The kid in the airport is James. He remembered the scenes in the airport because he witnessed them as a kid. He survived the plague and when he grew up he was recruited to go back to help stop the plague from happening. He ended up throwing off the scientists in the future by causing the lady to send the message about the Army of the 12 Monkeys. Terry Gilliam was a member of Monty Python. He did all the animations and occasionally acted as a character. He became one of the most wild and creative movie makers of all time. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Brazil, The Fisher King, Tidelands - all are wild trips. And isn't Madeline Stowe absolutely gorgeous!
@@ColinPoole I remember when Siskel and Ebert reviewed Munchausen. They said, "Sometimes you hear that it cost $40 million (at that time a huge budget for a movie) and you wonder what they could have spent it on. In this movie, you see every single dollar that they spent."
Fear & Loathing is one of my favorite movies of all time. I'll admit, besides Holy Grail, I haven't seen any of the older Terry Gilliam films you mentioned. I need to.
Also that last scene on the plane was in fact the head future scientist, but she traveled back to the past to secure a sample of the unmutated virus, being something the scientists would handle personally and not trust to a random expendable prisoner. Fortunately they were able to get pretty good at getting the time and place right! But who knows how many times they had to try to perfect it, the bum that calls Frank Bob seemed to be going back and forth a bunch of times. The unfortunate thing is that in order for her to get the message who actually spread the virus and when/where it started they had to let things play out and 5 billion people had to die, the world had to fall into ruin because the movie takes place in the past, the present is already known!
The scientist lady at the end says she works in insurance because Cole failed to shoot him. She is there to get the un-mutated form of the virus. Also if you like this type of mind bend I'd recommend 'The Thirteenth Floor' and 'Dark City'.
And the final scene with the head scientist was there because when she ran up to James and he was asking Jose who to shoot, she yells out it was dr goins assistant! He’s an apocalypse nut! Jose over heard her and went back to the future. If you like this movie I really recommend that you check out Brazil. I’ve been a member of your channel almost since the beginning, and I live your reactions man!
The scientist at the end said she was in insurance as she went back herself to take out Dr Peters. The people in the future were reacting to what was going in real time, like sending the guy back to give James a gun. The kid was also 100% James. You need to watch this movie twice to really understand it. It still remains an underrated masterpiece.
@@n0tk0sher yes, i think the point of any of them (including the scientist) going back is not to kill anyone or change the past/future, but to gather information thats been lost in the collapse of society to help them combat the virus in the present. they say it a couple of times in the film, that you cant change the whats already happened...
No the virus was already released at the airport. That scene was there just to show us that the "scientists" Are actually just normal people not real scientists and that they really don't know their time machines
Brazil is such a weird, funny, thoughtful, surprising, awkward, beautiful, dystopian movie. I love DeNiro as the renegade plumber, he really likes to ham it up with roles like that.
As others have pointed out: 1. The kid is James. Stowe searches for him in the crowd because he just told her he saw this as a child. 2. The doctor was sent back to either get a pure strain or less likely to kill him. ("Insurance" is a mafia/gangster film reference to a hitman that ensures a kill.) Otherwise, why hasn't the doctor aged, why would she monolog about humanity, and why would she "change" jobs? The writing is too tight to be that sloppy. It's meant to be a hopeful ending.
I've seen this movie so many times over the years and this is the first time I realized that lady on the plane was one of the scientists from the future.
I feel like it was the female doc at the end that tried to "fix it" cause she initially wanted it, but it panned out bad. Seems like she was in control the whole time and biaccidently looped it.
"The Fisher King" is Gilliam's masterpiece in my opinion, though it's not a mind bender. It has great writing and the acting by the small ensemble is the best from each actor I've seen (Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Amanda Plummer, Mercedes Rheul, Michael Jeter). "Brazil" is most people's favorite.
Brazil certainly has a mood and a vision, but it left me a little underwhelmed if I'm being honest. The Fisher King is one of my all-time favorite movies.
Having only seen this once before now, I never realized how much like the Fisher King it is. I think which is better depends entirely on whether you like human-level stakes or cosmic stakes. Both so good!
My preference is Brazil, but I would have no arguement if someone selected Fisher King or 12 Monkeys as his masterpiece. I think it depends on the person. They are all great. To add to your list of Fisher King actors Kathy Najimy. It may not be her best work, but her line "I'm looking for something Chevy Chasey, Goldie Hawny" is comedic gold.
@@mobiusbelts3607Audiophile is talking about the movie's main theme, and Mobius you are talking about the track that we can listen in the intro and outdo while Brandon do his thing
This film is a masterpiece - They need an unmutated strain of the virus. The lead scientist is there to catch the virus and return to the future. Her sacrifice will save the world. This is based on a French short film called 'La Jetee', which was adapted here by one of the writers of Blade Runner. As many others have said see 'Brazil'. I would also recommend 'The Machinist' and 'Vanilla Sky', for reasons you'll understand after you've watched them... Character actor David Morse plays the assistant, he's been in more big movies than you might imagine...
Yes, I think the actress' tone, the stare, and the handshake to contract the virus, suggests her sacrifice as well as her meeting the cause of all the destruction.
Ive never read the short story, but I thought in the movie, they were going into the past to actually get a sample of the virus in its pure form... The virus still existed on the surface, thats why they had to live underground and wear suits when they went to the surface. The scientist needed one of the tubes with the virus in its first form.... then they could make a cure. She had no intention of getting sick and sacrificing herself.
@@itubeutubewealltube1 The original is a short black and white film. The past has already happened so 5 billion people will die, as the assistant virologist travels around the globe. She needs to contract the disease, as nothing outside the body time jumps. The spider in Cole's stomach, and the bullet in his leg do move through time.
@@portland-182 I see, but in the movie she will obviously just put a vial in a bag and shove it up her assssssss. ha. The virus already exist on the surface in the future, they needed a pure strain... but maybe she does infect herself with that strain, but I doubt since the case of vials are right there.
I love how your mind was truly mindblowingly lost in the final act haha. It was indeed James all along as a kid watching his own death and Katherine realizes it wasn't just a dream of the Old James, so she lets out a smile at him. As for the doctor in the plane, my favorite theory is the scientists in the future get alerted by Jose as to who's the real responsible of the virus release, and the doctor is now travelling back in time to get a pure sample of it. Really an amazing, underated film.
@@magtovi But she doesn't stop the pandemic from happening, it's already started to happen when the vial was opened in the airport. I don't agree that she is there to try to stop it, she is there to get the non-mutated form of the virus so that they can make a vaccine to rescue the future (or present, from her point of view). Throughout the entire movie it is shown time and again (in an extremely clever and intricately woven plot too, I might add) that one can't change the future, everything that is done in the past just becomes part of what causes the inescapable future. It would make no sense from a narrative point of view arbitrarily just to change the movie's own universal laws right at the end, especially after making so much cerebral effort to establish them. The makers of Terminator 3 adopted that idea too, where, despite the audience believing that the future could be changed based on the events of Terminator 2, the reality was that it was inevitable and would happen anyway.
@@magtovi The pandemic happened. The movie is clear on the idea that you can't change the past. She was definitely there to get the objective - insure success - a sample of the unmutated virus.
Oh man, you should watch the show. It's got the same setup but goes way way further with everything. It's one of the best time travel stories you will ever watch. I love the Gillian film, but the series completely blew me away with how well plotted out it was. It's super complicated but every little piece fits. And it's got one of the best endings of any tv series. Highly, highly recommend.
What show? Did they really make a series outta this? So many good scifi stories to pick from & they're just trying to reap from a classic movie?! Hollywood is dead, I need to get down to script writing! ;P
@@allisterfiend_2112 you should continue. The narrative shifts in season 2 and it becomes something way bigger than just the virus and it's really cool. they were given 2 seasons to end the show after season 2 so everything is really well thought through. the broke down the series finale and went backwards. making sure every episode connected.
Brandon if I had not already been a subscriber to your channel... your reaction here would have absolutely solidified it . This is one of my all time favorite movies and it is really great that you were genuinely intrigued with this film ; I am very glad you appreciate everything that went into it . Thank you very much for your honesty at what you thought of this film as it was evolving before you . Have a Blessed & Merry Christmas
I am so happy that you watched this movie! Love your reactions and this is one of my favorites. Yeah, it’s tough to understand the first time through but it’s a freaking masterpiece and one of the best time travel movies of all time. A true rarity.
