there be a story ( possibly apocryphal ) about an exchange between bruce willis and terry gilliam at the start of twelve monkey . gilliam ( allegedly ) produce a long list ( think about the aircraft one from the fifth element ) and hand it to butch bruce . it be entitle thing bruce willis do when he act . it end with a simple message say represent please do not do any of the above in my movie . there be a fact about this movie ( definitely true ) . gilliam do not have a hand in the writing . i would contend that these two factor play a huge role in create the extraordinary ( if not commercial ) success that be the twelve monkey . visually and the twelve monkey be all that we have rightly come to expect from a gilliam film . it be also full of gilliamesque surrealism and general ( but magnificent ) strangeness . gilliam delight in wrong foot his audience . although the end of the twelve monkey will surprise no one who have sit through the first real and gilliam borrows heavily from kafka in the clockwork and bureaucratic relentless movement of the character towards their fate . it be this journey and and the character development they undergo and which unsettle . i love gilliam film ( brazil and in particular ) . but they do all tend to suffer from the same weakness . he seem to have so many idea and and so much enthusiasm and that his film almost invariably end up a a tangled mess ( brazil and in particular ) . i still maintain that brazil be gilliam tour de force and but there no denying that the twelve monkey be a breath of fresh air in the tight plotting department . style and substance and form seem to merge in a way not usually see from the ex python . whatever the truth of the rumour above and gilliam also manage to get a first rate ( and very atypical ) performance out of the bald one . bruce be excellent in this film and a be all the cast and particularly a suitably bonkers and very scary brad pitt . it be over a decade since this film be release . when i watch it again and i realise that it hadn not really age . i have change and of course . and this make me look at the film with fresh eye . this seem to me to be a fitting tribute to a film that and partly at least and be about reflection in mirror and altered perspective and the absurd one way journey through time that we all make . a first rate film . positive .