Twelve Monkeys (1995) (aka 12 Monkeys)

In director Terry Gilliam's non-linear, plot-twisting, sci-fi fantasy thriller - it told about time travel, subjective false memories and multiple realities, unusual efforts to thwart a devastating global plague, and futile attempts to change destiny. It was definitely inspired by Chris Marker's French science-fiction featurette film La Jetée/The Pier (1962, Fr.)), and there were many referential allusions to Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). On a budget of $29 million, the film grossed $57.1 million (domestic) and $168.8 million (worldwide).

The film was eventually considered the second film in a satirical, dystopic-world trilogy (an "Orwellian Triptych"), including his earlier film Brazil (1985) and later The Zero Theorem (2013). The tagline for the film was related to the plot: "The future is history." Time travel films also featuring movement between the past, present and future included Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Looper (2012).

• as the film opened in the future year of 2035 in Philadelphia, a title card described the current situation:
  • "...5 billion people will die from a deadly virus in 1997...
    ... The survivors will abandon the surface of the planet...
    ... Once again the animals will rule the world..."
    - Excerpts from interview with clinically diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. April 12, 1990 - Baltimore County Hospital.
• a prison convict and underground asylum inmate James "Jim" Cole (Bruce Willis) was offered or "volunteered" to be sent back in time in exchange for being pardoned or a reduced sentence for his violent and anti-social behavior; he had been selected for being observant and for his mental state: "We want tough-minded people. Strong, mentally. We've had some misfortunes with unstable types"; a scientist told Cole that he would "play an important role in returning the human race to the surface of the Earth"
• his time-traveling mission was to observe the past and collect information, and obtain a pure sample of the unmutated virus in 1996 so that a cure might be found to prevent the future plague and ensure humanity's continued existence
• a post-apocalyptic future world had been virus-plagued for about four decades; a horrible virus had killed 5 billion people in 1996-1997 and forced humanity to live underground (the surface of the Earth was unliveable due to poisonous air)

A Virus Threatened the World in 1996-1997, Leading to a Post-Apocalyptic World

• Cole was led to believe that eccentric, insane animal activist Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt), the son of prominent virologist Dr. Goines (Christopher Plummer) who led a radical, revolutionary and terrorist group known as "The Army of the 12 Monkeys," was the cause of the worldwide plague that killed five billion people and made Earth unlivable in 1996; in a transcendent scene, the Army of the 12 Monkeys released all the animals out of Philadelphia's Garden Zoological Society, and the snow-covered, plague-ridden city became overrun with wild animals
• during this time, Cole continually suffered from and was plagued by a recurring obsessive nightmarish dream about a deadly airport shooting that was haunting him; he saw himself as a young boy (Joseph Melito) witnessing a deadly shooting incident - a man in an airport was gunned down by police, who then raised his bloody hand up to the face of a grieving blonde woman; it was a childhood memory whose meaning was not understood even though it replayed itself endlessly
• the first of Cole's many time travels went completely awry when he ended up in Baltimore in 1990 (rather than 1996) and due to disorientation and delusions (represented by angled film shots), he was committed to a mental institution; there, he was treated by psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe), who didn't believe his wild story
• Cole also met crazed inmate Jeffrey Goines, who was instructed to tell Cole about the asylum's rules and show him around; as they toured the facility, conspiracy theorist Goines pointed out patients who were playing various board games, and spoke about "germs," drug dosages and lack of communication with the outside world; he then expounded on his beliefs (anti-corporation and consumerism) while he became more and more hysterical as he talked: "There's the television. It's all right there - all right there. Look, listen, kneel, pray. Commercials! We're not productive anymore. We don't make things anymore. It's all automated. What are we for then? We're consumers. Yeah. Okay, okay. Buy a lot of stuff, you're a good citizen. But if you don't buy a lot of stuff, if you don't, what are you then, I ask you? What? Mentally ill"

Animal Activist Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt) With Cole in Mental Asylum

