12 Monkeys

I just finished watching 12 Monkeys and ihave to say i enjoyed it. One of the best time traveling movies, if not the best,but i just have one question....how many times does bruce go into the past?

How many times is he sent backwards in time, or how many time periods does he land in? That "good observer" Cole (Willis) is sent backward by the scientists three times, and to three different years as well:

• the first trip he is accidentally sent to 1990 instead of 1996 - that's where he is locked in the ward, and meets Dr. Railly (Madeline Stowe) and Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt). He is dragged back through time after being locked in solitary.
• the second trip he first lands in France during World War I and is shot in the leg, but then is quickly removed to 1996. This is when he kidnaps Railly and confronts Jeffrey at his father's mansion. He is moved back forward through time in the woods, just before he is arrested.
• the third and final trip he goes back to 1996 again. By the end he realizes the images that have haunted him since childhood are from witnessing his own death.

I love Gilliam's 12 Monkeys. I saw it six times in the theater and countless times on LaserDisc. I think it's the best Science Fiction film since BladeRunner (1982), and definitely the best released in the '90s. I'd call it the best time travel movie ever made too.

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Moved this to the Movie Review section.

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"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg

if bruce willis dies when he is time travelling in the past....does he still exist in the future eg. when he is a child

Well, yes. He exists as the child in 1996 who grows into the adult from 2035 who he sees shot and killed. Not too difficult a paradox to understand, is it? If the timetraveling adult self had somehow killed his child self, THAT would have been bad news and screwed up a continuum.

terry gilliam is seriously one of the greatest directors... brazil, 12 monkeys and fear and loathing... all incredible flicks.

hes one of my top 3 directors
fincher, gilliam, aronofsky in no particular order

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losing all hope is freedom

WOW , this is in my top 10 ever ... a masterpeice.

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Death to Smoochy is my most anticipated movie of 2002.

Hi Luvs,
Really loved 12 monkeys -- but I am having this big argument: I say that the madeline stowe-loves-brucew doctor is the same person (now older) as the cruel lady doctor who sends brucew into the past. The time sequence is right. The smile is right. The kink is right.
What say?
Love,
Jozie

Uh, no, you're absolutely wrong on that theory. The red-headed scientist (an astrophysicist) from the future - who appears in the "present" on the airplane at the very end ("I'm in insurance") is definitely NOT supposed to be the pychiatrist Dr. Railly (Madeline Stowe).

Don't know how you formed such a wild connection, but it's just not true in any way, shape or form. Sorry.

Dear Holden,
Yeah, that's the scene I meant. I just was sure . . . it would have made such perfect sense, you know, that he had sacrificed himself, and that she had tried to prevent it at the last min -- that they would tell the world to go to the devil for . . . and so they had not really changed the future at all . . . yeah, yeah, that's a girl thing, but it was all one big paradox to begin with, him meeting himself and seeing himself die, so she had come back to prevent herself from saving him so they could tell the world to go to the devil . . . so which was the right way for the future to be saved -- for him to die or not? -- so it all works out in a wierd paradoxical Pythonesque way . . .
No?
Ah well. I thought it was a pretty interesting theory, anyway.
Love,
Joxie
PS How did you like fifth element?

The Fifth Element is fun, but it's no 12 Monkeys. Not much is.

This may be off-topic, but I wanted to share:

My friend Brock saw 12 Monkeys in the theater one night after drinking two bottles of Robotussin (a very dumb way to get messed up, but it makes you hallucinate and it's not illegal, so "Robo" used to be a lot of my friends' favorite "drug"). He was trying to tell us about it the next day, but all he could remember was that Bruce Willis' face got messed up and Brad Pitt kept flipping everyone (other characters, the camera) the bird.

Needless to say, I was very confused, and was relieved when I finally saw it (on video, alas--didn't get the big screen) and understood why Brock had so much trouble with it. It's a great movie, and complex, and crazy. The moral of the story? Don't do cough medicine and go see movies, kids. It can only end in fragmented memories and tears . However, on the plus side, you'll feel like you'll never, ever have to cough or sneeze again.

Robo-free for 23 years (and counting!),
Mary Lo

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You were a demon and a lawyer? Wow. Insert joke here."

Conversely, I saw 12 Monkeys with my best friend, and he was blown away with how much it reminded him of one of his acid trips. It was eerie to him. We saw the noon matinee opening day, then went back to the 7:00pm show. Went back Saturday afternoon too, and then the following weekend. A month or so later when it was in the dollar theater downtown, we saw it again. It amazed him/freaked him out each and every time.


So DO drugs, kids, plenty of 'em, as it gives you another layer of understanding to some terrific movies (why bother seeing 2001 straight?). Plus it just makes you a more well-rounded and tolerant person. Drugs, for lack of a better word, are good.*

*this portion of the message sponsored by High Times Magazine

"Have you ever seen The Wall? Have you ever seen The Wall... on weed?"

Good point, Holden.