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Twelve Monkeys [VHS] [1996]
 
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Twelve Monkeys [VHS] [1996]

VHS ~ Bruce Willis
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Actors: Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, Joseph Melito, Jon Seda
  • Directors: Terry Gilliam
  • Writers: Chris Marker, David Webb Peoples, Janet Peoples
  • Producers: Charles Roven, Gary Levinsohn, Kelley Smith-Wait, Lloyd Phillips
  • Format: Closed-captioned, Dolby, PAL, Surround Sound
  • Language English
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: 4 Front Video
  • VHS Release Date: 10 May 1999
  • Run Time: 124 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00004R6SB
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 4,059 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

    Popular in this category:

    #62 in  Video > Action & Adventure > Action Heroes

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Inspired by Chris Marker's acclaimed short film La Jetée, 12 Monkeys combines intricate, intelligent storytelling with the uniquely imaginative vision of director Terry Gilliam. The story opens in the wintry wasteland of the year 2035, where a virulent plague has forced humans to live in a squalid, oppressively regimented underground. Bruce Willis plays a societal outcast who is given the opportunity to erase his criminal record by "volunteering" to time-travel into the past to obtain a pure sample of the deadly virus that will help future scientists to develop a cure. But in bouncing from 1918 to the early and mid-1990s, he undergoes an ordeal that forces him to question his own perceptions of reality. Caught between the dangers of the past and the devastation of the future, he encounters a psychiatrist (Madeleine Stowe) who is initially convinced he's insane, and a wacky mental patient (Brad Pitt in a twitchy Oscar-nominated role) with links to a radical group that may have unleashed the deadly virus. Equal parts mystery, tragedy, psychological thriller, and apocalyptic drama, 12 Monkeys ranks as one of the best science fiction films of the 1990s, boosted by Gilliam's visual ingenuity and one of the finest performances of Willis's career. --Jeff Shannon


Synopsis

A nightmare journey between a holocaustic future of 2035 and the past is the mission faced by volunteer Cole. He must find the source of the viral infection responsible for the deaths of five billion people which started in 1996.

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Customer Reviews

44 Reviews
5 star:
 (25)
4 star:
 (14)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (44 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Monkey business, 7 Mar 2005
By Louise Stanley (Reading, Berkshire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Twelve Monkeys [DVD] [1996] (DVD)
A real thriller of a film, carefully crafted and so well-thought out that I used it in a philosophy essay about time-travel at university.

The two main actors - Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis - are so unbelievably good that you can feel both James Cole's anguish and Geoffrey Goines' agitation oozing from the screen. Madeleine Stowe's attempts to rival her male colleagues fall a bit flat - she seems a bit like a jumpy Alanis Morisette in the "Ironic" video rather than the character she is supposed to be playing (it would have been better had Railly remained calmer and more composed as a foil to Cole and Goines' supposed lunacy) but gives a decent performance.

The exquisite location filming and atmospheric use of dirt and decay made me think I was in some Orwell novel - don't watch this without taking a long hot shower afterwards - but the tension between Cole's mission and longing for the "good ol' days" is poorly developed, as is the romance between Cole and Railly - perhaps there isn't supposed to be one, but the on-screen hints were sending confusing mixed messages out, and the film would not have suffered had there been less ambiguity, particularly in the final scenes.

There is an 87 minute "Hamster Factor" documentary also on the DVD but I was so exhausted by the film that to sit through almost as much again immediately afterwards was too much. More information on the cast would have been nice as well, but at the end of the day a good movie should speak for itself - and this one does so at a high volume.

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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Bring on the monkeys!, 24 Nov 2006
By DangermouseZilla "He's the strongest, he's th... (Doncaster, Yorkshire, UK.) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Twelve Monkeys [DVD] [1996] (DVD)
For the first part of this film you'll be entertained and midly confused.

But the pieces slot into place and you see the full scope of what is being said, this goes from being a piece-by-piece jigsaw, to being a masterpiece!

Bruce Willis plays a great part and is 100% believeable in the role.

This film is best watched twice, on the second viewing you see references you may have missed the first time round, but seem obvious in hindsight.

