Twelve Monkeys

The future is history.

Release Date 1995-12-29
Runtime 129 minutes
Status Released
Watch

Overview

In the year 2035, convict James Cole reluctantly volunteers to be sent back in time to discover the origin of a deadly virus that wiped out nearly all of the earth's population and forced the survivors into underground communities. But when Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990 instead of 1996, he's arrested and locked up in a mental hospital. There he meets psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly and the son of a famous virus expert who may hold the key to the Army of the 12 Monkeys; thought to be responsible for unleashing the killer disease.

Budget $29,000,000
Revenue $168,841,459
Vote Average 7.601/10
Vote Count 8654
Popularity 8.1498
Original Language en

Backdrop

Available Languages

English US
Title:
"The future is history."
Deutsch DE
Title: 12 Monkeys
"Die Zukunft ist Geschichte"
Español ES
Title: 12 monos
"El futuro ya es historia."
Polski PL
Title: 12 małp
"Przyszłość jest historią."
suomi FI
Title: 12 apinaa
"Tulevaisuus on historiaa"
Italiano IT
Title: L'esercito delle 12 scimmie
"Il futuro è storia."

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Cast

Crew

Reviews

JPV852
8.0/10
Really good sci-fi thriller with wonderful performances by Bruce Willis, Madeline Stowe and Brad Pitt. Really well done by director Terry Gilliam that has great pacing through the two hour running time. **4.0/5**
Wuchak
6.0/10
**_A-man-comes-back-from-the-future Sci-Fi with Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt_** In 2035 survivors are living underground after a viral outbreak has wiped out most of the populace. A prisoner (Bruce Willis) is sent back in time to obtain the original virus so scientists can find a cure. Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, Christopher Plummer and David Morse are on hand in key roles. "12 Monkeys" (1996) has a huge reputation as a sci-fi thriller and is iconic of 90’s cinema. The man coming back from the future plot immediately brings to mind the first two Terminator flicks (from 1984 and 1991), but “12 Monkeys” pales by comparison. Don’t get me wrong, it’s worth seeing and is entertaining enough with Madeleine Stowe shining, but the story is hampered by a muddled tone of schizophrenia and the unrelenting grunginess of the visual aesthetic (which makes perfect sense for 2035, but not for 1990 and 1996 where most of the events take place). In short, the movie’s just not as compelling as it could be. People gush over Brad Pitt’s role and he is entertaining, but it’s a glaring rip-off of Dennis Hopper’s photojournalist in “Apocalypse Now” (1979), although I suppose you could see it as an homage. In any case, I could see through Pitt’s acting here and there whereas Hopper was the real deal, perhaps because he & crew were literally stuck in the sweltering jungle waiting around for days doing drugs or whatever while Coppola & Brando worked out the kinks in the script for the last act. If I'm in the mood for this kind of fare, the first three Terminator flicks are a superior option and even the remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (2008). This one's decent, but overrated. The film runs 2 hours, 9 minutes, and was shot primarily in the Philadelphia & Baltimore areas. For instance, Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia was used for the rundown asylum. GRADE: B-
Filipe Manuel Neto
9.0/10
**An excellent sci-fi film that deserves our attention.** I didn't really know what to expect when this movie was on TV very recently, but I was really glued to the set until the end thanks to a truly absorbing story and a collection of great actors who do a great job. I don't know director Terry Gilliam very well, I've only seen one or two of his films so far (not counting this film), but I'm beginning to understand his aesthetic a bit. However, I recognize that surrealism, of which the director is adept, and the bizarre script can really make it difficult to understand the work. The film begins by immersing us in a profoundly dystopian world, where humanity was almost extinct by a pandemic. As the disease comes from an airborne virus that was deliberately released, the survivors moved into underground shelters. Technology, however, has evolved and allows the sending of chrononauts (that is, time travelers) to the past, in order to obtain pure samples of the virus, which can be used in the manufacture of a vaccine or medicine. This is how James Cole, a criminal, is chosen for time travel in exchange for his crimes being forgiven. His mission is not to alter the past by preventing the release of the virus, even if he seems to want to. The mission is to locate those responsible and pass on all the information to the future, in order to send another agent who will collect the samples. But he only knows that a