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Movies / Upcoming / 12 Monkeys
12 Monkeys

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12 Monkeys (1995)

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Reviews Counted:48

Fresh:41

Rotten:7

Average Rating:7.2/10

Consensus: The plot's a bit of a jumble, but excellent performances and mind-blowing plot twists make 12 Monkeys a kooky, effective experience.

Runtime: 2 hrs 10 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

US Box Office: $0

Synopsis: In this intriguing science fiction film from director Terry Gilliam, penal colony prisoner James Cole must travel back in time from the year 2035 to find the cause of a virus that killed five... In this intriguing science fiction film from director Terry Gilliam, penal colony prisoner James Cole must travel back in time from the year 2035 to find the cause of a virus that killed five billion people in 1997. Cole's trip into the past won't be easy. For starters, he winds up in the wrong year on his first attempt. Once, as he time-travels, Cole ends up a prisoner in an insane asylum in 1990. There, he meets psychiatrist Kathryn Railly and inmate Jeffrey Goines, who could hold the key to the epidemic's spread. Cole later winds up in the middle of a World War I battlefield. After meeting James for a second time, in another year, Dr. Railly gets further involved in his quest. Although she thinks at first that Cole must be crazy, Kathryn soon starts to believe him and attempts to help. But James has already started to question his own sanity and tries to figure out if his journeys through time are real or if he's just been imagining everything. [More]

Starring: Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, Madeleine Stowe, Christopher Plummer

Starring: Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, Madeleine Stowe, Christopher Plummer

Director: Terry Gilliam

Director: Terry Gilliam
Producer: Charles Roven
Composer: Paul Buckmaster

[See More Credits]

Reviews for 12 Monkeys

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Gilliam's polarizing style is at its near-best...a dazzling feat of storytelling that bristles with provocative ideas. [Blu-ray]

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
08/12/09
Peter Canavese
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

Neither as visually compelling as Brazil nor as emotionally gripping as The Fisher King.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/26/09
Variety Staff
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Gilliam has taken on a conventional Hollywood sci-fi thriller with big stars and turned it into his own rough beast.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/23/07
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

Gilliam gives the material a lunatic poetry of his own, but remains impervious to the requirements of narrative pacing.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

12 Monkeys seems to go down smoothly without compromising anything or dumbing itself down.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/26/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Dark and somber like Blade Runner, this sci-fi is a spectacular mess, a convoluted film with too many ideas for its own good, blending (among other things) the virus thriller with the post-apocalyptic genre.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
08/12/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

..less an essay on the nature of madness than a crazy person’s poem. It is wild and beautiful and deeply disturbing all at once.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
05/09/05
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Oh my!

Full Review Source: StaciWilson.com | comment 3 Comments
12/31/04
Staci Layne Wilson
Staci Layne Wilson
StaciWilson.com

A messy mélange of action, adventure, sci-fi, romance, horror, and comedy.

Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | comment Comment
12/05/04
Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com

An antithesis of how The Terminator handled time travel.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
06/23/04
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

A clever, complex, and poignant success is as astonishing as it is satisfying.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
07/30/03
TV Guide's Movie Guide

There's always overripe method to his madness, but in the new 12 Monkeys Mr. Gilliam's methods are uncommonly wrenching and strong.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/20/03
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Distinctly lacking in sentiment. Give me cataclysm, but at least act like you care.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment 2 Comments
05/14/03
Jeanne Aufmuth
Jeanne Aufmuth
Palo Alto Weekly

Disorientating, but good performances all round. Will have you thinking for days afterwards.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/23/03
Kim Newman
Kim Newman
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It will keep you thinking long after you watch it.

Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | comment Comment
03/16/03
Robert Roten
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope

It often seems as though Gilliam is the least prolific of fantastic directors working today (with the possible exception of Alejandro Jodorowsky), but once again, it was worth the wait.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
03/10/03
Marc Savlov
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle

Terry Gilliam's most mature film to date demands rigorous analysis from the viewer. Add to this the director's grotesquely comic hallmarks, and the resulting film is a complex and rewarding fantasy.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
11/04/02
Nick Hilditch
Nick Hilditch
BBC

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.

Full Review Source: Montreal Film Journal | comment Comment
09/10/02
Kevin N. Laforest
Kevin N. Laforest
Montreal Film Journal

Weird meditation on time and apocalyptic possibilities.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
08/21/02
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

No review available.

comment Comment
08/08/02
Cory Cheney
Cory Cheney
Urban Tulsa Weekly
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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