Date: Fri 10-May-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Quick Words:

Playing-12-Monkeys-Willis

Full Text:

(Now Playing on "12 Monkeys," 5/10/96)

Now Playing-

`Jane Eyre' To `12 Monkeys:' We Cover Past, Present & Future

By Trey Paul Alexander II

My apologies go out to the Bethel Cinema: I had planned to run a column this

week on Jane Eyre , director Franco Zeffirelli's take on the beloved novel by

Charlotte Bronte, but circumstances conspired against me and I was unable to

screen it before press time. Hopefully a review of the film, which opens May

10 at the Bethel Cinema, will be seen here next Friday.

In the meantime, the motion picture that takes center stage this week is 12

Monkeys , which opens at the Edmond Town Hall Theatre in Newtown May 17 (the

movie playing this week is Fargo , which was reviewed last month). This

intensely mesmerizing and oddly eccentric offering is a curious mix of

high-minded science fiction and affecting, stylized performances.

Director Terry Gilliam ( Brazil , The Fisher King ) unveils a tale of a barren

earth, circa 2035, on which humans have wiped out most of the planet's

population in 1997. In this future, a tribunal of ruling powers collects

convicts and uses them for time-travel jaunts in the hope these travelers will

be able to collect some valuable data from the past (prior to the key

outbreak) that will help the world's top minds develop a toxin that can allow

mankind to resurface.

The pivotal player in this scenario is James Cole (Bruce Willis), the latest

criminal to be subjected to this chrono-jumping. The dazed Cole is given

strict instructions on how to carry about his business (he is to seek out

information on the Army of the 12 Monkeys, a guerrilla group believed to be

responsible for the plague), but the effects of time travel include a

hallucinatory, disorienting state, and Cole gets himself into trouble when he

arrives in the 1990s. He eventually lands in the loony bin when he tries to

explain to the authorities he is from the future.

12 Monkeys is absorbingly complex and its plot could not be done justice here.

Suffice to say it covers all kinds of genres, from trippy sci-fi to virus

polemic to nail-biting, chase thriller. While many films fail to keep their

focus while navigating one genre, 12 Monkeys is surprisingly taut and balanced

when juggling several.

As Cole begins to realize his journeys are not placing him at the precise

destination he has been expecting (sometimes it's 1990, other times it is

1996), he theorizes he may be able to take matters into his own hands. Two

individuals that will loom large in his plans are an unbalanced inmate (Brad

Pitt) whom Cole encounters while in the asylum, and a noted psychiatrist

(Madeleine Stowe) who takes some intense convincing before she believes Cole

to be anything but a raving lunatic.

Although 12 Monkeys can be enjoyed purely as a diverting thriller, it is chock

full of bizarre quirks that give it a distinction all its own. My personal

favorites are a sly allusion to Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo , and a wonderful

cameo by Frank Gorshin (the Riddler of TV's "Batman") in a serious, caustic

turn.

Among the leads, Stowe is solid as always, and Pitt (who garnered an Oscar

nomination for this part) is good, though it is a showy role that allows for

hammy histrionics. Most impressive is Willis, who shows surprising range and

little reliance on his "Moonlighting," wise-guy smirk. In fact, one of Willis'

most splendid achievements comes in a small scene in which Cole, holed up in

the shrink's automobile, sits in amazement as her car radio blares out the

latest pop tunes. The emotions washing over Willis' face will convince you

this is a guy who has never enjoyed the sound of music.

12 Monkeys is rated R profanity, mild violence and nudity (shots of Cole being

scrubbed down and prepped for time travel).