It's a very bittersweet film. James and Kathryn are doomed to play out their parts in a fixed past and walk towards their own demise, just as it happens to the main characters in Vertigo, the Hitchcock classic referenced in 12 Monkeys. The ending is ambigious and it's entirely up to you to decide what the lead scientist alludes to, when she says 'I'm in insurance'. Based on everything we've seen up until that ending and the tone of the film, I agree that she's there to secure a sample of the original virus and let the past be the past.
I love the _Vertigo_ nod. That moment James sees Kathryn with her newly blond hair and you hear the same music from _Vertigo_ as plays when Scotty first sees Judy with "Madeleine's" blond hair ... shivers.
I've never seen this but I've been meaning too though for many years, this came out the year I was born. The homeless guy with no teeth is my mom's best friends, dad, Harry Otoole. He's a small time actor, this was his biggest role. He and I are both from Pittsburgh.
I love this movie. I especially love how the relationship evolves between Cole and Kathryn. It really gave this movie a heart that I think is lacking in a lot of other Terry Gilliam movies. I have a few thoughts (which you're unlikely to see, since as I type this, there are well over 400 comments): a) The kid in the airport was Bruce Willis. So when Kathryn locked eyes with him, it was this really nice, emotional moment. She knew it was him as a child (since he told her throughout of having this airport memory). b) I believe the lead woman scientist showing up at the end wasn't meant to imply that she was nefarious. (b1) It was either a bit of irony (meaning she happened to cross paths with the bad guy when she was younger, and not known it). (b2) Or it was a sign that Bruce Willis' mission was successful; he had provided the scientists in the future enough info so that they could go back in time and gather more information about the origin of the virus (which I believe was the mission stated at the beginning of the movie). That would mean that that was literally the scientist from the future having gone back to the past. c) Bruce Willis' actions were not in vain. He did provide valuable information to the future scientists. Before, they thought that Jeffrey Goines was the cause of the virus. By telling them it was actually the assistant, they were more likely to find a cure in the future. d) I believe there are two explanations as to why Bruce Willis airport memory first showed Brad Pitt, but when it actually happened, it was the assistant. (d1) Kathryn was correct earlier when she was tied up in the motel room, in that your memories/dreams can change based on what you're currently experiencing. Because Bruce Willis had just met Brad Pitt at that point, his mind replaced Pitts face with the true childhood memory of seeing the assistant's face. (d2) This explanation I like better: Maybe in an earlier timeline Brad Pitt HAD been the cause of the virus. However, because Bruce Willis had warned Kathryn, SHE warned the virologist father. And so the virologist made it impossible for Jeffrey to ever get access to the virus. But this set in motion an alternative timeline, one in which the crazy assistant now had access to the virus. And so HE ended up spreading it around the world.
My father had written off Brad Pitt as just another unimpressive "pretty boy" before he saw this film. This was the "oh my god, he can ACT!" moment for him and it turned his opinion of the man 180 degrees. As I've gotten older, I do think he was being far too harsh and dismissive of Pitt's earlier work, but I do agree this was so far outside what Pitt was known for at the time and it really showed his range better than most.
i was guilty of the same thing with di caprio. romeo and juliet, followed by titanic was my intro to him, i always disregarded him. but my god over the years he has released one outstanding performance after another.
@@Faiiltrain same. its often difficult to differentiate between the actor and the role. and of course you can only be as good as the director and editor allow you to be.
the boy is Cole, he witnesses his own death as a child. in doing so, getting to that point Cole discovers who released the virus and the scientists can then intervene hence the doc on the plane who is "in insurance"
@@RUclipsChannel-dk5xv we as viewers are supposed to believe the scientists will henceforth have discovered and obtained the original virus before it mutates as per the plan. as to what that changes is anyone's guess and even if that means more of them affecting events in their past and actually changing them, its nto a story linked to Cole's inevitable cycle of events.
@@RUclipsChannel-dk5xv where did i suggest they aimed to change the past, or the future via the past? im talking about events after Cole's inevitable demise, which is fixed in time, but the information that provides the scientists. they cant predict Cole's life until they have also experienced their involvement relevant to their current timeline, they can react to information they receive but only based on the past outcomes to their own current actions. they ofc cannot predict the future. past present and future are only relevant from the perspective of who is using them. the only change to any time line is the retrieval of information (a sample if we assume they could move it forward in time with them) of a virus before it mutated. the "future" can then move forward with that knowledge whereas they previously to this story, would not have had. assuming we can all agree that the boundaries of this story are limited to 1 single time line.
now if they planned to go back and give this information to themselves BEFORE the release of the virus we are then creating more than 1 timeline relevant to the story we have already experienced (which the TV show did until its head exploded), but as far as this movie goes we only get the 1 timeline that results in a happy ending for the future depending on what they do with it. OR, they could go back in time and totally screw the universe or simply bring back billions of ppl in timeline 2.
perhaps its cos i used the word "intervene" in my OP. i didnt mean specifically stop the release of the virus, we dont get to see what their intentions were but we assume its to get a sample.
One of the best movie endings I have ever seen. Especially the scene where she looks around and sees the boy (young James) and starts to smile. Phenomenal acting and brought a tear to my eye. They might have not stopped the guy directly at the airport, however they managed to identify the person who caused the spreading and the scientist is sitting besides him in the plane which may indicates that they might arrest or even kill him (at the destination airport).
"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" by Gilliam, starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro, is just incredible, I think that it's the best in Gilliam's filmography. One of a kind. :)
This movie was one of the most impactful in my life. I left the movie theatre back then like I was punched in the face. Stayed in my mind for a long time. Glad you liked it 😊
I too was emotionally rung out by this film. One of my favorites of the 90s. The music at the end always gets me, when Madeline Stowe looks around the terminal and sees the boy.
I've had this discussion before, the kid was Cole and the flashbacks were his memories. The doctor from the future needed a pure strain of the virus so she went back, got infected directly from Dr. Peters and then would go back to her timeline so they could figure out a cure. Terry Gilliam made a lot of strange movies, if you want to watch another out there one check out Brazil.
Finally! Someone we gets the plot... It's amazing how many people just can't work it out without it spelled out for them... In the end, Cole did his job. It cost him his life but while he could never save the world of the past, he could find the moment the virus released and help save the people of the future.
You should watch La Jetée! It's a pretty cool French short film from Chris Marker, about half an hour long. It's what inspired Terry Gilliam to make 12 Monkeys
They put it on the Blu Ray as a special feature. When I was in film school they showed us La Jetée as part of our class on the French New Wave. I found it mesmerizing. Gilliam kept some of the same ideas for his remake. Man from the future is selected to go back in time to try to prevent a terrible apocalypse. He is selected because he keeps returning in his memories to one very traumatic moment in his childhood in which he witnessed a murder in one of the terminals (or jetties, or 'Jetées' in French) at Orly airport in Paris. There was a woman present who left a deep impression on his psyche. He keeps returning to her at different times in her life. In the end he realizes that he is in love with the woman and he has the ability to just stay with her in the past and be happy. He meets her at the airport and just as they prepare to leave together two assassins from the future appear and shoot him. His younger self is there to witness the event. The moment of his own death.
I had La Jetee, it came on an issue of Short Cinema Journal, a DVD magazine that came out a long ass time ago. It's quite different than 12 Monkeys, but it's awesome.
In my film studies course we dissected the original short. It was wild. So much multifaceted ambiguity packed into a short, broken, vision. It's both the best and worst example of modernist abstract film.
My cinema teacher lent me La Jetée when I was in college. Well, I'll always be grateful for her generosity ! I remember that our first work was to write down our favorite movie, and the one we hated the most. I wrote down Forrest Gump as my favorite, if I remember correctly, and "all those Elvis movies" as the most hated one. Other movies we got into in that class : Les Bons Débarras (Quebecer movie with dialogues written by one of the most intriguing Quebec writer "Réjean Ducharme"), Toto Le Héros (This movie has been presented to us as "if you think Tarantino revolutionized cinema with his unstructured works, well Jaco Van Dormael did it before him with Toto Le Héros), Citizen Kane, etc. This class was such a treat. I can't suggest you Toto Le Héros enough. I don't know if the English version is easy to find though...
