Twelve monkeys encourages you to see the world from prisoner's James Cole's (Willis) perspective - and what a confusing place it is. Initially, he's in some steam punk inspired future where no-one lives above ground due to some disaster, and spends much of movie flitting back and forth between this and the present day (or past) of variously 1990, the first World War and 1996. No wonder, he and we don't know if he's mad or not - especially when he keeps babbling about the army of the twelve monkeys and slipping into dream states which may or notIt's close to a career best performance for Willis, but he's slightly outshone by Pitt. Pitt is utterly manic in this film, and brings some necessary light. His character parallels and reflects Willis' - as he may actually be suffering from a mental illness, or pretending, and comes from a wealthy background with enough agency to actually bring about change. Lastly, Stowe provides some needed centredness and audience perspective.
Add in a jaunty nerve jangling theme and director's Gilliam's usual attention to detail to production design and the result is a sci-fi classic.
The picture quality on the blu-ray is only so so, particularly in some early scenes.
Verdict: One of Gilliam's best
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