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12 Monkeys (1995) ✦ Member of the Month: Full-Length Watchalong Reaction (Patreon)

Published:
2025-09-02 03:00:05
Edited:
2025-10-03 22:48:08
Imported:
2026-08
Tags:

Content

Thanks again to macelambdu for submitting this pick for Member of the Month! I knew absolutely nothing about this going in and yeah, it was a bit of a rollercoaster. 😅

Please enjoy the reaction! Looking forward to your comments. [Direct link here.]

✦ KL

Files

12 Monkeys (1995) Full-Length Watchalong Reaction

Comments

Turnt SNACO

YESSSSS, this is one of my favorite Sci Fi movies ever!!! It is a WILD trip of a movie, best experienced not knowing anything going in. Another one like that is The Game with Michael Douglas....will have you second guessing everything all the way to the end. Glad you watched this though! It's personally my favorite role of Bruce Willis's; I think he was overshadowed by Pitt who was good and got nominated for best supporting actor, but I feel he was a bit over the top. Bruce really sold it in the nuances of his performance. Don't get me wrong, it's an amazing script, but the actors really make this movie....

Tyler Foster

One detail that most people don't get on the first viewing: the woman on the plane at the end is one of the scientists, so even though Cole dies, they do get enough information to trace the virus to Morse's Dr. Peters and presumably save the day. She hints at that when she tells him "I'm in insurance." On the other hand, because you love this type of "bootstrap" time travel story, it was nice that you figured out how the time travel works in the film. So many people get hung up on the idea that Cole doesn't stop the virus, but he can't -- everything he does has already happened, so he cannot change anything. I used to have a Tumblr blog back in the day where I found and posted as many examples of a film appearing in another film, because I always felt there was something interesting about that, the way films are in conversation with each other. The example of Vertigo in this is probably my favorite one just because Cole talks about the idea that the viewer's perception of films change with their lives. That said, it was only after discovering reaction channels that I rewatched Vertigo enough to know it well, and on a previous reaction, I really loved that the music from Vertigo is playing in the lobby and scores the scene where Cole first sees Kathryn with the blonde hair. 12 Monkeys was adapted into a television show for SyFy that was very well received. It ran for four seasons, from 2015 to 2018. The movie itself is also adapted from a French short film called La Jetée (1962), directed by Chris Marker, although in a somewhat abstract way, as the 28-minute short is comprised entirely of black-and-white still photos. I also highly, highly recommend the great documentary on the making of this movie, The Hamster Factor (and Other Tales of Twelve Monkeys) (1996), which follows Gilliam around while he was making the film. Gilliam struggled multiple times in his early career with his films being tampered with by the studio, most famously on his landmark 1985 sci-fi film Brazil, which the studio attempted to chop down from over 2 hours to around 90 minutes, complete with a new ending that went entirely against the philosophy and ideas of Gilliam's original vision. He fought back, taking out a full page newspaper ad in Variety to the head executive that read "Dear Sid Sheinberg, When are you going to release my film, Brazil? Signed, Terry Gilliam," and then went to a previously-scheduled appearance at USC, where he was allowed a visual aid. His visual aid turned out to be the entire film in its original form, and he invited all of the Los Angeles film critics to the appearance, who then voted it the best film of the year for their year-end awards, forcing the studio to cave and release it nearly unedited. When 12 Monkeys was set up at Universal, Gilliam was understandably nervous, but he had a much better time dealing with them here, and the documentary is a great look at all of it. You can see the entire 90-minute film on YouTube.

Nathan Jasper

Fantastic film, I hope one day you journey through the TV show. It lets the plot breathe and expands on it in more depth. Plus any reason to watch Emily Hampshire be crazy is a good reason lol

HugoBoss435

The Game with Michael Douglas is absolute gold!

Movies with KL

Welp, accidentally shared this early by accident. Two watchalongs in one day, yay! 😂

Turnt SNACO

I saw it for the first time a couple years ago and was immediately obsessed with it. I literally watched it again the next day, and have watched several reactions to it. I thought it was so incredibly good and such a mindf*ck, plus it's one of those movies that has benefits tremendously from a second viewing, because, well....you know. 😝 It's funny, because the first watch is best not knowing anything....yet as soon as it's over you want to watch it again knowing what you now know.

Tyler Foster

If you want to push the "error" button on Blues Brothers, I won't complain when there's one less reaction later... ;)

Steve Mercier

My favorite time travel movie, and my third (I think) favorite Terry Gilliam movie (not including Monty Python stuff). I was already a Bruce WIllis fan with Die Hard and Moonlighting, but I think this was the first time I actually thought...oh, shit, this dude can act. But of course Brad Pitt steals the show here. Also, this line: "I'm an innocent victim in here! I was attacked by a coked up whore and a...a fuckin' crazy dentist!"

Tyler Foster

Oh, also, the young actor you singled out in the Army of the 12 Monkeys was Guillermo Diaz. Don't know if that's the guy you thought it was. The other guy in the office was also Matt Ross, who you just saw in Face/Off as the officer on Archer's team who gets his ear blown off and fixed, but who is ultimately murdered in cold blood by Troy as Archer when he asks why "Archer" is broken up about Pollux's death.

macelambdu

I’m glad you enjoyed the film! I really appreciate you watching it. Regarding Brad Pitt’s performance: the story goes that Gilliam sent Pitt to a dialogue coach as he had never played a high energy fast-talking character before. After working with him, the coach said Pitt couldn’t do it - he had a slow tongue and smoked too much. As a result Gilliam simply stripped Pitt of his cigarettes and his agitated state produced exactly the performance Gilliam was looking for. Gilliam himself gives Pitt all the credit for his performance, saying he worked really hard at it, and even came up with the idea to wear contact lenses to make himself cockeyed. In any case I think you can see a lot of proto-Tyler-Durden here in terms of both the character and performance (albeit a far more erratic and anxious version)

Movies with KL

Yes, definitely see a bit of the Tyler performance in this one! Glad you enjoyed the reaction. ☺️