Merry Christmas Brandon, your calm movie reactions and the Breaking Bad commentary has kept this film fan in the Uk sane during these strange times. Thank you...Also Bruce Willis in the wig and sunnies near the end looks like he does as Mr Goodkat in Lucky Number Slevin! Another Masterpiece
Terry Gilliam is absolutely brilliant. He was ahead of his time. He’s like the Dalí of film. And this is one of his LEAST surreal films... LOL... :D You most likely have seen Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, if not though, I highly suggest it... But other than that, I definitely recommend you check out The Zero Theorem! super dope movie. And a couple more recommendations are Brazil, a true classic, Time Bandits, and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
Awesome movie selection, great reaction! Cole is the boy, and the grown man, it's time travel man! (I'm so glad you got it at the end lol) As a boy, Cole saw someone get killed before the virus outbreak. The virus wipes out humanity, as an older man time travel reveals he was the guy to get killed.
Monty Python was a comedy troupe that Terry Gilliam was part of, alongside a bunch of other famous British actors and comedians such as John Cleese and Michael Palin. It’s actually funny because neither the Python movies nor this one are really that representative of his directorial output. He generally makes incredibly surreal fantasy stories and this film is actually quite traditional compared to a lot of his work.
I never considered this as traditional, I always thought it was very Gillianesque. Maybe you mean there's really no humour, okay, but the style of film making is not far removed from Fear and Loathing, Time Bandits or Brazil.
@@carlhartwell7978 Im really talking in regards to storytelling. If you remove the fact that its about a guy who witnesses his own death, Twelve Monkeys is a pretty tradtional time travel movie.
Great! Another great flick. Now that you are familiar with Terry Gilliam's work and style... You gotta check out "Time Bandits", "The Fisher King" , "Brazil"...just to name a few.
Merry Christmas, Brandon! I saw this on VHS after it's release, and never knew what it was about, then I realized its about a scientist who goes back in time to stop a deadly virus from being unleashed upon the world. This film was then turned into a TV series on Sci-fi.
Terry Gillian is a genius, of course, he was a Monty Python!!. I met him in Sitges Festival, when he was presenting Tideland, he was so funny! I love all his movies, he is such a free and creative person!!
looper was fun, but self contradictory. personally i find sci-fi which doesnt follow its own rules to be lazy, dumb, and sours everything which may have been otherwise good about it.
I love your videos, I love watching someone half my age reacting to the movies of my formative years for the first time. I see all those movies behind you and am utterly surprised you haven't seen half the shit you post.
I liked Looper. I don’t feel the script was fully developed but the acting is top notch whatshisname playing the young Bruce Willis was great (he’s great in everything though).
I have not watch that documentary, but I know what is it about. And after all Gilliam was able to make that film! I think it came out two years ago: "The Man who killed Don Quixote"
I recommend "The Fisher King". Very overlooked. Directed by Terry Gilliam, and starring Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams. Also Mercedes Reuhl. Forgot about that.
@@judgeomega That's totally understandable. I can't blame you for that at all. From what I understand, stupid people have a very low attention span, in general. Good luck out there, slugger!
This might have been said, but Madelyn Stowe's character, wrote a book about her experience in 1990, and his claims, which inspired the real terrorist in 1996, after he read it and attended her seminar. So she kind of made this happen. BUT.... she would NOT have made it happen had she not spoken to Cole. So Cole made it happen? No, because if the Scientists had sent him back to 1996, not 1990, she'd never have met him and not had the opportunity to hear his story, nor remember it because of the extraordinary escape he made. So if that did not happen.... then David Morse's character would not have been inspired to use his access to the pathogens he worked with to release one to wipe out most of the world. Or... would he? Evidently, it was all preordained by the fact that Cole watched his future self die, as a boy, in the airport. So does this mean David Morse's character would have been motivated to do what he did no matter what, either way? Are we to assume that the inspiration he takes from Stowe's book, is more just confirmation of his already predetermined plan? In this case, Cole already knew who it was, as it was always destined to happen, and did, right before his eyes, as a child. Also, as for the ending, Jose saw Cole race to kill David Morse's character.... heard Stowe call out it was Dr so and so, poofed back to the future, and told the Drs. The lady Dr was on the plane, with a seat next to Morse for that reason, and she say's she's in insurance, because if Cole or Jose fail, she'll be there as a back up plan to deal with Morse. But then if she takes out the baddie, and saves the world..... in 1996, then Cole wont be sent back at all. If he is not sent back at all, he does not inspire Stowe's character, who in turn does not inspire Morse's character....... which means there is NO pandemic, no mass death event, and thus, no shoot out in the airport, by a Cole from the future, for he has no reason to go..... .....making everything Cole sees as a child a lie.,...... ......OR.....a DELUSION.... the delusions of small boy child heavily medicated in a mental ward, who is actually a fully grown man, named Cole.
But what about Brad Pitt's flashbacks? I mean, at the beginning is the other guy who says "watch out!" But "after Cole intervention" in the history it changes in to Brad Pitt's face. To me the fact that Cole is there changes the history but nobody can't stop the main issue: the virus get free in the airport that day.. Sorry for my english
I was so excited when I saw you were reacting to 12 Monkeys. It's one of my favorite films and one of my favorite time travel stories AND one of my favorite Gilliam films. Another really great Gilliam film from around this time that I think gets overlooked is The Fisher King, with Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams. My other favorite time travel movie (and maybe the best time travel movie ever that's not a comedy) is Primer. Even more mind-bending. Highly recommended.
OMG. Here's the thing: Terry Gilliam, before he started doing movies, was a full-on member of the Monty Python troop. He was the only American in this British comedy group and their illustrator/animator. When Monty Python ceased to exist as a TV series, he worked with them in/on Monty Python movies. Once THAT stopped, he started doing movies on his own. "Time Bandits", "Brazil" (Gilliam's version of 1984), "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen", "The Fisher King", "12 Moneys", "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", "The Brothers Grimm", The Man Who Killed Don Quixote", etc. If you are familiar with Monty Python's absurdist comedy with high accuracy prop/costume/setting detail, then these films are an obvious extension of that earlier work. I've been a fan of Monty Python the moment they first showed up on PBS. My son (nearing 50) and my daughter (in her 30s) grew up on them; my daughter even met Eric Idle when he was doing a tour through Baltimore. Prior to Eric's tour, "12 Monkeys" was being shot in Baltimore in a warehouse just outside the city limits, with some locations being shot elsewhere in the Baltimore area (including at the Engineers Club). Yes, the story is set in Philadelphia, but film shoots are often held in locations in other parts of the world (The film musical "Hairspray" is set in Baltimore but was filmed in Canada.) Films shot near where I'm living has a special place for me. "Guarding Tess" was location-shot a couple blocks down the street from where I lived in the Mt Washington area of Baltimore, not far from Pimlico Racetrack. And "Sleepless in Seattle" is doubly special to me because I've been to a lot of the exterior shot locations in both Baltimore AND Seattle. I've been to the Engineers Club (a private membership club available for event rental) so I recognize it in "12 Monkeys". www.imdb.com/title/tt0114746/locations
Before i saw 12 Monkeys - my thougt was about Brad Pitt "Oh no! Not this "I-wannabe-an-actor-former-model-guy". This film changed my view on him forever. You should really watch also T.Gilliam's "Fisher King" I want tell you to much about this gerat film - it's absolute in the same "quality league" like 12 Monkeys!
The crucial thing is that the glance from Kathryn to the young James at the end is what saves the world. Which is why we see one side of it, young James' reaction, in one of the movie's first scenes. It's that glance and the memory of it that draws him to Railly in the future where she keeps him functional on his missions to the past. And the most moving music in the score emphasizes the moment. Likewise, Kathryn's research into the Casandra Complex was inspired by her interactions with James in 1990.
There's no right, there's no wrong; only popular opinion! This is Bruce Willis' best dramatic performance. I got the Arrow release Blu-ray copy of this film. You should definitely check out more Terry Gilliam films. He used to work with Monty Python back in the day. My other favorite movie of Terry's is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Epic stuff. And ironically this movie is Terry's easiest movie to follow. Lol
I recently watched Brazil for the first time and must agree re: 12 Monkeys being relatively easy to follow! At least here they make an effort to exposit around the trippier stuff, but in Brazil it's just all wacky, all the time, just run with it.