radicalized environmentalist group, the Army of the Twelve Monkeys, was responsible. Sent by accident to 1990 (instead of 1996), he ends up in an insane asylum where he will befriend the manic Jeffrey Goines and endear Dr. Railly. The film deals with very complex themes, such as time travel, temporal paradoxes, the impossibility of changing the past, and even madness, the tenuous difference between reality and imagination, or between sanity and insanity. It has several advances and retreats in time and you have to be attentive, but what intrigues viewers the most is its ending, strangely sudden and confusing. I understood it quite well, and I think you just need to pay attention to the film to understand everything, but I'll leave a clue to help: the eyes of the protagonist and the eyes of the child that we see at the end of the film are exactly the same, and the what she sees coincides perfectly with a recurring dream that torments the protagonist, coming from the future. I say no more. I loved Brad Pitt's performance in this movie. The actor, very used to heartthrob roles where he can use and abuse his natural charm, is almost unrecognizable here. Of course, younger and less experienced, but just as impeccable. I don't know to what extent participating in this film had an influence on his learning as an actor, but I believe it was useful for Pitt. Bruce Willis is also an actor who deserves a positive mention for his work here. He really seems confused, and in many scenes he manages to give the character the feeling that she is abandoning herself to the course of events, fighting against it whenever she feels her mission is in danger. Madeleine Stowe's performance was not so happy: while being frankly positive, it is the least interesting and the most conventional. Technically, the film is flawless. Gilliam cleverly takes advantage of the sets and costumes and makes a truly strange, bizarre future, with those plastic protective suits and that ball in the interrogation scenes. It's an ugly world that we don't want to see one day. I especially liked the cinematography, and the way the director works the footage in a way that makes everything even more surreal and strange. For example, the scene on the staircase of Goines' father's mansion, which is as elegant and majestic as it is labyrinthine and dreamlike. In addition to the good effects, the film also has a very effective soundtrack.
CinemaSerf
7.0/10
Bruce Willis is at the height of his game here as his "Cole" character is sent back in time to find out just how the world came to suffer from a virus that all but wiped out humanity. He is promised early release from his extended prison sentence if he can glean enough information and get back alive to share it! Thing is, they put him back a bit too early and his harbingering of doom stuff merely serves to find him sectioned and under the care of scientist "Railly" (Madeleine Stowe) and friends with the off-his-trolley "Goines" (Brad Pitt) who might just have an use when it comes to fulfilling their quest. "Railly" doesn't exactly volunteer to help him out, but quickly she and "Cole" are onto a group called the "Army of the Twelve Monkeys" believing that they might hold some of the clues to this man-made misery in waiting. It's a Terry Gilliam film so the plot is never going to stick to just the one dimension. Accordingly, "Cole" starts to lose his grasp on reality - he hallucinates, hears voices and generally begins to wonder if he is going mad. Maybe it's the effects of time travel? Maybe something more sinister is afoot? Willis and Stowe are on good form but it's actually Pitt who plays the role of the bonkers "Goines" more memorably. You just know that his character has more to it than the vacillatingly unhinged man presented in the hospital, and as the adventure develops these three characters present us with a quickly paced story that mixes the future with the past whilst peppering the whole thing with questions about the morality of vivisection, scientific experimentation and unfettered technological advances. Why would anyone want to create a virus this potent and irreversible anyway? That's the question.

Famous Conversations

COLE: I understand. There'd be no point.

ASTROPHYSICIST: We're going to think about it, Cole. Among ourselves. We'll get back to you.

ASTROPHYSICIST: You said we weren't "real," Cole...

COLE: Well, sir, I don't think the human mind was built to exist in two different... whatever you call it..."dimensions." It's stressful, you said it yourselves, it gets you confused. You don't know what's real and what's not.

ASTROPHYSICIST: The food, the sky, the certain, uh, sexual temptations -- you haven't become "addicted" have you, Cole? To that "dying" world'

COLE: No, sir! I just want to do my part. To get us back on top...in charge of the planet. And I have the experience, I know who the people are...

