Review 5: Twelve Monkeys

Hello again folks, and welcome to the fifth entry of haveyouseenitall.com. Notice the brand new banner and enjoy the progress this blog is making!

So, I read a post about the ten best time travel films of all time, and upon reading it, I saw a film called Twelve Monkeys. Naturally, I was attracted to it because of Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt and the mention of a mental institution. 

This film is well pieced together, visually captivating and has a brilliant storyline (credited from La Jetee, of course). We start off in Bruce Willis' dream, of a woman running towards a man. This is not explained to us, straight away hooking the audience. This is repeated throughout the film, creating a recurring theme, allowing us to link back with other parts of the storyline, and also making us desperate to find out what's going on. One of my favourite parts has to be when we are first introduced to Brad Pitt. His mannerisms are absolutely fantastic, and the use of the cartoon television noises behind him really emphasised his madness. He was completely captivating, no wonder he won countless awards for 'Best Actor in Supporting Role' for this film.  The continuing mannerisms made him stand out above all others, and even (dare I say it?) above Bruce Willis, although he did impress me with some of his scenes. He was able to show how different his world was to the others around him, which is a skill that not many actors have. Madeleine Stowe also put in a good appearance, playing the role of psychiatrist turned runaway with ease. 

Another aspect of the film that stood out for me was the French inspired background music, obviously taken from La Jetee. It really worked with the different scenes and was integrated well in order to create emphasis and tension within the storyline. Terry Gwilliam directed this film brilliantly, and integrated the future and past fluently. Despite this, if you're one of those people who didn't get 'Inception' or 'Avatar', this may not be the film for you. 

Overall, my IMDb rating for this film was 9 stars out of 10, as I really enjoyed the direction and feel to it. It's definitely one to watch again and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys really good films. I was also inspired to watch Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo', as one of the scenes is shown in this film. Look out for that review coming your way soon!