Plus, the music in the Hitchcock movie at the theater is Bernard Herrmann's score from Hitchcock's film "Vertigo". Possibly the most beautiful film score EVER. And yes, the lady at the end is the scientist. They can't change what happens in the past, but we can assume she gets a sample of the virus because she is presumably infected by it by interacting with the assistant.
Well he would have died there regardless if he saw himself die as a kid or not, since that's the place he dies, it wouldn't have even been possible for him to thwart his own death if he wanted to since he was in the past his choices were already made and done before he even left
@@rorydakin8048 He had to die at the airport from gun shot since Cole was immune to the virus otherwise he still would've been alive in the future as an old man.
@@joemckim1183 Yeah, but what I'm saying is he isn't technically "stuck in a time loop", if a single trip to the past doesn't change the present then that means the people who go to the past aren't making any choices. They're not aware that they are just following fate, even if Cole remembered that in the airport on that day was where he watched himself die as a kid he still would have died there because everything we see in the movie is the past and can't be changed. That's why Jose showed up to give him the gun, so airport security would shoot him immediately instead of listening to a ranting raving man and maybe possibly grounding the plane with the suspected apocalypse virus even if its a false alarm. The virus needs to be spread to people from the present can send someone back, so someone from the present can get an original sample of the virus back to save the rest of the people in the present. If the virus never spreads there is no reason to build a time machine to send someone back for a sample, which means that someone isn't sent back to stop the virus from spreading. Meaning if time travel is possible at some point in the future then they've already made their decision to time travel or not, anything they've done has already happened, even if they don't even exist currently to travel back and do the things they did.
Hey Brandon, This is by far my favorite reaction from you. I could really feel your excitement while you were watching. So many WTH moments from you! This is one of my favorite movies. Have you seen Looper, Edge of Tomorrow or Source Code? I'm sure you would really enjoy them as well. Happy Holidays.
@@stuckinaloop6637 not really were not "supposed to have christmas with family" or they'll give you a fine of like $1000. Yet they'll allow people on airplanes, and black friday and Boxing Day sales.
Genuine fun watching this, one of my favorite Sci fi movies, along with you. You got most of it right, but this is a film you've gotta watch more than once to fully put it together. And seriously, watch more Terry Gilliam films. Great review!
A good movie leaves you satisfied, a great movie leaves you behind in awe, a masterwork movie leaves you behind in awe, with questions, and theories. This movie is one of those latter ones, a masterpiece
12 Monkeys is a deterministic time travel movie. Meaning that while time travel is possible, you can't change anything, everything you do in the past is what happened, you can't change the past. Time traveler's and his/her actions were part of the past what future people see. If you try change anything, you'll find out you can't, you just become part of it.
The kid is watching himself die. Every Terry Gilliam movie is a real treat to watch and never dissappoints, one of my all time favourite filmmakers. Recurring themes in all his movies are the nature of madness and reality and the heroes tend to be people who exists outside of mainstream society, the freaks and the outcasts. My personal favourite is The Fisher King. :)
The kid in the airport is James. He remembered the scenes in the airport because he witnessed them as a kid. He survived the plague and when he grew up he was recruited to go back to help stop the plague from happening. He ended up throwing off the scientists in the future by causing the lady to send the message about the Army of the 12 Monkeys.
Terry Gilliam was a member of Monty Python. He did all the animations and occasionally acted as a character. He became one of the most wild and creative movie makers of all time. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Brazil, The Fisher King, Tidelands - all are wild trips.
And isn't Madeline Stowe absolutely gorgeous!
All time favorite is the Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Adore that movie.
@@ColinPoole I remember when Siskel and Ebert reviewed Munchausen. They said, "Sometimes you hear that it cost $40 million (at that time a huge budget for a movie) and you wonder what they could have spent it on. In this movie, you see every single dollar that they spent."
Fear & Loathing is one of my favorite movies of all time. I'll admit, besides Holy Grail, I haven't seen any of the older Terry Gilliam films you mentioned. I need to.
Also that last scene on the plane was in fact the head future scientist, but she traveled back to the past to secure a sample of the unmutated virus, being something the scientists would handle personally and not trust to a random expendable prisoner.
Fortunately they were able to get pretty good at getting the time and place right! But who knows how many times they had to try to perfect it, the bum that calls Frank Bob seemed to be going back and forth a bunch of times.
The unfortunate thing is that in order for her to get the message who actually spread the virus and when/where it started they had to let things play out and 5 billion people had to die, the world had to fall into ruin because the movie takes place in the past, the present is already known!
@@DreadedPilot
🎵🐇📻🍊
🤣🤪🤘🏼
The scientist lady at the end says she works in insurance because Cole failed to shoot him. She is there to get the un-mutated form of the virus. Also if you like this type of mind bend I'd recommend 'The Thirteenth Floor' and 'Dark City'.
or.. she was just an insurance lady at that point in the story
Dark city is awesome!
Dark City is fantastic. I had a similar emotional reaction to that film as I did to Twelve Monkeys. They are two of my all-time favorite sci-fi films.
I was an extra in Dark City. I shaved my head, was caked in white makeup and sweat so much wearing the hottest coat.
I thought The 13th Floor was pretty good, but it got no traction because it came out the same time as The Matrix.
And the final scene with the head scientist was there because when she ran up to James and he was asking Jose who to shoot, she yells out it was dr goins assistant! He’s an apocalypse nut! Jose over heard her and went back to the future. If you like this movie I really recommend that you check out Brazil. I’ve been a member of your channel almost since the beginning, and I live your reactions man!
Brazil is sooo good. all time fav
Brazil is a great movie.
My vote for a Brazil reaction!
but make sure it's the directors' cut
@@kageakuma3009 yes, this is a must! it adds so much to the film
The scientist at the end said she was in insurance as she went back herself to take out Dr Peters. The people in the future were reacting to what was going in real time, like sending the guy back to give James a gun. The kid was also 100% James. You need to watch this movie twice to really understand it. It still remains an underrated masterpiece.
She went back in time to get an unmutated variant of the virus. Killing him would probably just be a bonus.
@@n0tk0sher yes, i think the point of any of them (including the scientist) going back is not to kill anyone or change the past/future, but to gather information thats been lost in the collapse of society to help them combat the virus in the present. they say it a couple of times in the film, that you cant change the whats already happened...
@@Hurricane_Manners wrong, the TSA agent already released the virus in the airport when he opened the vial. watch the movie next time.
The virus was already out in the open. Remember the security agent sniffing the open vial? Killing him after is too late.
No the virus was already released at the airport. That scene was there just to show us that the "scientists" Are actually just normal people not real scientists and that they really don't know their time machines
Another good Terry Gilliam movie is "Brazil".
And this one is also Christmas-related.
One of the best.
Brazil is such a weird, funny, thoughtful, surprising, awkward, beautiful, dystopian movie. I love DeNiro as the renegade plumber, he really likes to ham it up with roles like that.
The Fisher King is also a really good Gilliam file.
All Terry Gilliam movies are good. But Brazil would make an awesome react.
As others have pointed out: 1. The kid is James. Stowe searches for him in the crowd because he just told her he saw this as a child. 2. The doctor was sent back to either get a pure strain or less likely to kill him. ("Insurance" is a mafia/gangster film reference to a hitman that ensures a kill.) Otherwise, why hasn't the doctor aged, why would she monolog about humanity, and why would she "change" jobs? The writing is too tight to be that sloppy. It's meant to be a hopeful ending.
When she sees the kid, she sees further proof that this is all true and humanity will die.
@@Itwasalwaysme_Noone While I think their failure and the loss hits her, I think it's meant to show that she loved him and wanted to see his face.
I've seen this movie so many times over the years and this is the first time I realized that lady on the plane was one of the scientists from the future.
Me too dammit xD i never picked up on that one...
I feel like it was the female doc at the end that tried to "fix it" cause she initially wanted it, but it panned out bad. Seems like she was in control the whole time and biaccidently looped it.
"The Fisher King" is Gilliam's masterpiece in my opinion, though it's not a mind bender. It has great writing and the acting by the small ensemble is the best from each actor I've seen (Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Amanda Plummer, Mercedes Rheul, Michael Jeter). "Brazil" is most people's favorite.
Brazil certainly has a mood and a vision, but it left me a little underwhelmed if I'm being honest.
The Fisher King is one of my all-time favorite movies.
