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Movies / On DVD / 12 Monkeys
12 Monkeys

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12 Monkeys (1995)

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Reviews Counted:17

Fresh:14

Rotten:3

Average Rating:6.8/10

Consensus: The plot's a bit of a jumble, but excellent performances and mind-blowing plot twists make 12 Monkeys a kooky, effective experience.

Runtime: 2 hrs 10 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Synopsis: In this intriguing science fiction film from director Terry Gilliam, penal colony prisoner James Cole must travel back in time from the year 2035 to find the cause of a virus that killed five... In this intriguing science fiction film from director Terry Gilliam, penal colony prisoner James Cole must travel back in time from the year 2035 to find the cause of a virus that killed five billion people in 1997. Cole's trip into the past won't be easy. For starters, he winds up in the wrong year on his first attempt. Once, as he time-travels, Cole ends up a prisoner in an insane asylum in 1990. There, he meets psychiatrist Kathryn Railly and inmate Jeffrey Goines, who could hold the key to the epidemic's spread. Cole later winds up in the middle of a World War I battlefield. After meeting James for a second time, in another year, Dr. Railly gets further involved in his quest. Although she thinks at first that Cole must be crazy, Kathryn soon starts to believe him and attempts to help. But James has already started to question his own sanity and tries to figure out if his journeys through time are real or if he's just been imagining everything. [More]

Starring: Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, Madeleine Stowe, Christopher Plummer

Starring: Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, Madeleine Stowe, Christopher Plummer

Director: Terry Gilliam

Director: Terry Gilliam
Producer: Charles Roven
Composer: Paul Buckmaster

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Jul 28, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 

Blu-ray Disc Features:

  • Region [unknown]
  • Widescreen

Audio:

  • DTS 5.1 Surround - Spanish
  • DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 - English
  • Subtitles - English, SDH, Spanish

Additional Release Material:

  • Audio Commentary: Director Terry Gilliam and Producer Charles Roven
  • Trailer

Featurette:

  • 1. The Hamster Factor & Other Tales of 12 Monkeys
  • 2. 12 Monkeys Archives

Interactive Features:

  • BD Live: Basic Download Center
 
 
 
 

Reviews for 12 Monkeys

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1 - 16 (sorted by date)
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Neither as visually compelling as Brazil nor as emotionally gripping as The Fisher King.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/26/09
Variety Staff
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There's always overripe method to his madness, but in the new 12 Monkeys Mr. Gilliam's methods are uncommonly wrenching and strong.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/20/03
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Bruce Willis, in an eruptive performance of startling emotional intensity, stars as Cole, a prisoner tagged for an experiment that may get him killed.

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
05/12/01
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Mystifying, intriguing, even infuriating, it shows what happens when an unconventional talent meets straightforward material.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
02/13/01
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Willis and Pitts's performances, Gilliam's atmospherics and an exhilarating momentum easily outweigh such trifling flaws.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
02/13/01
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A consistently engaging motion picture.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

In some ways, 12 Monkeys is the end-of-the-world thriller that Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days wanted to be.

comment Comment
01/01/00
John Hartl
John Hartl
Film.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

At one point Cole says that viewing the past is like watching a good movie, 'Every time you see it it's different, because you're different.' 12 Monkeys is a film that will do that, change as you change.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Keith Simanton
Keith Simanton
Film.com
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A potent glimpse of doom with a jarringly familiar ring.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Peter Stack
Peter Stack
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

In its frantic mix of chaos, carnage and zoo animals, 12 Monkeys is Jumanji for adults.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment 3 Comments
01/01/00
Richard Corliss
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A densely plotted, visually dynamic post-apocalyptic thriller.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Rita Kempley
Rita Kempley
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

As an entertainment, it appeals more to the mind than to the senses.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

What's remarkable about 12 Monkeys is that, despite its decade-hopping abandon, the film makes a chilling kind of narrative sense.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Scott Rosenberg
Scott Rosenberg
Salon.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Willis gives a quietly intense performance, looking like he's trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle in his head.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Sean Means
Sean Means
Film.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Overwrought.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
01/01/00
Susan Stark
Susan Stark
Detroit News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This film hits a nerve a lot more effectively than either the director's Brazil or The Fisher King.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Tom Keogh
Tom Keogh
Film.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 16 (sorted by date)
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