Twelve Monkeys

Follow @empiremagazine

Forum Home

Register for Free!

Log In

Moderator Tickets

FAQ

Users Online

Twelve Monkeys

Logged in as: Guest

Printable Version

All Forums >> [Film Forums] >> Film Reviews >> Twelve Monkeys

Page: [1]

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

Twelve Monkeys - 2/2/2006 3:33:49 PM

Empire Admin

Posts: 26526
Joined: 29/6/2005

Post your comments on this article

Post #: 1

- 12/3/2006 12:26:08 PM

Naweed_1

Posts: 1433
Joined: 7/1/2006
From: Birmingham

Wills and Pitt give their best perfomances, and is one of Terry Gilliam's best films.

(in reply to Empire Admin)

Post #: 2

- 20/12/2006 12:05:53 PM

ukedge87

Posts: 502
Joined: 14/10/2005

Directed by the master of dystopian visions, Terry Gilliam, Twelve Monkey bombards the audience with a complex, yet digestable, film - which unlike it's fellows in the genre, is also heatwarming. Bradd Pitt and Bruce Willis enter career altering roles, which demonstrate their immense talent and no doubt paved their way for future roles.

The direction and photography of everything from the set pieces to the 1996 Philidelphia are breathtaking, to the point where the viewer is fully imerged in the film, becoming part of the concept - yet still being aware enough to fit the jigsaw plot together.

This film is a true classic and my favourite Gilliam film (although Brazil is very close), I think it will go down in history as one of the best sleeper hits of the 1990s. It has certainly paved the way for future films of a similar films (just look at the clear resemblances to Gilliam ideas in films such as Children Of Men).

Also if you pick up the DVD, the additional documentary film 'The Hamster Factor' is a very insightful view not only into Gilliam's film but the entire Hollywood studio proccess.

(in reply to Empire Admin)

Post #: 3

- 20/12/2006 12:05:55 PM

ukedge87

Posts: 502
Joined: 14/10/2005

(in reply to Empire Admin)

Post #: 4

- 1/11/2007 7:58:59 PM

fug91

Posts: 20
Joined: 17/10/2007

Totally fantastic film. No more to say

(in reply to Empire Admin)

Post #: 5

Superb! - 11/12/2007 3:29:10 PM

Duffski

Posts: 38
Joined: 24/11/2007
From: UK

The only real shame with this film is that it shows what Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt are capable of, yet rarely replicate. A phenominal film from the king of oddball, Terry Gilliam. You will have to watch it more than once for it to make complete sense, but it's worth it. Madeleine Stowe is wonderful as Willis' psychiatrist, and as the story moves on and he begins to doubt himself, her performance is excellent.

(in reply to Empire Admin)

Post #: 6

Fantastic/ Disorienting/ Well-written/ Amazing!! - 30/1/2008 1:28:48 PM

blaud

Posts: 722
Joined: 13/12/2007

This is one of the best films I have ever seen. Bruce Willis is incredible, and Brad Pitt is equally brilliant. A landmark for Gilliam, and filmmaking as a whole.

(in reply to Empire Admin)

Post #: 7

- 10/1/2010 2:28:14 PM

gzus

Posts: 49
Joined: 4/10/2009
From: Middle Earth, Brum

There's flashes of shere genius in this, such as the ironic satire of someone sent from the future to help man- kind, immediately thrown into a lunatic asylum or the use of Hitchcock classics such as Vertigo playing out in a cinema mirroring the mystery of identity and appearance. Pitt and Stowe are exceptionally good. Whilst the world of the future gives Gilliam room to play. Philadelphia becomes an appropriately grimey pre-apocalypse setting. As for Wilis, his character is a violent schizophrenic capable of murder, hears voices and by the second half believes that he's insane only for his psyciatrist, Kathryn (Stowe) to believe otherwise. It's likely on first viewing that you will be thinking about it for ages afterwards due to its ending and that's no bad thing.

(in reply to Empire Admin)

Post #: 8

RE: - 4/10/2012 11:28:18 AM

jackcarter

Posts: 1740
Joined: 12/1/2006

anyone rewatched this in light of Looper? im currently searching around for my old vhs (as i dont want to spend any money on the dvd)

(in reply to gzus)

Post #: 9

RE: RE: - 4/10/2012 1:14:19 PM

BelfastBoy

Posts: 459
Joined: 30/11/2005

quote:

ORIGINAL: jackcarter

anyone rewatched this in light of Looper? im currently searching around for my old vhs (as i dont want to spend any money on the dvd)

Totally know where you're coming from! I enjoyed Looper a lot, and it was especially refreshing to see Willis doing some pretty decent acting for a change, rather than whoring himself out for a TV ad! Looper's many time travel flaws immediately made me think of Twelve Monkeys, which although not as conventionally entertaining, is by far the superior film. (A film I just went ahead and bought off Amazon, hopefully it'll arrive tomorrow.) Twelve Monkeys' time travelling plot stands up to much greater scrutiny, and benefits from what I personally think is Willis's best ever performance.

The only thing I don't like is the 'future' production design, full of Gilliam's trademark exaggerations and grotesquery (like Brazil). It is however appropriate for suggesting the notion that everything could be an extended delusion / nightmare.

(in reply to jackcarter)

Post #: 10

RE: RE: - 9/10/2012 5:37:19 PM

bozo

Posts: 2479
Joined: 1/11/2006
From: HM Prison Slade

Still my fave film of all time.

_____________________________

The Cabin In The Woods 4/10
Wolf Creek 8/10
Carnival of Souls 8.5/10
The Brood 9.5/10
Wrong Turn 8.5/10
Perfect Blue 10/10
Madagascar 3 6.5/10
Mama 7.5/10
The House at the End of the Street 6/10
Oz the Great and Powerful 7.5/10
Django Unchained 9.5/10

(in reply to BelfastBoy)

Post #: 11