Okay. It's a rule of mine not to give away spoilers when reviewing a film. So with that being said, this may be a cohesive mess of a review, but do know, it's that way because I respect you. "12 Monkeys" is a time travel film - thus meaning logic should be forgiven for the sake of entertainment. It's the same forgiveness extended to "The Terminator" movies (one and two at least) and even the original "The Time Machine" - three films I really love. The story, simply put, is about a criminal in the future who is experimented on in the form of a time travel program that might save civilization, which has been forced to move underground due to a deadly virus.
The movie is interesting. It is fast paced. But sadly, it's completely stupid. Where great action and solid writing made the other previously mentioned time travel films work, this one was a clunky mess that ended with a conclusion that I completely hated. The characters were completely ill-conceived and defined characteristics of the more irrational levels. The more recent "Shutter Island", a movie I wasn't crazy about, at least captured well the prison aspect this film seemed to want to have - but didn't. So while I kept watching, in the end it wasn't a worthwhile way to spend two hours and four minutes. If I could go back in time, I would chose something else for this project. Brad Pitt's performance was great, and seeing animals run amok is always awesome, but this film still only earns a 4 out of 10 from me.
SPOILER WARNING: One big reason I hated much of it was that the title was completely stupid as it really had nothing to do with things. I really feel whoever wrote this film had great things planned for the ending, but couldn't work them out so they resorted to the cheap Hollywood ending. And the amazing Christopher Plummer was completely underused. Pity.
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