Hannah's Pick: 12 Monkeys

It is Wednesday once again, so that means the movie reviewed will be one that has been recommended (and supplied) by my sister in-law, Hannah.  This time around it is the 1995 sci-fi thriller 12 Monkeys, starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt.  It is a film that I had wanted to take in for a long time, and I was not sure if it would happen ever since it disappeared off of Netflix's lineup a few months ago.

The premise of the movie is that a virus kills most of the human race, leaving the survivors to continue existing underground in a semi-steampunk sort of environment.  The task of the survivors is to determine the source of the virus so a cure could be made.  Convicted criminal James Cole (Willis) is 'volunteered' to gather information from the surface, and upon returning is promoted to shooting from the hip style of time travel that can not guarantee the exact time the traveler will arrive in.  When Willis arrives in 1990 (six years before the outbreak which he was supposed to investigate) he is brought into a mental institution (on account of claiming he is from the future) where he meets Jeffrey Goines (Pitt) who befriends Cole.  From this point on, it is an up and down experience for Cole, as he tries to piece together the facts about the attack, as well as personal memories that he has of that time.

This is one crazy movie, I will say that right away.  It focuses on sane people who are crazy, crazy people who think they are sane, and a story line that starts to blur those lines of sanity.  Director Terry Gilliam (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) does what he can to ensure that the balance of sanity is not portrayed only by the actors, but through the style of shooting as well.  In the scenes where insanity is around (or knocking on the doorstep) he uses different camera angles and framing than he does during the calmer points of the movie.  I think he teeters on the point of over-indulgence with the crooked camera shots, but it never got to the point of being overly distracting.  Sometimes, perhaps, directors try to rely on the talent to portray all of the emotions so it is nice when someone tries to use all of the tools at their disposal to communicate to the audience.

As far as the acting goes, Brad Pitt brings the same level and enthusiasm for un-restrained insanity as Gilliam.  There is no hesitance at all with him in this role, and he becomes the focal point of almost every scene he is in.  If mental stability is the north pole, Brad Pitt is the south.  His portrayal of Jeffrey Goines earned him an Oscar nomination, and rightly so, because it is a stand out performance.

Another aspect that this film commits heavily to is the feel and atmosphere of the future.  From the costumes, to the rooms, nothing was looked over for creating a setting that had no reminder of the present that we know.  The environment takes us off guard and leaves us open and accepting of the reality that it has created.  It is easy to ask the audience for some suspension of disbelief if the physical setting itself looks as bat-shit crazy as the people in the film.  That is exactly what it does: the visuals that are void of familiarity open our doors for acceptance of things like time travel and humanity ending viruses.

I just keep coming back to the style of shooting, though.  As I said, it boarders on over-indulgence and perhaps that is what is keeping me from being just head over heels for this film.  I do think that a bit more restraint would have been fine, as I did feel a little assaulted at times with the 'throw you off your guard' style of shooting.  And the monkey music didn't quite do it for me.  Please do not think that these are monstrous issues that I had with this movie, it is just that they were present enough to keep this from being a perfect four star film.

Those minor qualms aside, this is a terrific movie.  If you like calm and sane, you very well may have a hard time with 12 Monkeys.  It is a journey in itself, an all out assault on sanity at times, without the drug-trip feel that some movies take.  While there may be some end moments that are a bit predictable, it is worthy of the time spent to arrive at the conclusion.  It is good, ole sci-fi fun.  The best thing about it is that if you ever feel like you are starting to lose your mind, this film will leave you feeling like a model of sanity.

Rating - 3.5 out of 4 stars

not only is it different in feel, but is also in a way that allows the beginning of the question of sanity