Scenes I Will Never Forget

And this why I hated Jon Cryer playing second fiddle to Charlie Sheen:

TWELVE MONKEYS, FOUR TIMES

SO I have seen 12 Monkeys at least four complete times. It is still hard to describe, and harder still to judge. I know that I cannot look away any time it comes on TV. Bruce Willis is a time traveler, sent from the future to undo a single terrorist act that demolished the human race. Brad Pitt plays the insane terrorist with straggly hair and a ravaged face. His cause? A PETA-on-steroids plan to punish man for his mistreatment of animals. I was dazzled the first time by Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis as well as the double views of Philly now and in the corrupt future. The twin plots: the quixotic quest of Bruce Willis to stop the terrorists that end humanity from the future and the present unfolding of the plot to stop the animal terrorists from achieving their goal. Both characters become doppelgangers of themselves, and I could argue that they are doppelgangers to each other as well.

I always love director Terry Gilliam's style. Every future scene with Bruce Willis and his jailers/doctors is terrifying in its bleakness and its exhausting detail. The panoramic scenes of the city ruled by the animals are iconic: they are as dreamy and beautiful as the present day scenes of the wintry city are ugly, begrimed by mass transit and too many people. So dark, so lush, so beautiful. I believe it, every time.




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