@@christopherlundgren1700 It's my most recommended film. It never fails to move me in so many ways. I cry at the end every time.
Having only seen this once before now, I never realized how much like the Fisher King it is. I think which is better depends entirely on whether you like human-level stakes or cosmic stakes. Both so good!
My preference is Brazil, but I would have no arguement if someone selected Fisher King or 12 Monkeys as his masterpiece. I think it depends on the person. They are all great. To add to your list of Fisher King actors Kathy Najimy. It may not be her best work, but her line "I'm looking for something Chevy Chasey, Goldie Hawny" is comedic gold.
@@Mill6Collaborative Oh yeah. "Foul Play" and "Seems Like Old Times". Great.
For any of you wondering, the main theme is called "Suite Punta del Este" original by Argentinian Tango/Jazz musician Astor Piazzolla.
I thought it was Red Licorice on a song called Faded!
@@mobiusbelts3607Audiophile is talking about the movie's main theme, and Mobius you are talking about the track that we can listen in the intro and outdo while Brandon do his thing
about a uruguayan beach city. Been there a couple of times
@@julianomasseno998 D’oh!
@@julianomasseno998 I like to imagine Brandon IS Red Licorice & this is just his clever way of getting his music more exposure!
Not sure if you've reacted to it or not yet, but Minority Report seems like one you'd enjoy.
Yes
May you want to watch Shutter Island or Memento too
All those mentioned above plus Vanilla Sky is another great tragic movie as is Source Code 👍🏼
You need to watch every Terry' Gilliam movie pronto... the Fisher King is a masterpiece.. also the kid is Cole. Merry Christmas you boss!
The Fisher King and Brazil, both so thought provoking and visually twisted and beautiful. Gilliam is a master.
Adventures of Baron Munchausen
And Time Bandits
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Brazil loosely takes place around the holidays as well.
This movie constantly gave me chills when I saw it the fist time. As each piece of a the puzzle slowly unravels and things go full circle
This film is a masterpiece - They need an unmutated strain of the virus. The lead scientist is there to catch the virus and return to the future. Her sacrifice will save the world. This is based on a French short film called 'La Jetee', which was adapted here by one of the writers of Blade Runner. As many others have said see 'Brazil'. I would also recommend 'The Machinist' and 'Vanilla Sky', for reasons you'll understand after you've watched them... Character actor David Morse plays the assistant, he's been in more big movies than you might imagine...
Yes, I think the actress' tone, the stare, and the handshake to contract the virus, suggests her sacrifice as well as her meeting the cause of all the destruction.
Ive never read the short story, but I thought in the movie, they were going into the past to actually get a sample of the virus in its pure form... The virus still existed on the surface, thats why they had to live underground and wear suits when they went to the surface. The scientist needed one of the tubes with the virus in its first form.... then they could make a cure. She had no intention of getting sick and sacrificing herself.
@@itubeutubewealltube1 The original is a short black and white film. The past has already happened so 5 billion people will die, as the assistant virologist travels around the globe. She needs to contract the disease, as nothing outside the body time jumps. The spider in Cole's stomach, and the bullet in his leg do move through time.
@@portland-182 I see, but in the movie she will obviously just put a vial in a bag and shove it up her assssssss. ha. The virus already exist on the surface in the future, they needed a pure strain... but maybe she does infect herself with that strain, but I doubt since the case of vials are right there.
He already reacted to Abre Los Ojos, so a Vanilla Sky reaction probably wouldn’t add much
GET OUT OF MY CHAIR!!!!!!!! Cracks me up every time.😂
Love this line!! Haha
I love how your mind was truly mindblowingly lost in the final act haha. It was indeed James all along as a kid watching his own death and Katherine realizes it wasn't just a dream of the Old James, so she lets out a smile at him. As for the doctor in the plane, my favorite theory is the scientists in the future get alerted by Jose as to who's the real responsible of the virus release, and the doctor is now travelling back in time to get a pure sample of it. Really an amazing, underated film.
That's why she says she is in insurance. She is there to insure the job gets done and stop the pandemic from happening.
@@magtovi But she doesn't stop the pandemic from happening, it's already started to happen when the vial was opened in the airport. I don't agree that she is there to try to stop it, she is there to get the non-mutated form of the virus so that they can make a vaccine to rescue the future (or present, from her point of view). Throughout the entire movie it is shown time and again (in an extremely clever and intricately woven plot too, I might add) that one can't change the future, everything that is done in the past just becomes part of what causes the inescapable future. It would make no sense from a narrative point of view arbitrarily just to change the movie's own universal laws right at the end, especially after making so much cerebral effort to establish them. The makers of Terminator 3 adopted that idea too, where, despite the audience believing that the future could be changed based on the events of Terminator 2, the reality was that it was inevitable and would happen anyway.
@@magtovi The pandemic happened. The movie is clear on the idea that you can't change the past. She was definitely there to get the objective - insure success - a sample of the unmutated virus.
Guys, that means you didn't get the ending at all, lol.
@@magtovi "we" don't. lol
This movie seriously had an impact on my entire life.
Did you know that it was inspired by a French court-métrage from 1962 : la jetée
Oh man, you should watch the show. It's got the same setup but goes way way further with everything. It's one of the best time travel stories you will ever watch. I love the Gillian film, but the series completely blew me away with how well plotted out it was. It's super complicated but every little piece fits. And it's got one of the best endings of any tv series. Highly, highly recommend.
GreyWolf TV We'll start to react Starting 17th January You should check him out.
What show? Did they really make a series outta this? So many good scifi stories to pick from & they're just trying to reap from a classic movie?!
Hollywood is dead, I need to get down to script writing! ;P
@@SubZeroCommander I personally thought the series was really weak, but I did not watch much of it...dude get script writing lool
@@SubZeroCommander Yes, they made a series. I only watched the first season and really enjoyed it. Give it a watch.
@@allisterfiend_2112 you should continue. The narrative shifts in season 2 and it becomes something way bigger than just the virus and it's really cool. they were given 2 seasons to end the show after season 2 so everything is really well thought through. the broke down the series finale and went backwards. making sure every episode connected.
"The Game" another mind twist starring Michael Douglass
Awesome movie!
Yes!!! It is great!!!
Such an underrated movie. I love the Game; it's amazing how many people haven't seen it.
I didn't realize the game was Terry Gilliam. Fantastic film
Brandon if I had not already been a subscriber to your channel... your reaction here would have absolutely solidified it . This is one of my all time favorite movies and it is really great that you were genuinely intrigued with this film ; I am very glad you appreciate everything that went into it . Thank you very much for your honesty at what you thought of this film as it was evolving before you . Have a Blessed & Merry Christmas
watch this movie over and over again you will discover something every time.
on of my absolute favourite!
I am so happy that you watched this movie! Love your reactions and this is one of my favorites. Yeah, it’s tough to understand the first time through but it’s a freaking masterpiece and one of the best time travel movies of all time. A true rarity.
34:36 Important note here. It sounds like she's saying "I'm in insurance" but she actually says "I'm AN insurance".
"This is a love story that disguises as a sci-fi movie!" This was the thought I got after I watched it for the first time in a theater.
It's a very bittersweet film. James and Kathryn are doomed to play out their parts in a fixed past and walk towards their own demise, just as it happens to the main characters in Vertigo, the Hitchcock classic referenced in 12 Monkeys. The ending is ambigious and it's entirely up to you to decide what the lead scientist alludes to, when she says 'I'm in insurance'. Based on everything we've seen up until that ending and the tone of the film, I agree that she's there to secure a sample of the original virus and let the past be the past.
I love the _Vertigo_ nod. That moment James sees Kathryn with her newly blond hair and you hear the same music from _Vertigo_ as plays when Scotty first sees Judy with "Madeleine's" blond hair ... shivers.
I've never seen this but I've been meaning too though for many years, this came out the year I was born. The homeless guy with no teeth is my mom's best friends, dad, Harry Otoole. He's a small time actor, this was his biggest role. He and I are both from Pittsburgh.
