Movie Review: 12 Monkeys — Terry Gilliam

A captivating science-fiction masterpiece

Quick Summary

2035: Humanity has almost entirely disappeared, decimated by a bacteriological virus. Scientists send a man back in time to try to understand what happened and discover the link between this virus and a mysterious group called “The Army of the 12 Monkeys”.

My Thoughts

The basic idea is exciting and the scenario is as well, taking place in a total of 4 different times with excellent and surprising twists that captivate us and especially fascinate us during 129 minutes. We navigate between dream, reality, and hallucination, and the borders are never really defined (without being an obstacle to understanding).

Addressing several themes such as memory, perception of reality, communication, technology, ecology, or science (with the experimentation that often returns, whether on animals or humans in the future of the film), which are all intelligently and subtly treated.

The vision of the future (and even the present) and more globally of the film is nightmarish and pessimistic, in addition to the themes addressed, it is also freedom and repression of future or present that Gilliam puts forward.

Visually it is so nice, especially the future which is dark and where we find grilled cells, gloomy basements, or old infected and deserted shopping malls which reinforces the feeling of oppression. The claustrophobic, dark, eerie, and mysterious atmosphere is gripping.

The interpretations are great, whether it is Bruce Willis, of surprising sobriety, Madeleine Stowe, or a young and crazy Brad Pitt. About the latter, he knew perfectly how to represent his character as he would really be.

To Watch or Not to Watch?

This film is a masterpiece of science fiction, grandiose in every way, sometimes even moving and of course intelligent, fascinating, and captivating. I highly recommend it.

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