i just watched this movie and feel a bit shakey, breathless, and overwhelmed.
absolutely insane. in-fucking-sane. there was sooooo much wrong with it. but it hit such a deep and resonant chord- emotionally and intellectually- that i can only describe it as a highly flawed masterpiece.
you have the first half- bleak depressing highly tense and romantically exciting, and then the second half- sentimental, filled with red herrings, and much softer and easier on the eyes- visually- not to mention influenced deeply by old movie notions of romanticism.
what was the point of this? i have yet to find out. but it reminds me of mulholland drive in its subversion of genre.
at any rate, i haven't felt this exhilerated from a piece of cinema in a long time...
I really liked this movie. I agree that there was a mood change, but I think it worked. I thought the ending was silly, but overall the movie was an inspiring peice of work. Brad Pitt was almost unrecognizable in his character. I saw it as one of those puzzle movies that you try to peice everything together, knowing that there was a reference to it earlier. Kind of like The Ring in the sense that the movie refers you back to something you saw earlier. I really didn't know what to expect from the movie, but I ended up thinking about this movie for the next couple of days.
i really hated brad pitts performance, just as much as i loved the movie.
brad pitt is a fucking thorn in my eye.
i agree about brad pitt's performance. it was a lot of tics and gestures with no real sense of character.
the main problem i had with the mood shift was mainly the way it shifted madeleine stowe's character from a frazzled inquisitive psychiatrist to a completely submissive, classic accessory to the male hero. i also disliked how bruce willis's character made the sudden, unfounded transition from brutish and uncivilized rogue to suave, sensitive, jimmy stewart-esque hero.
perhaps the genuis of the film is how it gives the audience the cassandra complex, as your instinct is to yell at the characters to prevent an apocalyptic future, but they don't believe you...just as in the first half, the characters struggle with the cassandra complex amongst themselves.
Quote from: pookiethecati agree about brad pitt's performance. it was a lot of tics and gestures with no real sense of character.
I thought his performance worked. It didn't take me out of the movie at all. I mean, sure he could have toned it down a bit, but I don't think it would have had the same effect. I thought the interaction between him and Bruce Willis was perfect.
I always liked Pitt's performance. Pretty funny, I don't think it was unintentional either. Gilliam can do no wrong.
absolutely, gamblor. 12 monkeys was hysterical in parts. the circus music definitely added a madcap quality too. this is the first gilliam movie i've seen...
they could have done a lot worse than pitt, but i think if he were unknown, he wouldn't have been cast...there are simply better actors out there that would have captured the character of jeffrey goins better, i felt.
Great Piece. It formulated so well and really gets into the darkness of a mind. I one of the best movies I've Seen!