ASTROPHYSICIST: Women will want to get to know you...

COLE: I DON'T WANT YOUR "WOMEN," YOU BRAINLESS TWIT! I WANT TO BE WELL!

ASTROPHYSICIST: Him? You saw that man?

COLE: Uh, I think so. In the mental hospital.

ASTROPHYSICIST: Well?

COLE: Uh, what?

COLE: No, sir!

ASTROPHYSICIST: We have a very advanced program, something very different, requires very skilled people.

ASTROPHYSICIST: Wake up, Cole.

COLE: Uh, I didn't hear the...

ASTROPHYSICIST: We want you to tell us about last night.

COLE: I went to the surface and I collected specimens like I was told.

ASTROPHYSICIST: We're very close! Because of you!

ENGINEER: This is it, James...what you've been working for.

ASTROPHYSICIST: But just until you recover your, uh,... equilibrium.

ENGINEER: You're still a little... disoriented.

ENGINEER: He's drugged out of his mind! He's completely zoned out.

ASTROPHYSICIST: Cole, did you or did you not record that message?

ENGINEER: We want tough minded people. Strong mentally. We've had some...misfortunes with "unstable" types.

ASTROPHYSICIST: For a man in your position...an opportunity.

ASTROPHYSICIST: To be determined by the proper authorities.

ENGINEER: You don't want to jeopardize that reduction, do you, Cole? Have it taken away?

BEN: Wow, a guy in a Chevy is chasing her and some other guy I can't see.

FALE: Hey, no problem, it's probably just another kidnapping featuring Jeffrey's shrink, pardon me, make that ex-shrink. This is your leader, a certifiable lunatic who told his former psychiatrist all his plans for God knows what whacko irresponsible schemes, and now who knows what she's painted out there on our wall?

FALE: It's the kidnap woman -- the one who was with the guy who tied us up.

BEN: What's she doing?

FALE: She's drawing attention to us, that's what she's doing. ... I don't know what you're up to this time, Mason, but you're gonna get us in deep shit!

FALE: That's him.

BEN: What are you going to do with us?

BEN: I told you that fuckhead Mason would get us into something like this.

FALE: Shut up!

COLE: San Francisco, New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Kinshasa, Karachi, Bangkok, then Peking.

BOTANIST: Meaning...???

COLE: That the virus was taken from Philadelphia to San Francisco, then to New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Kinshasa, Karachi, Bangkok, then Peking.

BOTANIST: And your only goal is...???

COLE: To find out where the virus is so a qualified scientist can travel back into the past and study the original virus.

BOTANIST: So that...???

COLE: Uh, so that a vaccine can be developed that will, uh, allow mankind to reclaim the surface of the earth.

BOTANIST: Let's consider again our current information -- if the symptoms were first detected in Philadelphia on June 28, 1995, that makes us know that...?

COLE: It was released in Philadelphia, probably on June 14, 1995.

BOTANIST: And it appeared sequentially after that in...?

COLE: They forced me to take drugs.

BOTANIST: Forced you! Why would someone force you to take drugs?

COLE: I got into trouble. I got arrested. But I still got you a specimen -- a spider -- but I didn't have anyplace to put it, so I ate it. It was the wrong year anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter.

BOTANIST: It's important to observe everything.

COLE: I think it was...I'm sure it was 2nd Street.

RAILLY: They may be looking for us, James. Use this. You can fix it in the Men's Room.

COLE: I was here...as a kid. I think you were here, too. But you...looked just like you look now.

RAILLY: James, if we're identified, they're going to send us someplace...but not to Key West!

COLE: Right! You're right. I have to fix this.

RAILLY: I'll get the tickets and meet you... in the Gift Shop.

COLE: I know this place! ... This is my dream.

RAILLY: Airports all look the same. Maybe it's... James! Your moustache! It's slipping.

RAILLY: That's what they were up to! Freeing animals!

COLE: On the walls -- they meant the animals when they said, "We did it."

COLE: You were in my dream just now. I didn't recognize you.

