Twelve Monkeys (1995)

Trailer

Science ain't an exact science with these clowns but, they're getting better.
So basically: In 1997 a virus was released that wiped out the vast majority of the population and made living on the surface of the Earth impossible. Now many years in a future, a group of scientists are sending criminals back in time to gather information on the virus and to collect a pure sample of it in order to create an antidote. Their information tells them that the virus was developed and spread by a group known as The Army of the Twelve Monkeys, but they don't know why they did this. James Cole is one of the criminals assigned to the job, but he travels too far back, to 1990. There, he is sent to a mental institution where he meets Jeffrey Goins, a patient who is obsessed with germs, and Dr Kathyrn Railly, his psychiatrist who has a connection with him.

I love this film. I don't get how people think this is confusing. I mean, at all. To me, it's pretty straightforward - but I guess that's what time-travelling movies do to some. My only pet peeve with this film is the romance element. 'Cause I don't think that should have been the focus and it was. Railly should have just helped him and that would be that. And what's with this 'oh I feel as if I've known you forever' crap. I kept wanting them to explain it, y'know, maybe Cole traveled back to when Railly was a kid and she has a vague recollection of him? But they never did! It just seemed out of place (I'm assuming they just did it for the romance element, which is why it irks me). This happens in the movie theatre, tho. Earlier, in 1990, she says he just seems familiar. And I read on IMDb's boards - in my search to make sense of these feelings of Railly's - that it was because she had seen the picture of Cole from 1917 in her research for the book, but couldn't place it. But, I got the impression that she started the whole book/doomsday thing because she was interested in Cole back in 1990. So, that theory doesn't float with me. Some people might find it acceptable. Anyway ...

This movie is wicked awesome. Totes deserves to be on the list. You might need two viewings to understand it, but it's SO worth it! Also, Brad Pitt's performance is awesome!

Ziggi seal of approval!