12 Monkeys (1995)
Are time travel films from the past better?
Presentation:
Time travel has been done many times, but even the originals have something fresh up their sleeves that make them even more innovative than modern ones. 12 Monkeys is a dystopian steampunk sci-fi thriller that has other themes hidden under the trunk. It has a unique take on the future that makes the look of this film stand out even in 2025. Lots of good looking practical effects and cinematography. The film utilizes slow motion and clipped highlights to depict dream-like sequences. The whole film has a veil of haze that makes you wonder what is real and not. The framing and camera work is engrossing in the beginning but does get lazy over time. The main criticism of this film is the performances. Bruce Willis accurately depicts a schizophrenic doomsayer, which is quite morose given his real state of dementia. Brad Pitt and Madeleine Stowe on the other hand are underwhelming. Some may say Pitt has great method acting, but his craziness isn’t convincing to me especially with his regular speech cadence unchanged. Stowe is completely flat and devoid of substance. The soundtrack has a french tone to it that wasn’t a perfect match, but I still liked it aside from the fact that it became pretty repetitive.
Analysis:
The film is a typical closed time loop, an ouroboros where any attempts to change the past actually cause it. There's a sense of inevitability that is quite beautifully represented through Willis. The motivation of the scientists are dubious, likely motivated by power. The reasoning is to gather data data to cure the disease in the present, but couldn't they just attempt to change the past instead if they wanted to cure it? The reveal is they want it to happen, likely because they can be perceived as heroes in ruined world, or to develop the time traveling technology. This is the reason they give him the gun. But this is the least interesting aspect of the film in my opinion. There are more interesting questions asked like are we in the past or present? The outlook of always living the present is quite liberating in that audiences can share the sentiment. There's also a few moments where we question reality, the point of view of schizophrenia, which is the true reality? And we can decide for ourselves to live presently in the past or return to the future. This ends up being quite dark as the film ends on the note that everything is actually futile and we are not in control of our destinies. Nonetheless, it was a very good ride where we can question the premise and the reveal of the time loop is also quite well done with the disguises that made it hard to see coming.
Conclusion:
There’s ultimately more to love than hate in this film. Sure, there awkward scenes and mismatched audio that makes it hard to hear the dialogue. There’s also a light caperish TV tone that doesn’t really fit the themes of the film, but that might be the charm of these 1990s films. The tipping point are the themes that are implemented in a surprisingly thoughtful way that make you think about the film. Sci-fi films don’t provoke thought or philosophical elements as much as they should and that is why this film is enough of a win for me. I’m not crazy!
Recommendations
Last student standing wins.