RAILLY: Well, you look pretty different, too.

COLE: I mean in my dream -- I didn't realize it was you. Then...I woke up and I...I thought you were gone.

RAILLY: I remember you...like this. I feel I've known you before. I feel I've always known you.

COLE: But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you're wrong. Maybe we're both crazy.

RAILLY: In a few weeks, it will have started or it won't. If there are still baseball games and traffic jams, armed robberies and boring TV shows -- we'll be so happy, we'll be glad to turn ourselves in to the police.

COLE: Why are we doing this?

RAILLY: So we can stick our heads out the window and feel the wind and listen to the music. So we can appreciate what we have while we have it. Forgive me, psychiatrists don't cry.

COLE: I think I've seen this movie before. When I was a kid. It was on TV.

RAILLY: Shh -- don't talk. Hold still.

COLE: I have seen it, but I don't remember this part. Funny, it's like what's happening to us, like the past. The movie never changes -- it can't change -- but everytime you see it, it seems to be different because you're different -- you notice different things.

RAILLY: If we can't change anything...because it's already happened, then we ought to at least smell the flowers.

COLE: Flowers! What flowers?

RAILLY: You... you couldn't have heard me.

COLE: They got your message, Kathryn. They played it for me. It was a bad recording...distorted. I didn't recognize your voice.

RAILLY: It's a Carpet Cleaning Company...

COLE: A Carpet Cleaning Company?

RAILLY: No superiors! No scientists. No people from the future. It's just a Carpet Cleaning Company. They have voice mail -- you leave a message telling them when you want your carpet cleaned.

COLE: You... you left them a message?

RAILLY: I couldn't resist. I was so relieved. Wait'll they hear this nutty woman telling them...they better watch out for the Army of the Twelve Monkeys...

COLE: You want me to rob him?

RAILLY: I...I...We need cash, James.

COLE: I want to be here. In this time. With you. I want to become...become a whole person. I want this to be the present. I want the future to be unknown.

RAILLY: James...do you remember...six years ago...you had a phone number! You tried to call and...

RAILLY: What does this mean to you?

COLE: ...I had a dream about...something like that.

RAILLY: You had a bullet from World War One in your leg, James! How did it get there?

COLE: You said I had delusions -- that I created a world -- you said you could explain everything...

RAILLY: Well, I can't. ... I mean...I'm trying to. I can't believe that everything we do or say has already happened, that we can't change what's going to happen, that I'm one of the three billion people who are going to die...soon.

RAILLY: Okay...you were standing there looking at the moon...you were eating grass... then what?

COLE: I thought I was in...prison again.

RAILLY: Just like that? You were in prison?

COLE: No, not really. It's...it's in my mind. Like you said.

RAILLY: You disappeared! One minute you were there, the next minute you were gone. Did you run through the woods?

COLE: I don't know -- I don't remember.

RAILLY: The boy in the well. How did you know that was just a hoax?

COLE: It was? I didn't...know.

RAILLY: James, you said he was hiding in the barn...

COLE: I think I saw a TV show like that when I was a kid. Where a boy...

RAILLY: IT WASN'T A TV SHOW! IT WAS REAL!

COLE: I don't understand what we're doing.

RAILLY: We're avoiding the police until I can....talk to you.

COLE: You mean, treat me? Cure me? Kathryn, those words on the wall -- I've seen them before... I...I...dreamed them.

RAILLY: James! That's a policeman. Pretend you don't know me. If he sees you...

COLE: No, I want to turn myself in. Where is he? Don't worry -- it's all okay now. I'm not crazy any more! I mean, I am crazy, mentally divergent, actually, but I know it now and I want you to help me. I want to get well...

COLE: I need help all right. They're coming after me.

RAILLY: First, it's important that you surrender to them instead of them catching you running. Okay?

COLE: It would be great if I'm crazy. If I'm wrong about everything...the world will be okay. I'll never have to live underground.

RAILLY: Give me the gun.

COLE: The gun! ... I lost it

RAILLY: You're sure?

COLE: No gun! Stars! Air! I can live here. Breathe!

