- Director : Terry Gilliam
- Actors : Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, David Morse, Christopher Plummer
- Studio : Universal Studios/ Arrow Video
- MPAA rating : R (Restricted)
- Country of Origin : USA
- Media Format : Anamorphic, NTSC, Widescreen, Surround Sound
- Run time : 2 hours and 9 minutes
- Release date : April 26, 2022
Terry Gilliam is
a director who has had as many film failures as he has successful ones. Even
when praised for his unique voice and style, Gilliam’s releases have often been
met with box-office trouble. Unfortunately for his career, the biggest failures
have been the films that also had the largest budget. When 12 Monkeys
was tested prior to release, audiences were unsatisfied with the film, and it
looked to be another failure. Shockingly, Gilliam was able to release the film
as he had imagined, and it was a surprise success.
Not quite as surprising is the
relevance which remains in the visionary director’s re-imagining of the short
film, “La Jetée.” Perhaps now more than ever this apocalyptic vision of the
future has relevance. Although the film largely takes place in the 1990s (when
the world apparently ended, in a manner of speaking), the chaotic society of
fear and disease seems still able to mirror the world we live in today. Watching
the quarantine aspects of 12 Monkeys’ storyline amidst continued efforts to
contain the Covid virus is haunting, to say the least.
The film begins in the future, after
the civilization of humanity has all but perished, forced to live underground
due to a highly contagious deadly disease. The future earth is ruled by the animals
on the surface, who are immune to the virus that caused humans to go into
hiding. James Cole (Bruce Willis) is simply one of many men kept in cages for
experiments. He is sent to the surface and then later given the task of time
travel, all so that he might discover a clue that will help the future society
to find a cure of some sort.
When he arrives in 1990, Cole’s tales
of a future apocalypse quickly find him put away in a mental asylum. Within the
asylum he meets Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt), a man who claims to be the son of
an extremely important man, despite his mad ravings. Cole is given a
psychiatrist Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe), who is amazed to find that his
story may be true after he vanishes, only to appear again in 1996, the actual
year of the supposed disaster.
There is
something of a mystery in regard to the way that the world ends, and who is to
blame. In a dream which bookends the film, there are hints that the man
responsible could be Jeffrey, but there is also a futility in the effort to
stop the disaster which simply adds to the madness of the film. The
performances are all dead-on, slightly over-the-top while completely fitting
the chaotic storytelling which Gilliam plans for this apocalyptic journey into
the future.
Arrow Video’s 4K
Ultra HD release of 12 Monkeys contains a brand new 4K restoration from
the original film negative, approved by Gilliam himself. The UHD Blu-ray contains
Dolby Vision and lossless DTS-HD Master Audio. The release comes with original
artwork used for the cardboard sleeve and the reversible cover, which has the
original artwork on the opposite side. Additionally, there is a booklet insert
containing an essay by Ian Christie, author of Gilliam on Gilliam, and another
by film critic Nathan Rabin.
Special features are also included on
the disc itself. There is a commentary track with Gilliam and producer Charles Roven,
taken from the film’s original release. Additionally, there is the feature-length
making-of documentary, The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of Twelve Monkeys.
The final special feature is a 1996 filmed interview with Gilliam by critic
Jonathan Romney from the London Film Festival.
Entertainment Value:
9/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 10/10
Historical
Significance: 10/10
Special Features: 8/10
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