I love this movie. I especially love how the relationship evolves between Cole and Kathryn. It really gave this movie a heart that I think is lacking in a lot of other Terry Gilliam movies. I have a few thoughts (which you're unlikely to see, since as I type this, there are well over 400 comments):
a) The kid in the airport was Bruce Willis. So when Kathryn locked eyes with him, it was this really nice, emotional moment. She knew it was him as a child (since he told her throughout of having this airport memory).
b) I believe the lead woman scientist showing up at the end wasn't meant to imply that she was nefarious. (b1) It was either a bit of irony (meaning she happened to cross paths with the bad guy when she was younger, and not known it). (b2) Or it was a sign that Bruce Willis' mission was successful; he had provided the scientists in the future enough info so that they could go back in time and gather more information about the origin of the virus (which I believe was the mission stated at the beginning of the movie). That would mean that that was literally the scientist from the future having gone back to the past.
c) Bruce Willis' actions were not in vain. He did provide valuable information to the future scientists. Before, they thought that Jeffrey Goines was the cause of the virus. By telling them it was actually the assistant, they were more likely to find a cure in the future.
d) I believe there are two explanations as to why Bruce Willis airport memory first showed Brad Pitt, but when it actually happened, it was the assistant. (d1) Kathryn was correct earlier when she was tied up in the motel room, in that your memories/dreams can change based on what you're currently experiencing. Because Bruce Willis had just met Brad Pitt at that point, his mind replaced Pitts face with the true childhood memory of seeing the assistant's face.
(d2) This explanation I like better: Maybe in an earlier timeline Brad Pitt HAD been the cause of the virus. However, because Bruce Willis had warned Kathryn, SHE warned the virologist father. And so the virologist made it impossible for Jeffrey to ever get access to the virus. But this set in motion an alternative timeline, one in which the crazy assistant now had access to the virus. And so HE ended up spreading it around the world.
My father had written off Brad Pitt as just another unimpressive "pretty boy" before he saw this film. This was the "oh my god, he can ACT!" moment for him and it turned his opinion of the man 180 degrees. As I've gotten older, I do think he was being far too harsh and dismissive of Pitt's earlier work, but I do agree this was so far outside what Pitt was known for at the time and it really showed his range better than most.
i was guilty of the same thing with di caprio. romeo and juliet, followed by titanic was my intro to him, i always disregarded him. but my god over the years he has released one outstanding performance after another.
@@Faiiltrain same. its often difficult to differentiate between the actor and the role. and of course you can only be as good as the director and editor allow you to be.
Brad Pitt was amazing in A River Runs Through It.
Brandon, you really should see Gilliam's movie Brazil.
yes, please
Yes! And then fear and loathing.
Yeah watch it, if you want to go crazy.
One of my favorites.
Awesome movie
Thank you for this reaction! So many people have slept on and continue to sleep on 12 Monkeys. One of my favorites of all time!
the boy is Cole, he witnesses his own death as a child.
in doing so, getting to that point Cole discovers who released the virus and the scientists can then intervene hence the doc on the plane who is "in insurance"
@@RUclipsChannel-dk5xv yes his story always was. the variable is the scientists witnessing the outcome.
@@RUclipsChannel-dk5xv we as viewers are supposed to believe the scientists will henceforth have discovered and obtained the original virus before it mutates as per the plan. as to what that changes is anyone's guess and even if that means more of them affecting events in their past and actually changing them, its nto a story linked to Cole's inevitable cycle of events.
@@RUclipsChannel-dk5xv where did i suggest they aimed to change the past, or the future via the past? im talking about events after Cole's inevitable demise, which is fixed in time, but the information that provides the scientists. they cant predict Cole's life until they have also experienced their involvement relevant to their current timeline, they can react to information they receive but only based on the past outcomes to their own current actions. they ofc cannot predict the future.
past present and future are only relevant from the perspective of who is using them. the only change to any time line is the retrieval of information (a sample if we assume they could move it forward in time with them) of a virus before it mutated. the "future" can then move forward with that knowledge whereas they previously to this story, would not have had.
assuming we can all agree that the boundaries of this story are limited to 1 single time line.
now if they planned to go back and give this information to themselves BEFORE the release of the virus we are then creating more than 1 timeline relevant to the story we have already experienced (which the TV show did until its head exploded), but as far as this movie goes we only get the 1 timeline that results in a happy ending for the future depending on what they do with it. OR, they could go back in time and totally screw the universe or simply bring back billions of ppl in timeline 2.
perhaps its cos i used the word "intervene" in my OP. i didnt mean specifically stop the release of the virus, we dont get to see what their intentions were but we assume its to get a sample.
One of the best movie endings I have ever seen. Especially the scene where she looks around and sees the boy (young James) and starts to smile. Phenomenal acting and brought a tear to my eye. They might have not stopped the guy directly at the airport, however they managed to identify the person who caused the spreading and the scientist is sitting besides him in the plane which may indicates that they might arrest or even kill him (at the destination airport).
"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" by Gilliam, starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro, is just incredible, I think that it's the best in Gilliam's filmography. One of a kind. :)
I think we've all just witnessed you blow your mind numerous times haha. One of my favorite movies. Watched it a thousand times.
This movie was one of the most impactful in my life. I left the movie theatre back then like I was punched in the face. Stayed in my mind for a long time. Glad you liked it 😊
I too was emotionally rung out by this film. One of my favorites of the 90s. The music at the end always gets me, when Madeline Stowe looks around the terminal and sees the boy.
@@CineRam yes, the end gets me always, goosebumps overload.
It is so much fun to watch people reacting to time travel movies...especially really fun time travel stories like this one.
I've had this discussion before, the kid was Cole and the flashbacks were his memories. The doctor from the future needed a pure strain of the virus so she went back, got infected directly from Dr. Peters and then would go back to her timeline so they could figure out a cure.
Terry Gilliam made a lot of strange movies, if you want to watch another out there one check out Brazil.
Finally! Someone we gets the plot... It's amazing how many people just can't work it out without it spelled out for them... In the end, Cole did his job. It cost him his life but while he could never save the world of the past, he could find the moment the virus released and help save the people of the future.
Brazil is one of my favourite movies of all time.
Hey Brandon, recently found your channel. Love your reactions and your positivity. Hope you have a great Christmas. Keep up the good work!
"The Fisher King" for real is worth your time..... I saw it in the theatre... even thought the projector broke the first time ... was a crazy time
I watched this film loads of times and that ending of the women on the plan has never clicked in my head till watch this.
You should watch La Jetée! It's a pretty cool French short film from Chris Marker, about half an hour long. It's what inspired Terry Gilliam to make 12 Monkeys
They put it on the Blu Ray as a special feature. When I was in film school they showed us La Jetée as part of our class on the French New Wave. I found it mesmerizing.
Gilliam kept some of the same ideas for his remake. Man from the future is selected to go back in time to try to prevent a terrible apocalypse. He is selected because he keeps returning in his memories to one very traumatic moment in his childhood in which he witnessed a murder in one of the terminals (or jetties, or 'Jetées' in French) at Orly airport in Paris.
There was a woman present who left a deep impression on his psyche. He keeps returning to her at different times in her life. In the end he realizes that he is in love with the woman and he has the ability to just stay with her in the past and be happy. He meets her at the airport and just as they prepare to leave together two assassins from the future appear and shoot him. His younger self is there to witness the event. The moment of his own death.
I had La Jetee, it came on an issue of Short Cinema Journal, a DVD magazine that came out a long ass time ago. It's quite different than 12 Monkeys, but it's awesome.
In my film studies course we dissected the original short. It was wild. So much multifaceted ambiguity packed into a short, broken, vision. It's both the best and worst example of modernist abstract film.
My cinema teacher lent me La Jetée when I was in college. Well, I'll always be grateful for her generosity ! I remember that our first work was to write down our favorite movie, and the one we hated the most. I wrote down Forrest Gump as my favorite, if I remember correctly, and "all those Elvis movies" as the most hated one. Other movies we got into in that class : Les Bons Débarras (Quebecer movie with dialogues written by one of the most intriguing Quebec writer "Réjean Ducharme"), Toto Le Héros (This movie has been presented to us as "if you think Tarantino revolutionized cinema with his unstructured works, well Jaco Van Dormael did it before him with Toto Le Héros), Citizen Kane, etc. This class was such a treat. I can't suggest you Toto Le Héros enough. I don't know if the English version is easy to find though...
I think it might be still on Critrion but, not absolutely sure. It might of rolled off.
