Twelve Monkeys

Director: Terry Gilliam

I appreciate all the efforts put into this film. It would take me a tremendous amount of effort if I were to try to create this film by myself, so I do respect the efforts placed. That said, I want to speak critically about my experience of the film and provide criticism which I hope is founded and can be regarded as constructive.

My notes:
I thought that the acting was over the top. The performance felt like it was made for theater but caught on film. Among the talent involved, I believed that Madeleine Stowe delivered the strongest performance. It was a delightful surprise to find Brad Pitt playing a role I had never seen him in before, that of a young, mad man, and he gave a genuine performance. There are pro's and con's to this movie. I like how the film wraps up, even though I don't totally get the concept of time-travel. How did Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe's character) sense that she had known him before she did? That can't be explained by time travel, so I guess it just must be... instinct. There were a couple of irregularities in the film that stuck out to me: (1) Kathryn Railly has a degree in Psychology. That does not make her the equivalent of an M.D. doctor, who would have been able to repair Bruce Willis' character (James Cole) wound. (2) Why was James Cole arrested and how was he even identified so quickly after he returned in 1996 and kidnapped Kathryn Railly? How was he even identified? He never had any proper form of ID, being a man from the future, born later? Wouldn't there be at least minor identification issues with his younger self (same name, same DOB, same birth town, etc.? (3) James Cole never even had ID in 1990. Why and how did they arrest him and put him in a mental institution if he didn't really exist on paper? Maybe this happens in real life more than I think?? Maybe not. Everybody has SSN unless they are illegal. And if they are illegal, they would be deported, not put in a mental institution which is paid by people's tax dollars. Or am I mistaken? Anyway, those were just small questions. I'm sure this movie was good and entertaining for its time. But I guess I am from a different time.

Hong