User Comments:
22 out of 38 people found the following comment useful:-
Swings for the seats, 15 September 2004
Author:
bsl from New York, USA
Terry Gilliam has made a career of trying to make films markedly
different from the mainstream. That's a riskier career path than
following the trails everyone else is using. It's neither more nor less
commendable, although there are those who worship distinction for it's
own stake.
A good movie is worth watching whether it's original or derivative and
a bad movie is still a bad movie even if it's uniquely bad.
Gilliams record, apart from his Monty Python related work, includes the
enjoyable TIME BANDITS, and BRAZIL, a masterpiece, IMO. BARON
MUNCHHAUSEN is, perhaps, better left in the bin along with the careers
of the executives who green-lighted the project.
TWELVE MONKEYS is, like BRAZIL, an essay in dystopia. Both movies
revolve around malfunctioning societies. In the world of BRAZIL, we
have a parallel universe which crosses 1930s-style fascism with an
unmistakable Monty Pythonesque sensibility. In TWELVE MONKEYS, it's a
future in which humanity is driven into a quasi-police state in a world
dying from the results of bioterrorism.
Also like BRAZIL, TWELVE MONKEYS focuses on the efforts of an
inhabitant of the dystopia to escape. In BRAZIL, the escape is retreat
into a fantasy world. In TWELVE MONKEYS, a literal escape into the past
is paralleled by an attempt by the protagonist, played by Bruce Willis,
to destroy the dystopian future by preventing the event which causes
it's creation.
In both films, the theme is that escape is impossible. But, TWELVE
MONKEYS takes a very different tone from BRAZIL, where the fantasy
interludes were at least partly light, if always ending in frustration.
And, even though the world of BRAZIL was ugly, the film took such an
offbeat look at it that there was humor relieving what ought, when all
the decorations are stripped away, have been a depressing reaction.
TWELVE MONKEYS is not funny. It's dystopia is offered up more or less
straight, so the future world scenes set an ugly tone.
The present world scenes do not copy the light tone of the fantasy
scenes of BRAZIL, either. They are more "realistic" then their future
world counterparts, but not really lighter in feel.
As a result, whatever other merits TWELVE MONKEYS has, it tends to be a
dark, dissonant piece.
As others have written, it attempts, in part, at least, to be an art
film. And, it takes a relatively difficult plot concept, which is bound
to alienate and lose some of the people who watch it. Essentially, it's
a - fairly trivial - argument about predestination, and the absence of
free will. The end is inevitable, despite the protagonist's best
efforts to change it.
Alternatively, one might view the whole film as an exercise in
solipsism, if the Bruce Willis character is seen as insane and
hallucinating the entire plot.
Either way, frankly, there a bit of the air of a freshman dormitory in
a liberal arts college to the piece. An impassioned argument over a
philosophical issue by people who feel more deeply than they think.
However, the plot is well thought out and consistent.The outcome
follows from the premises and the internal logic of the plot is, well,
logical. The ending is not just grafted on. It's a - if not necessarily
"the" - natural outcome of all which went before it. If one is
attracted to the "coming full circle" aesthetic of story telling,
there's not much to complain about.
The acting is good, especially both Bruce Willis, as the put-upon
everyman, and Brad Pitt, in one of the most odd, yet compelling, roles
of his career.
All in all, an interesting movie. Not one to come to looking for
laughs. It requires some effort, and it's depressing. But,
entertaining, to a degree.
The Winona Ryder character, from BEETLEJUICE, would love it.
bsl
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