be lost. This film was a quite flawless work of science-fiction imagination, relying on story rather than special effects to make its mark. Bruce Willis is excellent as our bemused hero who doesn't know whether he is sane or crazy and Madeleine Stowe is also faultless as the psychiatrist who at first believes that Willis is mentally ill but slowly becomes a believer. Brad Pitt is also notable as an eccentric animal rights activist that Willis first meets in the mental institution. This film has few if any special effects, even in the scenes set in the future and it is a testament to Willis's acting ability that I found myself empathising with the pain of Willis' character as he joyfully experienced the things that we take for granted - clean air, music, being able to live above ground - in contrast to the horrors of his own time. This film was an exemplar piece of story-telling; with its message about appreciating the world that we have even with its imperfections, a wonderful red herring and an excellent twist near the end of the film that elevated what would have been just an excellent film into an outstanding one. Highly recommended.

review by: date: 2008-02-19 rating:

Brucie at his best!
This flim is rightfully cited as one of the best sci-fi flims of the 90s. The acting is brilliant- it really explores the talents of Bruce Willis and brad Pitt in challenging roles. The plot is expertly exposed and is full of twists and turns, so that the viewer is unsure if the sci-fi elements of the flim are real of just in Cole's (Willis' character) head.
The only thing that annoyed me about this film is that the futuristic underground world is not explored as much as I would like. Despite this not being a 100% Gilliam flim- he took no part in writing the screenplay- he certainly left his mark.

review by: Rebel Scum date: 2008-01-27 rating:

Modern Classic
This is without doubt one of the best sci-fi/time travel movies ever made. 12 Monkeys demands more from the viewer than your average movie.
The plot is intelligent, the acting is superb and it looks beatifully gritty.
I never get tired of watching this film, it's a classic that constantly rewards the viewer with each subsequent viewing.

review by: date: 2007-07-26 rating:

monkeys eh
This film was on the good ol' 'amazon reccomends' list. and at nearly a fiver it was worth a pop. In fact, i was absolutely bowled over by one of the best acting performances i've seen on film. Brad Pitt as the unquestionably derranged Jeffrey (sp.?) is far outside his 'comfort zone' of hollywood acting heroes/smouldering bandits/intelligent evil guys. The character requires depth, careful study and a little individual flare, all of which is bought perfectly together by his firm grasp of the character. Pitt gives Jeffrey certain gestic movements, which sets off the more observant character played by Willis.

Although the dvd commentry claims to have turned away from old Brucey's die hard image, theres definitely an element of you can't un-know knowledge in his fluency of beating certain minor characters. The commentry also comes gives the impression that the production team and se3nior staff working on the film credited themselves with it being more complex than it actually is. I think they were thinking matrix-style wtf stuff, but it's actually fairly straightforward if you read the dates in the sub-text.

It's the acting and some wonderful camera angles that really pull of this film. A CLEAR COLLECTORS MUST

review by: xxx date: 2007-07-20 rating:

Not bad...
When a man is sent back into the past to find the cause of a disease which devastated the earth he ends up in a mental home which he escapes from. He then ends up torn between the two worlds going back and forth as he gets into a relationship with a woman in the past. This film is rather odd but in a good way. It is a Sci-Fi thriller about time travel and madness.

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