Reviews

From a Review by Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times) Link 4/28/05

"What's good about the film is the way Gilliam, his actors and his craftsmen create a universe that is contained within 130 minutes… I've seen " 12 Monkeys" described as a comedy. Any laughs that it inspires will be very hollow. It's more of a celebration of madness and doom, with a hero who tries to prevail against the chaos of his condition, and is inadequate. This vision is a cold, dark, damp one, and even the romance between Willis and Stowe feels desperate rather than joyous. All of this is done very well, and the more you know about movies (especially the technical side), the more you're likely to admire it. But a comedy it's not. And as an entertainment, it appeals more to the mind than to the senses."

From a Review by Kenneth Turan (Los Angeles Times) Link 4/28/05

"12 Monkeys" is a magical Old Curiosity Shop, filled with strange and wonderful sights and happenings that capture the eye and intrigue the mind."

From a Review by Kevin N. Laforest (Montreal Film Journal) Link 4/28/05

"The more I see this film, the more I'm impressed by it. I love movies that are rich and complex, filled with different layers of reading. At first, you could think that it's a big studio sci-fi thriller, starring action star Bruce Willis. Well, it is, but it's so much more. This little time travel story (based on a 1936 French short, La Jetée) is just the framework for a thought-provoking exploration of how alienating our end-of-millennium world can be. It blends notions of the Bible's Apocalypse, Greek mythology, psychoanalysis, philosophy, anarchist ideologies and ecology into a surprisingly cohesive, exhilarating epic of ideas. Watching it again on a winter 2000 night, I was struck by how ahead of its time it still feels… "12 Monkeys" is truly a masterpiece. It intelligently and originally addresses how alienating and depressing turn-of-the millennium life can be through compelling science-fiction."

From a Review by Richard Scheib (SF, Horror, and Fantasy Film Review) Link  4/28/05

"What makes the film quite exceptional is not just the bleakness of its vision, but rather the intellectual game Gilliam and Peoples play. The time travel story plays like an interlocking jigsaw of teasing clues and tiny puzzles - throwaway pieces like the graffiti on the wall, the cryptic messages on the answer-phone, the list of plague destinations. Each maps over onto a later piece of the film, all culminating in a time-paradox ending that is mesmerizing in its gradually unfolding revelations and surprises."

From a Review by David Bruce Link 4/28/05

The film reflects the fears and concerns of our time.   Consider the link between this film's premise and the idea that the deadly AIDS virus somehow originated with monkeys."

From a Review by D. Pratt (Laser Disc Newsletter) no.143 (Jul, 1996) p.2.

"...in a world of literal minded action thrillers '12 Monkeys' is actually a breath of fresh air, a popular film that is intelligent enough to keep the viewer emotionally off-balance...."

From a Review by S. Klawans (Nation)v.262 no.3 ( Jan 22, 1996 ) p.34.

From a Review by John Fried (Cineaste) Dec96, Vol. 22 Issue 3, p47, 2p

"'Inspired' by the classic French film, La Jetee (1964), by Chris Marker, Gilliam eschews Marker's poetic vision of the future reflecting back on itself. Instead, Gilliam uses skewed camera angles and histrionic performances to conjure a modern allegory for our disease- and paranoia-ridden culture. At the same time, however, he infuses these tense moments with his darkly comic irony: television ads for Florida as a holiday escape are paired against the empty and sallow faces of the inmates in the rec room. In these sequences, Gilliam is clearly throwing out the dorm-room-philosophy that it is actually the insane who carry the voice of truth and that the asylums of our present day may be the homes of our future."

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