12 Monkeys
There is something unforgettable about “La Jetée” and now I know what it is. Basically “12 Monkeys” is everything that “La Jetée” is not and vice versa. “12 Monkeys” is suspenseful, Hollywood-ish, full of hot actors sexily beaten up, yet I kept missing what I saw in “La Jetée”: Atmosphere, romance and a beautiful, simple love story with a woman from the past. Somehow I prefer somebody who clings onto the past for something as romantic as the obsession for a woman, instead of just liking the old world. I loved the idea of this woman to be the key of the whole story; compared to her, the female protagonist in this film is utterly boring and colorless.
“12 Monkeys” on the other hand is a science-fiction thriller and needs to be understood as such. Its main protagonists played by Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt are absolutely brilliant, especially the latter. I also agree with Ebert that this movie is much more a film for the mind rather the eye (which is more the specialty of “La Jetée”). “12 Monkeys” has a rather complicated story and is so immensely full of references to movies, especially the Hitchcocks. It’s the 90’s “Inglorious Basterds”!
Finally, I enjoyed “12 Monkeys” very much even though it (yet again) didn’t really meet my expectations. It’s a wonderful film for being a Hollywood action flick and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
I enjoyed Twelve Monkeys, mainly because it’s *just* different enough from similar Hollywood sci-fi thrillers. I’m not sure whether it’s Willis’ performance (making his character more vulnerable than the type he usually plays was an important factor I think) or Pitt’s (who gets cast because of his good looks but is in fact a more versatile actor than most people give him credit for). Or maybe it’s because Terry Gilliam does things a bit differently. He seems to be in an unusul position in that he’s an A-list director, but and indie/arthouse director at heart. A similar position that Tim Burton holds in the industry I suppose, although they’re very different in style.
Which reminds me, I need to add Brazil to my ‘to watch’ list! Have you seen that yet, by the way?
I have heard lots of great things about “Brazil”, but I haven’t seen it yet. I should add it too!
“12 Monkeys” is indeed very special, when the movie came out I thought it was a mindless action movie – how wrong I was! Actually I have always found Brad Pitt to be pretty good, just always a little bit not good enough. I read this article that saw the reason of Pitt’s bad reputation in the fact that he always appears together with other actors who outshine him (Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman). In this film, he tackles this challenging role quite well, but is just no match against Willis.