'Twelve Monkeys' review by Captain Raptor

'Twelve Monkeys' review by Jake Boyle

Television adaptations of movies seem to have no middle ground. They're either god-level classics like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the recent reimagining of Fargo, or lamentable works best allowed to fester in the forgotten garbage pits of entertainment history, like the series of Highlander and Planet of the Apes. The SyFy channel is about to debut it's remake of Terry Gilliam's revered Twelve Monkeys, and while I hold my reservations about the director (a man who has mastered the finer parts of film-making at the cost of neglecting the fundamentals), this seems like a good time to pass judgment on his original work. 

Crucially, Twelve Monkeys manages to keep itself fairly well grounded. Both time travel films and Terry Gilliam films have a tendency to become overly conceptual, bogged down in ethereal inventiveness - not a bad thing in and of itself, but it frequently leads to failing to engage the audience on an emotional or narrative level. Primarily this is avoided by a well-paced story that reveals information at a carefully controlled pace, its mysteries being solved not so quickly that we get information overload, but not so slowly that it's ever unintentionally confusing. The strong performances help give the film a more human side too; Bruce Willis playing a time-travelling criminal hoping to thwart the apocalypse as one of the most down-to-Earth characters of his career, showing depths of confusion and desperation. Madeline Stowe follows suit, and Brad Pitt is on hands to lend energy to the proceedings, an astounding physical performance that's frenetic and infectiously fun, if once or twice straying into cartoonishness.

It's Pitt's grandly gesturing vigor (the loopiness enhanced by nicely off-skew camera angles) that provides the film its major source of comedy, which is substantial, but nothing to boast about. Similarly good but not great, the film's plot is enjoyably twisty and turny although not altogether unpredictable at times (the meaning of Willis' hazily-remembered dream is very apparent, especially after the third or fourth time they've shown it). Gilliam's penchant for world-building is slightly curtailed, but his vision of a post-apocalyptic world is nicely realised and limiting the amount of time he spends on expansive components lets the focus remain tightly onto the story. David and Janet Peoples' script doesn't have much of a flair for dialogue, but there's a few witty lines, especially nearer the end when they're used as tension breakers. Personal investment in the characters is low, but Willis and Stowe display such vulnerability that they are at the very least sympathetic.

Twelve Monkeys is a wild ride of a story, but told very calmly and even ponderously. This allows it to be both exciting and intelligent, and the precision of the pacing gives a thoroughly engaging plot an approachable but thought-provoking slant. The acting does the excellent narrative justice, and while there is a few hitches in the dialogue and tone, they aren't problems that make any major impact on the overall quality of the film. SyFy have big boots to fill, and Gilliam's standing in my estimations has just skyrocketed. An inventive but pleasingly anchored movie.