Merry Christmas Brandon, your calm movie reactions and the Breaking Bad commentary has kept this film fan in the Uk sane during these strange times. Thank you...Also Bruce Willis in the wig and sunnies near the end looks like he does as Mr Goodkat in Lucky Number Slevin! Another Masterpiece
Want a mind-bender: any Terry Gilliam, but then I thought of "Being John Malcovich" which is super-meta, and outstanding.
That was great fun, watching one of my early favourite movies, with you :) thanks
He watches his own death that’s what the films about
The best memory I have from this movie it's his soundtrack, what a trip.
Terry Gilliam is absolutely brilliant. He was ahead of his time. He’s like the Dalí of film. And this is one of his LEAST surreal films... LOL... :D
You most likely have seen Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, if not though, I highly suggest it...
But other than that, I definitely recommend you check out The Zero Theorem! super dope movie.
And a couple more recommendations are Brazil, a true classic, Time Bandits, and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
Terry Gilliam and Stanley Kubrick - the greatest modern masters of the art of film!
One of my all-time favorite movies! Great reaction as always!
James is a closed loop, that was him as a kid witnessing his own death in the airport
Awesome movie selection, great reaction!
Cole is the boy, and the grown man, it's time travel man! (I'm so glad you got it at the end lol)
As a boy, Cole saw someone get killed before the virus outbreak. The virus wipes out humanity, as an older man time travel reveals he was the guy to get killed.
Monty Python was a comedy troupe that Terry Gilliam was part of, alongside a bunch of other famous British actors and comedians such as John Cleese and Michael Palin. It’s actually funny because neither the Python movies nor this one are really that representative of his directorial output. He generally makes incredibly surreal fantasy stories and this film is actually quite traditional compared to a lot of his work.
Brazil
I never considered this as traditional, I always thought it was very Gillianesque. Maybe you mean there's really no humour, okay, but the style of film making is not far removed from Fear and Loathing, Time Bandits or Brazil.
Gilliam is an American.
@@irktog5175 It is true that he was born in America but I think he considers himself British.
@@carlhartwell7978 Im really talking in regards to storytelling. If you remove the fact that its about a guy who witnesses his own death, Twelve Monkeys is a pretty tradtional time travel movie.
Watching this movie a second time is an absolute must to truly understand and appreciate its awesomeness.
Great! Another great flick. Now that you are familiar with Terry Gilliam's work and style... You gotta check out "Time Bandits", "The Fisher King" , "Brazil"...just to name a few.
Merry Christmas, Brandon! I saw this on VHS after it's release, and never knew what it was about, then I realized its about a scientist who goes back in time to stop a deadly virus from being unleashed upon the world. This film was then turned into a TV series on Sci-fi.
Terry Gillian is a genius, of course, he was a Monty Python!!. I met him in Sitges Festival, when he was presenting Tideland, he was so funny! I love all his movies, he is such a free and creative person!!
An underrated genius of film and visual art!
looper was fun, but self contradictory. personally i find sci-fi which doesnt follow its own rules to be lazy, dumb, and sours everything which may have been otherwise good about it.
@@judgeomega Looper? With Bruce Willis? It's not a Terry Gillian's movie....
I love your videos, I love watching someone half my age reacting to the movies of my formative years for the first time. I see all those movies behind you and am utterly surprised you haven't seen half the shit you post.
"What if the kid actually was Cole".... BINGO
One of my favorites. Thanks for the reaction. Love the channel!
34:30 Is Bruce Willis as a child, seeing his own death without knowing it yet.
Bruce Willis is traveling back to 1996 where in that time he was just a little kid. Basically he as a child witnessed his future self getting killed.
Brandon, if you want another fantastic mind-bender with Bruce Willis, check out Looper. It’s fantastic!
I liked Looper. I don’t feel the script was fully developed but the acting is top notch whatshisname playing the young Bruce Willis was great (he’s great in everything though).
Merry Christmas Brandon! Health, happiness and love to you and your close ones. Thanks for entertaining us through such a crazy year. Cheers mate!
Review Brazil with Jonathan Pryce and Robert De Niro. It is more mind-bending than 12 monkeys.
Brazil! What a great film.
Brazil is amazing.
I second this. My favorite Gilliam directed film.
Great video as usual Brandon. Have a Happy Holidays and enjoy yourself! Keep up the great work!
Gilliam has some great movies. Oddly one of the most enjoyable is a documentary about a failed film he tried to make, Lost in La Mancha.
-+
A friend of mine used to be a producer and he said that "Lost in La Mancha" gave him nightmares lol.
I have not watch that documentary, but I know what is it about. And after all Gilliam was able to make that film! I think it came out two years ago: "The Man who killed Don Quixote"
@@JoseLuisGarcia9540 you Are Right. And this is a great and sad movie, too,
Gilliam's Brazil is also a mind bending film but with more humor. Also set at Christmas time. Loved your reaction to this and glad you enjoyed it.
I recommend "The Fisher King". Very overlooked. Directed by Terry Gilliam, and starring Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams. Also Mercedes Reuhl. Forgot about that.
that's a great movie! actually my favourite Robin Williams movie
@@Scyllicious Mine too. He got to showcase all his acting chops from one end of the spectrum to the other. Plus, it has Tom Waits in it.
@@deadmedowns may have been Jeff bridges best acting too. Hard to imagine. But, the self-loathing and switches are incredible.
i walked out of that movie in the theater. slow, boring, slow, and uninteresting... and did i mention slow?
@@judgeomega That's totally understandable. I can't blame you for that at all. From what I understand, stupid people have a very low attention span, in general. Good luck out there, slugger!
One of my top 5 favorite movies of all time!
After Breaking Bad watch El Camino, it's a "follow up" so to speak. Then get into Better Call Saul, its amazing too. Last season coming up btw.
one of those movies you get even more from every rewatch have you ever seen Blown away
This might have been said, but Madelyn Stowe's character, wrote a book about her experience in 1990, and his claims, which inspired the real terrorist in 1996, after he read it and attended her seminar. So she kind of made this happen.
BUT.... she would NOT have made it happen had she not spoken to Cole.
So Cole made it happen?
No, because if the Scientists had sent him back to 1996, not 1990, she'd never have met him and not had the opportunity to hear his story, nor remember it because of the extraordinary escape he made.
So if that did not happen.... then David Morse's character would not have been inspired to use his access to the pathogens he worked with to release one to wipe out most of the world.
Or... would he?
Evidently, it was all preordained by the fact that Cole watched his future self die, as a boy, in the airport.
So does this mean David Morse's character would have been motivated to do what he did no matter what, either way? Are we to assume that the inspiration he takes from Stowe's book, is more just confirmation of his already predetermined plan?
In this case, Cole already knew who it was, as it was always destined to happen, and did, right before his eyes, as a child.
Also, as for the ending, Jose saw Cole race to kill David Morse's character.... heard Stowe call out it was Dr so and so, poofed back to the future, and told the Drs.
The lady Dr was on the plane, with a seat next to Morse for that reason, and she say's she's in insurance, because if Cole or Jose fail, she'll be there as a back up plan to deal with Morse.
But then if she takes out the baddie, and saves the world..... in 1996, then Cole wont be sent back at all.
If he is not sent back at all, he does not inspire Stowe's character, who in turn does not inspire Morse's character....... which means there is NO pandemic, no mass death event, and thus, no shoot out in the airport, by a Cole from the future, for he has no reason to go.....
.....making everything Cole sees as a child a lie.,......
......OR.....a DELUSION.... the delusions of small boy child heavily medicated in a mental ward, who is actually a fully grown man, named Cole.
But what about Brad Pitt's flashbacks? I mean, at the beginning is the other guy who says "watch out!" But "after Cole intervention" in the history it changes in to Brad Pitt's face.
To me the fact that Cole is there changes the history but nobody can't stop the main issue: the virus get free in the airport that day..
Sorry for my english
I was so excited when I saw you were reacting to 12 Monkeys. It's one of my favorite films and one of my favorite time travel stories AND one of my favorite Gilliam films. Another really great Gilliam film from around this time that I think gets overlooked is The Fisher King, with Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams.
My other favorite time travel movie (and maybe the best time travel movie ever that's not a comedy) is Primer. Even more mind-bending. Highly recommended.
Along with "Brazil" need to see "Time Bandits" also directed by Terry Gilliam.
OMG.
