Gilliam gives the material a lunatic poetry of his own, but remains impervious to the requirements of narrative pacing.
Comment
06/24/06
12 Monkeys (1995)
85
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
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
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... [More]
Starring: Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, Madeleine Stowe, Christopher Plummer
Director: Terry Gilliam
Reviews for 12 Monkeys
Top CriticDisorientating, but good performances all round. Will have you thinking for days afterwards.
04/23/03
Top CriticTerry 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.
11/04/02
Top CriticDistinctly lacking in sentiment. Give me cataclysm, but at least act like you care.
05/14/03
The acting is good, and the visuals are sharp. But at two hours long, they should have just settled for six monkeys.
04/17/02
A messy mélange of action, adventure, sci-fi, romance, horror, and comedy.
12/05/04
In its frantic mix of chaos, carnage and zoo animals, 12 Monkeys is Jumanji for adults.
01/01/00
Top CriticA movie that is about as much fun to watch as getting your teeth pulled.
01/01/00
Overwrought.
01/01/00
Neither as visually compelling as Brazil nor as emotionally gripping as The Fisher King.
03/26/09
Top CriticA clever, complex, and poignant success is as astonishing as it is satisfying.
07/30/03
One of the qualities that makes 12 Monkeys so good is the fact that it is almost too complicated to explain.
01/01/00
I'm pleased beyond words to find a movie that cares deeply for its characters even as they fall under the wheels of destiny, instead of killing them just to be clever.
01/01/00
Aside from his trademark visual style, Gilliam generally handles the chaos he depicts quite well, and he's come up with a marvelous cast.
01/01/00
Despite my beef with the interminable convolutions of 12 Monkeys, the film has one major thing going for it: put simply, it's very, very cool.
01/01/00
No review available.
08/08/02
An antithesis of how The Terminator handled time travel.
06/23/04
Willis and Pitts's performances, Gilliam's atmospherics and an exhilarating momentum easily outweigh such trifling flaws.
02/13/01
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.
08/12/05
Weird meditation on time and apocalyptic possibilities.
08/21/02
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