This is one of those films that stays with you after you've watched it, and rightly so.


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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Surreal Sci fi from Gilliam, 6 May 2007
This review is from: Twelve Monkeys [DVD] [1996] (DVD)
Twelve Monkeys is another bizarre but brilliant sci-fi epic from Terry Gilliam. Bruce Willis plays James Cole, a man we first encounter in a futuristic, squalid, underground prison. Cole, in exchange for parole, agrees to be sent back in time to find out about the virus that forced humanity underground. Time travelling seems not to be an exact science, and he is sent back to 1990, six years before the virus breaks out. In 1990, he meets Kathryn Railly (Madeline Stowe) and tries to convince her that he is not crazy but actually is from the future (as soon as Cole starts opening his mouth in 1990, he is shipped to the local mental institution). As the movie continues, Cole takes several jumps back in time and encounters Railly again and again, until she is finally convinced that what he is saying is true. Twelve Monkeys is intercut with surreal images, and the plot seems so bizarre at times that you could leave the film thinking Cole had dreamt the whole thing, or is he having some sort of psychotic breakdown and none of what we see is actually happening. But this is the brilliance of Gilliam; when you watch a movie of his, you never quite know what has actually happened, and you can have many a heated debate as to what it all means.

Another truly great aspect of this film is the Oscar-nominated turn by Brad Pitt. He is brilliant as the insane son of a research scientist. He is essentially the comic relief of the film, although he is dressed up as the suspected villain. His performance is truly amazing and not wooden and stilted, as he can be when he takes the lead. Spinetinglers believes he is a character actor trapped in a lead actor's body, as over his career he has put in some great performances when he has not had his name above the titles (Floyd in True Romance, Mickey O'Neil in Snatch and Tyler Durden in Fight Club.)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Complex time travelling mystery with a preaching edge
Terminator, Donnie Darko and Bill and Ted's excellent adventure have all debated the mystic art of travelling to and from collective points in time. Read more
Published 7 days ago by Stampy

3.0 out of 5 stars Over rated.
A reasonable story, certainly bleak, but the future sequences are just too zany to make sense. What is that thing that moves around in front of James Cole when he is sat in the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Nic

4.0 out of 5 stars exciting sci-fi thriller
This is a very good film if you like your films to be a little crazy. Terry Gilliam certainly has a warped view when it comes to directing films!.. Very good!
Published 5 months ago by J. Beeson

5.0 out of 5 stars A flawless film
Sci-fi film in which Bruce Willis plays a time traveller who travels back to the year 1990 from a dystopian future to stop a virus that in the year 1996 will wipe out most of... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Irikefe Okonedo

5.0 out of 5 stars Brucie at his best!
This flim is rightfully cited as one of the best sci-fi flims of the 90s. The acting is brilliant- it really explores the talents of Bruce Willis and brad Pitt in challenging... Read more
Published 21 months ago by ossian

5.0 out of 5 stars Modern Classic
This is without doubt one of the best sci-fi/time travel movies ever made. 12 Monkeys demands more from the viewer than your average movie. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Rebel Scum

5.0 out of 5 stars monkeys eh
This film was on the good ol' 'amazon reccomends' list. and at nearly a fiver it was worth a pop. In fact, i was absolutely bowled over by one of the best acting performances i've... Read more
Published on 26 Jul 2007 by E. Palmer

4.0 out of 5 stars Not bad...
When a man is sent back into the past to find the cause of a disease which devastated the earth he ends up in a mental home which he escapes from. Read more
Published on 20 Jul 2007 by The Beast

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF THE BEST FILMS EVER
This is the 1st film where I saw that Bruce Willis could act with a capital A - He is brilliant and the bit where he breaks down broke my heart - sooo good it made me shiver... Read more
Published on 19 April 2007 by Mrs. F. Mulligan

5.0 out of 5 stars Low in brevity, high in levity
I only rate things if they're worth rating or if they're worthy to be torn apart. I haven't read the novel with the french title but I can say that the film is consistent in plot,... Read more
Published on 31 Mar 2007 by R. Head

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