CLASSIC MOVIE CORNER: '12 Monkeys' (1995)

“12 Monkeys” (1995)

MPAA Rating: R

Directed by: Terry Gilliam

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

The Gist: Is madness an appropriate response to an insane world?

The Story: In the near future, humankind has been ravaged by a super-virus. James Cole (Willis) is a violent criminal imprisoned by an authoritarian society, built beneath the ruins of what was once Philadelphia. Until scientists can find a cure, the plague forces people to live huddled underground. Cole is drafted to shoot backwards in time to find clues about the plague’s origin, then return to the future with his findings. But “science ain’t an exact science” and Cole ends up being whipsawed back and forth between alternate realities. Dr. Kathryn Railly (Stowe) is a psychiatrist who discovers Cole’s crazed apocalyptic babblings are true.

The Review: “12 Monkeys” is one of cinema’s greatest mind benders. You can watch this film over and over, and each time, come away with subtly different interpretations of what you’ve just seen. With “12 Monkeys” and the previous year’s “Pulp Fiction,” Willis showed he was more than just a diehard action hero. Pitt, who was Oscar-nominated for Best Supporting Actor, demolished his pretty boy image. Gilliam, an obsessively perfectionist director with a reputation for making costly box-office flops, proved he could deliver a hit. For maximum viewing pleasure, try watching this as a double feature with “The Terminator,” another great time-travel brain scrambler.

The Classic Quote: Cole: “Look at them. They're just asking for it. Maybe the human race deserves to be wiped out.” Goines (Pitt): “Wiping out the human race? That's a great idea. That's great. But more of a long-term thing.