12 Monkeys

Adventure, Science Fiction

Joseph Melito	Young Cole
Bruce Willis	James Cole
Jon Seda
Michael Chance	Scarface
Vernon Campbell	Tiny
Brad Pitt	Jeffrey Goines
Madeleine Stowe	Dr. Kathryn Railly
Anthony Brienza	Dr. Goodin
Jann Ellis	Marilou
Frank Gorshin	Dr. Fletcher
Aaron Michael Lacey	WWI Sergeant

Director	Terry Gilliam
Producer	Charles Roven; Gary Levinsohn
Writer	Chris Marker; David Webb Peoples
Cinematography	Roger Pratt
Musician	Paul Buckmaster

Inspired by Chris Marker's acclaimed short film La Jetée (which is included on the DVD Short 2: Dreams), 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 '90s, boosted by Gilliam's visual ingenuity and one of the finest performances of Willis's career. --Jeff Shannon