RAILLY: What made you think that?

COLE: Jeffrey Mason said it was my idea about the virus. And suddenly, I wasn't sure. We talked when I was in the institution, and it was all...fuzzy. The drugs and stuff. You think maybe I'm the one who wiped out the human race? It was my idea?

RAILLY: Nobody is going to wipe out the human race. Not you or Jeffrey or anybody else. You've created something in your mind, James -- a substitute reality. In order to avoid something you don't want to face.

COLE: I'm..."mentally divergent". I would love to believe that.

RAILLY: It can be dealt with, but only if you want to. I can help you.

RAILLY: What have you done? Did you...kill someone?

COLE: No! I...don't think so. I stole a car and they chased me. I hit a tree.

RAILLY: See -- you can drive after all!

COLE: Yeah, sort of, I guess. I...I'm sorry I locked you up. I thought...I thought... I think maybe I am crazy!

COLE: You smell so good.

RAILLY: You have to give yourself up, you know.

COLE: You were going to run out off gas on purpose, weren't you?

RAILLY: No. I want you to turn yourself in, James -- It'll go much better for you if you do -- but I'm not going to trick you.

COLE: That has your name on it. Give him cash.

COLE: We need gas.

RAILLY: I thought you didn't know how to drive.

COLE: I said I was too young to drive. I didn't say I was stupid.

RAILLY: What's the matter with your leg?

COLE: I got shot. Look -- there's a gas station up ahead.

RAILLY: Shot! Who shot you?

COLE: It was some kind of...war. Never mind, you wouldn't believe me. Turn off here.

COLE: The guy was a total fruitcake.

RAILLY: And he told you then his father was a famous virologist.

COLE: All I see are dead people. Everywhere. What's three more?

RAILLY: You know Dr. Mason's son, Jeffrey Mason, don't you, James? You met him in the County Hospital six years ago.

COLE: Mason???

RAILLY: Jeffrey Mason?

COLE: I told you what I want. Lock the door!

RAILLY: James, why don't we...?

COLE: Lock it now!

RAILLY: You didn't have a gun before, did you?

COLE: I've got one now.

RAILLY: Oh, Jesus, James! You killed him!

COLE: I did him a favor. Now come on.

COLE: Are you hurt?

RAILLY: Uh, no. Yes. I mean, just some scrapes...

COLE: They're keeping an eye on me.

RAILLY: Who's keeping an eye on you?

COLE: The man...with the voice. I recognized him. He's from the present. He...

COLE: Look, I'm warning you. You do anything, I'm going to go crazy -- hurt people!

RAILLY: I'm not going to "do" anything, I promise. But you need help, James. None of this is what you think it is.

RAILLY: Does that disturb you, James? Thinking about that little boy in the well?

COLE: When I was a kid I identified with that kid, down there alone in that pipe...a hundred feet down -- doesn't know if they're going to save him.

RAILLY: What do you mean -- when you were a kid?

COLE: Nevermind. It's not real -- it's a hoax. A prank. He's hiding in a barn. Hey, turn left here. Left!

COLE: My notes. Observations. Clues.

RAILLY: Clues? What kind of clues?

COLE: A secret army. The Army of The Twelve Monkeys. I've told you about them. They spread the virus. That's why we have to get to Philadelphia. I have to find them -- it's my assignment.

RAILLY: What will you do...when you find this...secret army?

COLE: I just have to locate the virus in its original form before it mutates. So scientists can come back and study it and find a cure. So that those of us who survived can go back to the surface of the earth.

COLE: No, I think it was always you. It's very strange.

RAILLY: You're flushed. And you were moaning. I think you're running a fever. What are you doing?

COLE: You were in my dream just now. Your hair was different, but I'm sure it was you.

RAILLY: We dream about what's important in our lives. And I seem to have become pretty important in yours. What was the dream about?

COLE: About an airport...before everything happened. It's the same dream I always have -- the only one. I'm a little kid in it.

RAILLY: And I was in it? What did I do?

COLE: You were very upset. You're always very upset in the dream, but I never knew it was you before.