Here's the thing: Terry Gilliam, before he started doing movies, was a full-on member of the Monty Python troop. He was the only American in this British comedy group and their illustrator/animator. When Monty Python ceased to exist as a TV series, he worked with them in/on Monty Python movies. Once THAT stopped, he started doing movies on his own. "Time Bandits", "Brazil" (Gilliam's version of 1984), "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen", "The Fisher King", "12 Moneys", "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", "The Brothers Grimm", The Man Who Killed Don Quixote", etc.
If you are familiar with Monty Python's absurdist comedy with high accuracy prop/costume/setting detail, then these films are an obvious extension of that earlier work.
I've been a fan of Monty Python the moment they first showed up on PBS. My son (nearing 50) and my daughter (in her 30s) grew up on them; my daughter even met Eric Idle when he was doing a tour through Baltimore. Prior to Eric's tour, "12 Monkeys" was being shot in Baltimore in a warehouse just outside the city limits, with some locations being shot elsewhere in the Baltimore area (including at the Engineers Club). Yes, the story is set in Philadelphia, but film shoots are often held in locations in other parts of the world (The film musical "Hairspray" is set in Baltimore but was filmed in Canada.)
Films shot near where I'm living has a special place for me. "Guarding Tess" was location-shot a couple blocks down the street from where I lived in the Mt Washington area of Baltimore, not far from Pimlico Racetrack. And "Sleepless in Seattle" is doubly special to me because I've been to a lot of the exterior shot locations in both Baltimore AND Seattle. I've been to the Engineers Club (a private membership club available for event rental) so I recognize it in "12 Monkeys".
www.imdb.com/title/tt0114746/locations
Brad Pitt really should have gotten a Oscar for this, even though Kevin Spacey's performance in the Usual Suspects was also good.
Pitt has been underrated for years but he always happened to have his best performances in very competitive years.
This one is a winner. Saw this when I was a kid and it blew my mind. Great reaction man :)
Before i saw 12 Monkeys - my thougt was about Brad Pitt "Oh no! Not this "I-wannabe-an-actor-former-model-guy". This film changed my view on him forever.
You should really watch also T.Gilliam's "Fisher King" I want tell you to much about this gerat film - it's absolute in the same "quality league" like 12 Monkeys!
@Andrew Salter Fight Club also shows he's definitely not a pretty boy actor.
Seven was a good movie too and came out around the same time.
@@fernicusmaximus9282 1995. Good year for Pitt with those 2 movies and for Willis with 12M and Die Hard with a Vengeance.
This intro music by Piazzola was in my head everytime I went to work during the lockdown
The TV series was really good too.
For real 💯
nothing compared to this movie
To me the series is better
@@josecruz4232 lol no, how dumb the series was, couldn't even get through the first episode
@@leob4403 hurr durr
This was the first Brad Pitt film I watched where I thought 'Okay... this guy is much more than just a pretty face...'.
Terry Gilliam is a genius, you should watch more of his stuff.
redjakOfficial Time Bandits would be my first recommendation
@@susanmaggiora4800Good one. I'm going to be more obvious and say Brazil.
The crucial thing is that the glance from Kathryn to the young James at the end is what saves the world. Which is why we see one side of it, young James' reaction, in one of the movie's first scenes. It's that glance and the memory of it that draws him to Railly in the future where she keeps him functional on his missions to the past. And the most moving music in the score emphasizes the moment. Likewise, Kathryn's research into the Casandra Complex was inspired by her interactions with James in 1990.
35:15 - Bingo...you figured it out.
Great choice! You are killing it! Merry Christmas, Brandon!
If you want a mind bender watch "Primer".
Great video Brandon! Love this film, somehow manages to be one of the vary few time travel movies that never fcks up its own logic.
There's no right, there's no wrong; only popular opinion! This is Bruce Willis' best dramatic performance. I got the Arrow release Blu-ray copy of this film. You should definitely check out more Terry Gilliam films. He used to work with Monty Python back in the day. My other favorite movie of Terry's is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Epic stuff. And ironically this movie is Terry's easiest movie to follow. Lol
I recently watched Brazil for the first time and must agree re: 12 Monkeys being relatively easy to follow! At least here they make an effort to exposit around the trippier stuff, but in Brazil it's just all wacky, all the time, just run with it.
@@MH90 And there's like 4 different versions of Brazil too. Lol
@@MH90 Gillam was a part of Monty Python
truly a beautifully crafted piece about causailty. one of my favourite films
You should try the series 'The Dark' a German series with subtitles on Netflix it runs for 3 series and is a superb time travel story.
Plus, the music in the Hitchcock movie at the theater is Bernard Herrmann's score from Hitchcock's film "Vertigo". Possibly the most beautiful film score EVER. And yes, the lady at the end is the scientist. They can't change what happens in the past, but we can assume she gets a sample of the virus because she is presumably infected by it by interacting with the assistant.
basically the kid was Cole and seeing himself die trapped him in a time loop, destined himself to die there
Well he would have died there regardless if he saw himself die as a kid or not, since that's the place he dies, it wouldn't have even been possible for him to thwart his own death if he wanted to since he was in the past his choices were already made and done before he even left
@@rorydakin8048 He had to die at the airport from gun shot since Cole was immune to the virus otherwise he still would've been alive in the future as an old man.
@@joemckim1183 Yeah, but what I'm saying is he isn't technically "stuck in a time loop", if a single trip to the past doesn't change the present then that means the people who go to the past aren't making any choices.
They're not aware that they are just following fate, even if Cole remembered that in the airport on that day was where he watched himself die as a kid he still would have died there because everything we see in the movie is the past and can't be changed.
That's why Jose showed up to give him the gun, so airport security would shoot him immediately instead of listening to a ranting raving man and maybe possibly grounding the plane with the suspected apocalypse virus even if its a false alarm.
The virus needs to be spread to people from the present can send someone back, so someone from the present can get an original sample of the virus back to save the rest of the people in the present.
If the virus never spreads there is no reason to build a time machine to send someone back for a sample, which means that someone isn't sent back to stop the virus from spreading.
Meaning if time travel is possible at some point in the future then they've already made their decision to time travel or not, anything they've done has already happened, even if they don't even exist currently to travel back and do the things they did.
Hey Brandon, This is by far my favorite reaction from you. I could really feel your excitement while you were watching. So many WTH moments from you! This is one of my favorite movies. Have you seen Looper, Edge of Tomorrow or Source Code? I'm sure you would really enjoy them as well. Happy Holidays.
Merry EARLY Christmas!
They got christmas in Canadia too?
@@stuckinaloop6637 not really were not "supposed to have christmas with family" or they'll give you a fine of like $1000. Yet they'll allow people on airplanes, and black friday and Boxing Day sales.
Genuine fun watching this, one of my favorite Sci fi movies, along with you. You got most of it right, but this is a film you've gotta watch more than once to fully put it together. And seriously, watch more Terry Gilliam films. Great review!
you should watch the series is so mindblowing!!!!
A good movie leaves you satisfied, a great movie leaves you behind in awe, a masterwork movie leaves you behind in awe, with questions, and theories.
This movie is one of those latter ones, a masterpiece
If you like this, you should try The City of Lost Children.
A MUCH more interresting Jeunet than Amélie, for sure.
12 Monkeys is a deterministic time travel movie. Meaning that while time travel is possible, you can't change anything, everything you do in the past is what happened, you can't change the past. Time traveler's and his/her actions were part of the past what future people see. If you try change anything, you'll find out you can't, you just become part of it.
bruce Willis and brad pitt is this now i must see it
It's friggin' great! Kind of reminiscent of Brazil! (the movie)
@@rafetizer never heard it but thank you what this on
I love how they used Frank Gorshin to portray the older doctor that works with Katherine. He portrayed the Riddler in the 1960’s Batman tv show.
My favorite movie ever turned into a show, the show was leaps and bounds better than this, but this was soo good!
It really is. And it gets basically no love because nobody watched it. Though, the first season isn't too strong. But it only gets better.
@@Cthulhu013 I never gave it a shot because I expected it to lower my liking of this movie but I’ll give it a shot now
I watched it for several seasons. It was good but not as good as the movie.
The kid is watching himself die. Every Terry Gilliam movie is a real treat to watch and never dissappoints, one of my all time favourite filmmakers.
Recurring themes in all his movies are the nature of madness and reality and the heroes tend to be people who exists outside of mainstream society, the freaks and the outcasts. My personal favourite is The Fisher King. :)