It can be hard to find sci-fi movies and TV that don’t completely dissolve by their endings, but one 1995 movie starring Bruce Willis held its nerve. Case in point, fromLosttoStar Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker, J.J. Abrams has divided audiences, with some claiming his work is some of the best ever made and others loudly proclaiming its rapid descent into nonsense as each project nears completion. However, the same can’t be said for one ofBruce Willis' best sci-fi movies, artfully directed by Terry Gilliam and released in 1995.
This movie is the brilliant12 Monkeysand is probably Gilliam’s best, althoughFear and Loathing in Las VegasandMonty Python and the Holy Grailare also in the running. While the 2007 pictureI Am Legendended with the most unsatisfying character death, andA.I. Artificial Intelligencehad huge scale and potential, but an ending with very flimsy justification,12 Monkeysis a rare sci-fi movie that sticks the landing.From12 Monkeys’timelineand consistent approach to time travel to Willis and Brad Pitt’s convincing performances, the ending actually works.
12 Monkeys Is A Sci-Fi Movie With An Ending That’ll Leave You Satisfied
12 Monkeys Has A Convincing Conclusion
Amidst a sea of sci-fi movies with premises too ambitious to resolve,12 Monkeysstands out above the crowd. The movie opens with a shot of a child and a woman lamenting the gunning down of a man in an airport and fades to Bruce Willis in a cell. This smart introduction sets up the rest of the movie for success, enabling it to end neatly with a perfectly circular ending.In the end,12 Monkeyscircles back to its opening scene,having gradually explained it.
This may not be immediately noticeable, given all the twists and turns that make this one ofthe best dystopian sci-fi movies of the 1990s. It is easy to forget just how the movie starts. Viewers get quickly absorbed into the epic scale, switching between fast-paced and tightly shot action scenes and more relaxed parts of the saga that accurately evince the passage of time. But the movie does explain its opening shot smartly in its last scenes, leaving viewers reeling with an emotional sucker-punch of a reveal.
12 Monkeysis based onLa Jetée,a French featurette released in 1962.
12 Monkeysshows Willis' character getting more and more disgruntled as it goes on, occasionally blurring the line between dream and reality. It would have been all too easy for the movie to end without confirming which was which. Instead, it goes for gold, confirming who gets shot at the start, and exactly what happens to the main character, concluding his story completely. More than that, the appearance of his boss at the end confirms that he was able to carry out his mission.This is the bittersweet stuff of Hollywood perfection, given the tragic story.
12 Monkeys' Depiction Of Time Travel Is One Of The Best In Sci-Fi
There Is Logic Behind Time Travel In 12 Monkeys
12 Monkeys’depiction of time travelis one of the best in cinema. In its circularity, it aptly summarizes what most time travel movies struggle to portray — the paradox inherent to time travel.12 Monkeyssuccessfully examines the question of whether or not someone can be in two placesat once. The movie implies that the child in the opening shot is Willis' character (James Cole) by how it cuts to him and proceeds to display his long-suffering, traumatized persona. But it becomes clear that Cole is also the man being gunned down.
This is oddly obscured at the start. In12 Monkeys’opening scene, the adult Cole and his lover, Dr. Railly, are both wearing wigs, as they are on the run. This hides them from the young Cole and the viewer, enabling the movie to startin media res, fully explain why it started that way by its end, and stun viewers with a jaw-dropping time-travel reveal. The wigs are Gilliam’s dream plot device, preventing the opening scene from giving the game away. One of those raremovies where everything comes full circleby the end,12 Monkeysnails time travel.
Twelve Monkeys
Cast
Twelve Monkeys is a science fiction film directed by Terry Gilliam, released in 1995. It follows convict James Cole, played by Bruce Willis, as he is sent back in time to investigate the origins of a virus that devastated humanity. In 1990, Cole encounters psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly and Jeffrey Goines, intertwined with the enigmatic Army of the 12 Monkeys.
