Twelve Monkeys

Terry Gilliam and Bruce Willis. Interesting combination. Take Brad Pitt (wearing some really dodgy contact lenses) add a Terminator-style plot-line (both this film and Cameron's are based on a French SF flick, La Jetee), and you get a bloody good film (understatement - trust me.)

Set in the near future, the planet has been decimated by a deadly virus, and everybody has retreated below ground for safety. Willis plays a criminal who is coerced into working for the government and travelling back in time on a fact-finding mission. He must discover the origin, and, if possible, prevent the release of the killer virus that has rendered the planet uninhabitable. This is the key twist to the plot, and without wanting to give too much away (the film has one of those twisty-turny plots which only begins to make sense at the end), it all goes horribly wrong as Willis' character is institutionalised and even begins to question his own sanity.

Brad Pitt proves to be surprisingly enigmatic as a fellow asylum resident and Stowe (the object of desire for the Last of the Mohicans, perhaps not renowed for her spectacular acting abilities, does well under Gilliam's typically bizarre direction. Willis is tops too, but you expect that from the man who leapt from the dire (Blind Date) to the supercool (Pulp Fiction). Filled with the same visual flair which Gilliam demonstrated perfectly in his previous SF outing, Brazil, Twelve Monkeys is a one-of-a-kind filmic experience.

Sam Hillyard