• [Note: It was entirely conceivable that the entire deadly virus scenario was only a creation or expression of Cole's deep psychosis in order to mask his own mental condition. Some of the film's creepy voice-dialogue could presumably be in his own head, and he might conceivably be living in the year 1990 and fantasizing about the future virus.]
• when interviewed by doctors in 1990, Cole attempted to explain the future virus outbreak and plague; an escape attempt failed, but due to mixups in his time travel, Cole was returned by the authorities to the year 2035; he was again told that eco-terrorist Goines and his "Army of the 12 Monkeys" had caused the virus spread; afterwards, he was again misdirected and sent to the mid-1910s (WWI battle of Ypres in France), where during a chemical weapons attack, he was shot in the leg, before he finally ended up at his original destination - the year 1996
• Cole attended a museum lecture in Baltimore where his psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly was delivering a speech about apocalyptic visions; she specifically referred to the Cassandra Complex - the Greek legend about knowing what the future held and warning about it, but ignored: ("Cassandra in Greek legend, you recall, was condemned to know the future but to be disbelieved when she foretold it. Hence the agony of foreknowledge combined with the impotence to do anything about it"); at a post-lecture book-signing for her book The Doomsday Syndrome, she spoke with red-haired, pony-tailed bio-terrorist and "apocalyptic nut" Dr. Peters (David Morse), who expressed his extremist views about the environmental crisis caused by human meddling
• after the event, Cole kidnapped Dr. Railly and the two traveled to Philadelphia, where he tied her down to a motel bed; they tracked down Jeffrey Goines, who denied any wrong-doing related to the virus; in fact, Goines blamed Cole for spreading the idea of wiping out humanity with a virus stolen from Goines's virologist father, Dr. Leland Goines; Dr. Railly was increasingly confused: "I can't believe that everything we say or do has already happened, or we can't change what is going to happen, and if 5 billion people are going to die..."
• one more time-journey for Cole forward to the year 2035 confirmed for Cole that he needed to complete his mission; he returned to 1996 where he again met Dr. Railly who had him committed to the institution in 1990; he told Dr. Railly that he doubted his own sanity; however, she began to believe his story about a future virus plague, and took Cole's side, after she saw him in an old World War I photograph (after removing an antique bullet from a leg wound) from her book research ("You had a bullet from World War I in your leg, James! How did it get there?"); and then, she fell in love with him and she became his love-interest
• by film's end, it was revealed that Jeffrey Goines and his "Army of the 12 Monkeys" were never the cause of the worldwide plague that was released in December 1996; they were instead just "a bunch of dumb kids playing revolutionaries" - pranksters with red spray-paint cans who freed wild animals from Philadelphia's Garden Zoological Society and tied up traffic; Goines locked his kidnapped and blindfolded father Dr. Goines in a gorilla cage, who confirmed that his son was crazy: "Now I know it’s true. Jeffrey, you're completely insane"
• the next day, Dr. Railly and Cole donned disguises as they sat in a 24 hour movie theater watching a marathon of Hitchcock's movies, including Vertigo (1958) (the scene in the California redwoods where the protagonists spoke about their life span, measured by ancient tree rings indicating the passage of time); Cole wondered about the nature of reality: "It's just like what's happening with us. The movie never changes. It can’t change, but every time you see it, it seems different, because you're different. You see different things"
• as the film The Birds (1963) played (a film also about nature running amok), Cole had donned a wig, glued on a mustache and wore a tropical-designed shirt, while she dyed her hair blonde and wore a coat (like the Hitchcock heroine in Vertigo); they were planning to fly together to a dream vacation destination - the Florida Keys
• at the Philadelphia airport, Cole sent a message to his contacts - the scientists in the year 2013 - to inform them that the "Army of the 12 Monkeys" was just a red herring, and that he was quitting his mission with them; another time-traveling prison inmate named Jose (Jon Seda) appeared and gave Cole a handgun with harsh instructions to follow orders and complete his mission; otherwise, he threatened to kill Kathryn if Cole didn't eliminate the person responsible for spreading the virus
• Dr. Railly identified Dr. Peters (who worked in Goines' virology lab) in front of them in the security line, who was transporting a sticker-covered, carry-on suitcase that contained live samples of a deadly virus; both realized that Dr. Peters' objective was to unleash the doomsday virus through an ordered sequence of worldwide cities (matching what Cole had memorized)
• when gun-brandishing Cole pursued the madman through security (with Dr. Railly not far behind), he was fatally gunned down (filmed in slow-motion) in the film's climactic ending by airport police, as madman Peters escaped and boarded his plane to San Francisco - with the goal of infecting the world one city at a time
• the film's main plot twist was revealed to clearly explain the reason for Cole's repeated dreams and memories; during Cole's sad, long drawn-out death after being shot in the Philadelphia airport by security guards, he was mourned over by grieving Dr. Railly; as she mourned above him, she scanned the many bystanders surrounding them, and knowingly noticed young Cole nearby when their eyes made contact; it was Cole as a young boy witnessing the shooting (and his own death) in the far future; his attempts to prevent the future led to his death in the future

Dying James Cole Shot at Airport	Comforted by Dr. Railly
Cole (As Young Boy) Witnessing His Own Death	A Knowing Look Toward the Young Cole

• seated next to Dr. Peters (on a plane eventually bound for Rome) was a woman who complained during a rant: "It's obscene, all the violence, all the lunacy. Shootings even at airports now. You might say that we're the next endangered species, human beings"; Peters agreed with her: "I think you're right, ma'am. I think you've hit the nail on the head"; she then introduced herself as Jones (Carol Florence): "I'm in insurance"; she was one of the female astrophysicists from the future who was guiding Cole's time travels; it was a hopeful sign that she would retrieve a pure sample of the virus and bring it back to the future as a backup plan to help save the world
• the film concluded with young Cole watching a plane take-off; during the end credits, the film brilliantly used performer Louis Armstrong's singing "What A Wonderful World"