RAILLY: It wasn't me before, James. It's become me now because of...what's happening. Please untie me.

RAILLY: Did something terrible happen to you when you were a child? Something so bad...?

COLE: Ohhhh, that one! Can we hear that one?

COLE: "Never cry wolf!"

RAILLY: What?

COLE: My father told me that. "Never cry wolf." Then people won't believe you if...something really happens.

RAILLY: "If something really happens"...like what, James?

COLE: Something bad. Is that all the music? I don't want to hear this stuff...

COLE: You used to call me "James".

RAILLY: You'd prefer that? ... James...you don't really have a gun, do you.

COLE: Everybody's got a gun. In this city...

RAILLY: I can't believe this is a coincidence, Mr. Cole. Have you been...following me?

COLE: You told me you'd help me. I know this isn't what you meant, but...I was desperate... no money...bum leg... sleeping on the streets. I probably smell bad. Sorry about that. But then I saw your book in a store window with a notice about your lecture. I can read, remember?

RAILLY: Yes, I remember. Why do you want to go to Philadelphia?

COLE: It's the next step. I checked out the Baltimore information, it was nothing. It's Philadelphia, that's where they are, the ones who killed everyone. Zs that a radio? Does it play music?

RAILLY: Cole! James Cole! You escaped from a locked room six years ago.

COLE: 1989. Six years for you. There's the sign! Right here!

RAILLY: It's just a shot to calm you.

COLE: No more drugs. Please...

RAILLY: I have to do this, James. You're very confused.

RAILLY: James, where did you grow up? Was it around here? Around Baltimore?

COLE: What?

RAILLY: I have the...strangest feeling I've met you before...a long time ago, perhaps. Were you ever...?

COLE: Wait! This is only 1989! I'm supposed to be leaving messages in 1995. It's not the right number yet. That's the problem. Damn! How can I contact them?

COLE: It was some lady. She didn't know anything.

RAILLY: Perhaps it was a wrong number...

COLE: No. That's the reason they chose me -- I remember things.

RAILLY: Mr. Cole? My name is Doctor Railly. I'm a psychiatrist. I work for the County -- I don't work for the police. My only concern is your well being -- do you understand that?

COLE: I need to go now.

RAILLY: I'm going to be completely honest. I'm not going to lie to you. I can't make the police let you go...but I do want to help you. And I want you to trust me. Can you do that, James? May I call you "James"?

COLE: "James"! Nobody ever calls me that.

RAILLY: Have you been a patient at County? Have I seen you someplace?

COLE: No, not possible. Listen, I have to get out of here. I'm supposed to be getting information.

RAILLY: What kind of information?

COLE: It won't help you. You can't do anything about it. You can't change anything.

RAILLY: Change what?

COLE: I need to go.

RAILLY: Do you know why you're here, James.

COLE: Because I'm a good observer. Because I have a tough mind.

RAILLY: I see. You don't remember assaulting a police officer...several officers?

COLE: They wanted identification. I don't have any identification. I wasn't trying to hurt them.

RAILLY: You don't have a driver's license, James? Or a Social Security card?

COLE: No.

RAILLY: Why not? Most people have some ID.

COLE: You wouldn't understand.

RAILLY: You've been in an institution, haven't you, James? A hospital?

COLE: I have to go.

RAILLY: A jail? Prison?

COLE: Underground.

RAILLY: Hiding?

COLE: I love this air. This is wonderful air.

RAILLY: What's wonderful about the air, James?

COLE: It's so clean. No germs.

RAILLY: You're afraid of germs?

COLE: I have to go.

RAILLY: Why do you think there aren't any germs in the air, James?

COLE: This is April, right?

RAILLY: July.

COLE: July?!

RAILLY: Do you know what year it is?

COLE: What year is it?

RAILLY: What year do you think it is?

COLE: 1995?

RAILLY: You think it's July of 1995? That's the future, James. Do you think you're living in the future?

COLE: No, 1995 is the past.

RAILLY: 1995 is the future, James. This is 1989.

DR. FLETCHER: Does this bother you, Mr. Cole?

