tstone
07-22-2006, 09:31 AM
Can I get it out of the way and just say Terry Gilliam is a genius? Further, he's a genius that for the longest time I didn't recognize. And I seem to have accomplished alot of cultural growth in a relatively short amount of time, because 12 Monkeys came out in 1995 and I don't remember getting it. Time Bandits threw me the first time I saw it. It wasn't until much later that I did get it.
Well, I watched 12 Monkeys today. And again, whatever I've picked up in the last twelve years gleaned everything I was missing originally, and BAM!
12 Monkeys is a time travel story. It throws in the usual issues about the nature of time, fate, destiny and all that, but it does it in interesting, albeit bleak ways. Bruce Willis plays James Cole, a man from some undisclosed time in the future, when human civilization is clinging to life beneath the surface of our planet. Humanity was almost wiped out by a plague, driven underground to survive. Nature has retaken the surface, with animals roaming our once great cities.
Time travel, in this setting, seems to go with the single time line theory, just one time line to see. Further, once an event is established, there is no way to alter it. All you can do is try to alter the course from the "present". At least, that's what the bigwigs say. So there is no attempt to change the moment in time where the plague was released. Cole's mission is to retrieve the original virus and make it available to the scientists. They'll have what they need to wipe it from the surface.
Cole is originally mistakenly sent to 1990, which is an error. But it's the first time he encounters Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeline Stow) as well as nutty activists Jeffry Goines (Brad Pitt). Railly thinks he's crazy, but finds something compelling about his case. Goines, on the other hand, has Cole believing he will be the leader of the "Army of the 12 Monkeys", those the scientist from Cole's era believe will release the plague.
Cole is retrieved and sent out again. He again is sent to the wrong place initially, arriving in the French front lines during WWI. After meeting another time traveler and then getting shot, he arrives in 1996. He luxuriates in the things that exist in 96, including fresh air, open sky and music. And he finds himself being drawn to Reilly. Reilly, on the other hand, finds her world being shaken. Too many things happen that cause her to question her initial professional diagnosis of Cole's lunacy, the capper being the antique rifle bullet she extracted from his leg.
Cole doesn't want to leave this era and return to his grim one. And after they find the reason for the existence of the Army of the 12 Monkeys, there is reason for hope.
But...
Big questions, no real answers. But a compelling tale.
Ladyhawk-One of the other good sword and sorcery films out of the 80s. Light on the sorcery, really. The only magical/supernatural element is the curse carried by Étienne of Navarre (Rutger Hauer), former Captain of the Guard and Isabeau d'Anjou (Michelle Pfeifer). By day, she's a hawk. By night, he's a big, black wolf. They are cursed by the Bishop of Aquilla out of jealousy. Only in that brief instance of twilight/early dawn do they get to look on each other with human eyes, then it's gone.
Navarre meets Phillipe "The Mouse" Gastogne (Matthew Broderick), a young thief who's an escape' from Aquilla prison, which has a formidable rep as an inescapable prison. Navarre wants in, and wants The Mouse to help him. The Mouse really wants nothing to do with all this howdy hoo, but something keeps him there. And when they meet a monk who says God showed him the key to breaking the curse, Mouse comes along to play his part.
This is a lushly shot fable, using on location places to set the stage firmly in medieval Europe. The acting is good, especially with Rutger Hauer. The man is awesome.
This is a great one for fantasy fans, if you can get around the cheesy 80s keyboard and guitar choices for the soundtrack.
Well, I watched 12 Monkeys today. And again, whatever I've picked up in the last twelve years gleaned everything I was missing originally, and BAM!
12 Monkeys is a time travel story. It throws in the usual issues about the nature of time, fate, destiny and all that, but it does it in interesting, albeit bleak ways. Bruce Willis plays James Cole, a man from some undisclosed time in the future, when human civilization is clinging to life beneath the surface of our planet. Humanity was almost wiped out by a plague, driven underground to survive. Nature has retaken the surface, with animals roaming our once great cities.
Time travel, in this setting, seems to go with the single time line theory, just one time line to see. Further, once an event is established, there is no way to alter it. All you can do is try to alter the course from the "present". At least, that's what the bigwigs say. So there is no attempt to change the moment in time where the plague was released. Cole's mission is to retrieve the original virus and make it available to the scientists. They'll have what they need to wipe it from the surface.
Cole is originally mistakenly sent to 1990, which is an error. But it's the first time he encounters Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeline Stow) as well as nutty activists Jeffry Goines (Brad Pitt). Railly thinks he's crazy, but finds something compelling about his case. Goines, on the other hand, has Cole believing he will be the leader of the "Army of the 12 Monkeys", those the scientist from Cole's era believe will release the plague.
Cole is retrieved and sent out again. He again is sent to the wrong place initially, arriving in the French front lines during WWI. After meeting another time traveler and then getting shot, he arrives in 1996. He luxuriates in the things that exist in 96, including fresh air, open sky and music. And he finds himself being drawn to Reilly. Reilly, on the other hand, finds her world being shaken. Too many things happen that cause her to question her initial professional diagnosis of Cole's lunacy, the capper being the antique rifle bullet she extracted from his leg.
Cole doesn't want to leave this era and return to his grim one. And after they find the reason for the existence of the Army of the 12 Monkeys, there is reason for hope.
But...
Big questions, no real answers. But a compelling tale.
Ladyhawk-One of the other good sword and sorcery films out of the 80s. Light on the sorcery, really. The only magical/supernatural element is the curse carried by Étienne of Navarre (Rutger Hauer), former Captain of the Guard and Isabeau d'Anjou (Michelle Pfeifer). By day, she's a hawk. By night, he's a big, black wolf. They are cursed by the Bishop of Aquilla out of jealousy. Only in that brief instance of twilight/early dawn do they get to look on each other with human eyes, then it's gone.
Navarre meets Phillipe "The Mouse" Gastogne (Matthew Broderick), a young thief who's an escape' from Aquilla prison, which has a formidable rep as an inescapable prison. Navarre wants in, and wants The Mouse to help him. The Mouse really wants nothing to do with all this howdy hoo, but something keeps him there. And when they meet a monk who says God showed him the key to breaking the curse, Mouse comes along to play his part.
This is a lushly shot fable, using on location places to set the stage firmly in medieval Europe. The acting is good, especially with Rutger Hauer. The man is awesome.
This is a great one for fantasy fans, if you can get around the cheesy 80s keyboard and guitar choices for the soundtrack.