12 Monkeys

The future's so bright, Bruce Willis's gotta live in the shade (as in way underground) in director Terry Gilliam's satirical futuristic thriller. Traveling back to the 1990s from the year 2035, expendable convict James Cole (Willis) is sent to discover the connection (if any) between a graffiti depicting 12 monkeys and a virus that wiped out mankind, sending the survivors underground. Dismissed as a nutcase, Cole is tossed into a loony bin under the care of sympathetic shrink Madeleine Stowe. Here he meets schizophrenic Jeffrey Goines (the Oscar-nominated Brad Pitt) who sheds a little cockeyed light on the subject. Not without its logic faults, this $57 million boxoffice winner that reminds viewers it's a thin line between sane and mad is still evolutionary steps above most contemporary sci-fi. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman) [DVD Review--April 26, 2005--Universal, 130 min., R, $14.98--Making its third appearance on DVD, 1996's 12 Monkeys has been digitally remastered, but the first two DVD releases were great looking, and this latest version includes only the Dolby Digital 5.1 track, leaving out the DTS track from the last release. The extras remain the same, including audio commentary by director Terry Gilliam and producer Charles Roven, " the 88-minute "making of" documentary "The Hamster Factor,' photo galleries, and trailers. Bottom line: if you already own the earlier version with the extras, there's no reason to add this.] [Blu-ray Review—July 21, 2009—Universal, 130 min., R, $29.98—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1995's 12 Monkeys features a nice transfer and a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. Blu-ray extras are identical to those on the previous standard DVD release, including audio commentary by director Terry Gilliam and producer Charles Roven, ' the 88-minute 'making-of' documentary 'The Hamster Factor,' photo galleries, and trailers. Bottom line: Gilliam's winning sci-fi action film makes a welcome debut in Blu.] [Blu-ray Review—Oct. 16, 2018—Arrow, 129 min., R, Blu-ray: $39.95—Making its latest appearance on Blu-ray, 1995’s 12 Monkeys features a fine transfer with DTS-HD 5.1 audio. Extras include audio commentary by director Terry Gilliam and producer Charles Roven, the production features 'The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of 12 Monkeys' (88 min.) and '12 Monkeys Archive' (40 min.), a 1996 'The Film Exchange' interview with Gilliam (24 min.), and a new appreciation by film scholar Ian Christie (16 min.). Bottom line: a handsome edition of Gilliam’s contemporary sci-fi classic.]