COLE: No! Look, I don't belong here! What I need to do is make a telephone call to straighten everything out.

DR. FLETCHER: Who would you call, Mr. Cole, who would straighten everything out?

COLE: Scientists. I'm supposed to report in to them. They'll want to know they sent me to the wrong time.

DR. FLETCHER: So you could talk to these scientists and they do what? Send you to the future?

COLE: No, no. I can't talk to them. It's called, "voice mail". I'm supposed to leave messages. They monitor it from the present.

COLE: I don't have time to go upstairs. The police are looking for me. I need to know where it is and exactly what it is.

JEFFREY: I get it! This is your old plan, right?

COLE: Plan? What are you talking about?

JEFFREY: Remember? We were in the dayroom, watching TV, and you were all upset about the...desecration of the planet. And you said to me, "Wouldn't it be great if there was a germ or a virus that could wipe out mankind and leave the plants and animals just as they are?" You do remember that, don't you?

COLE: Bulishit! You're fucking with my head!

JEFFREY: And that's when I told you my father was this famous virologist and you said, "Hey, he could make a germ and we could steal it!"

COLE: Listen, you dumb fuck! The thing mutates We live underground! The world belongs to the fucking dogs and cats. We're like moles or worms. All we want to do is study the original...

JEFFREY: County Hospital, right? 1989. The "Immaculate Escape" -- am I right? Why, thank you -- you look wonderful, too.

COLE: Listen to me -- I can't do anything about what you're going to do. I can't change anything. I can't stop you. I just want some information...

JEFFREY: We need to talk. Come on. Upstairs. I am a new person! I'm completely adjusted. Witness the tux. It's Armani. Who chattered? Goines? Weller?

COLE: I just need to have access to the pure virus, that's all! For the future!

JEFFREY: Excuse me -- what did you say?

COLE: Monkeys. Twelve of them.

JEFFREY: Never saw him before in my life. Go ahead and shoot him or torture him or whatever it is you do.

COLE: You do know me. You helped me once.

JEFFREY: That would be totally out of character. Helping people is against my principles. See, he definitely doesn't know me. Now, I'm going to go back and listen to my father's very eloquent discourse on the perils of science WHILE YOU TORTURE THIS INTRUDER TO DEATH.

COLE: I'm here about some monkeys.

COLE: What....???

JEFFREY: Wooooo, they really dosed you, bro. Major load! Listen up -- try and get it together. Focus! Focus! The plan! Remember? I did my part.

COLE: What...???

JEFFREY: Not, "what", babe! When!

JEFFREY: What're you writing? You a reporter?

COLE: It's private.

JEFFREY: A lawsuit? You going to sue them?

COLE: Look at those assholes, they're asking for it! Maybe people deserved to be wiped out!

JEFFREY: Wiping cut the human race! That's a great idea! But it's more of a long term thing -- right now we have to focus on more immediate goals. I didn't say a word about "you know what".

COLE: What are you talking about???

JEFFREY: You know -- your plan.

COLE: They hurt you!

JEFFREY: Not as bad as what they're doing to kitty.

JEFFREY: "What about the germs?" I say. He goes, "I don't believe in germs. Germs are just a plot they made up so they can sell you disinfectants and soap!" Now, he's crazy, right? Hey, you believe in germs, don't you?

COLE: I'm not crazy.

JEFFREY: Of course not, I never thought you were. You want to escape, right? That's very sane. I can help you. You want me to, don't you? Get you out?

COLE: If you know how to escape, why don't you...?

JEFFREY: Why don't I escape, that's what you were going to ask me, right? 'Cause I'd be crazy to escape! I'm all taken care of, see? I've sent out word.

COLE: What's that mean?

JEFFREY: I've managed to contact certain underlings, evil spirits, secretaries of secretaries, and assorted minions, who will contact my father. When he learns I'm in this kind of place, he'll have them transfer me to one of those classy joints where they treat you...properly. LIKE A GUEST! LIKE A PERSON! SHEETS! TOWELS! LIKE A BIG HOTEL WITH GREAT DRUGS FOR THE NUT CASE LUNATIC MANIAC DEVILS...

COLE: Germs?!

JEFFREY: In the 18th century there was no such thing! Nobody'd ever imagined such a thing -- no sane person anyway. Along comes this doctor...Semmelweiss, I think. He tries to convince people... other doctors mostly...that there are these teeny tiny invisible "bad things" called germs that get into your body and make you...sick! He's trying to get doctors to wash their hands. What is this guy...crazy? Teeny tiny invisible whaddayou call 'em?..."germs"!

JEFFREY: What'd they give you? Thorazine? How much? Learn your drugs -- know your doses.

COLE: I need to make a telephone call.

JEFFREY: A telephone call? That's communication with the outside world! Doctor's discretion. Hey, if alla these nuts could just make phone calls, it could spread. Insanity oozing through telephone cables, oozing into the ears of all those poor sane people, infecting them! Whackos everywhere! A plague of madness. In fact, very few of us here are actually mentally ill. I'm not saying you're not mentally ill, for all I know you're crazy as a loon. But that's not why you're here. Why you're here is because of the system, because of the economy. There's the TV. It's all right there. Commercials. We are not productive anymore, they don't need us to make things anymore, it's all automated. What are we for then? We're consumers. Okay, buy a lot of stuff, you're a good citizen. But if you don't buy a lot of stuff, you know what? You're mentally ill! That's a fact! If you don't buy things...toilet paper, new cars, computerized blenders, electrically operated sexual devices... SCREWDRIVERS WITH MINIATURE BUILT-IN RADAR DEVICES, STEREO SYSTEMS WITH BRAIN IMPLANTED HEADPHONES, VOICE- ACTIVATED COMPUTERS, AND...

COLE: This part isn't about the virus, is it?

JOSE: Hey, man...

COLE: It's about obeying, about doing what you're told.

JOSE: They gave you a pardon, man. Whatdaya want?

COLE: Who am I supposed to shoot?

JOSE: Me? Are you kiddin? You're the one! You were a hero, man. They gave you a pardon! And whadda you do? You come back and fuck with your teeth! Wow!

COLE: How did you find me?

JOSE: The phone call, man. The phone call.

COLE: The call I just made? Five minutes ago?

JOSE: Hey, five minutes ago, thirty years ago! Yes, that phone call. I been in training for this a couple a months now -- ever since I got back from that... "weird" war we were in. You remember that? Here, take it, man! You could still be a hero if you'd cooperate!

COLE: Jo...Jose????

JOSE: Pulling out the tooth, man, that was nuts! Here, take this.

COLE: JOSE!

JOSE: Cole! Oh, God, Cole, where are we?

MICROBIOLOGIST: But you know what's real now?

COLE: Yes, sir.

COLE: Uh, that message...me?

MICROBIOLOGIST: It's a digital reconstruction of a message, Cole, from a weak signal on our contact number. Did you make that call?

COLE: I couldn't call! You sent me to the wrong year! It was 1989.

MICROBIOLOGIST: I asked you, why did you volunteer?

COLE: Well, the guard woke me up. He told me I volunteered.

COLE: I mashed the spider, didn't I?

MICROBIOLOGIST: We'll get to the spider later, Mr. Cole. Right now, we want to know everything that you saw.

DR. FLETCHER: He kidnapped you, Kathryn. You saw him murder someone. You knew there was a real possibility he would kill you, too. You were under tremendous emotional stress.

RAILLY: For God sakes, Owen, listen to me -- he knew about the boy in Fresno and he says three billion people are going to die!

DR. FLETCHER: Kathryn, you know he can't possibly know that. You're a rational person. You're a trained psychiatrist. You know the difference between what's real and what's not.

RAILLY: And what we believe is what's accepted as "truth" now, isn't it, Owen? Psychiatry -- it's the latest religion. And we're the priests -- we decide what's right and what's wrong --we decide who's crazy and who isn't. ... I'm in trouble, Owen. I'm losing my faith.

RAILLY: He was fully sedated!

DR. FLETCHER: Then are you trying to tell me that a fully sedated, fully restrained patient somehow slipped out that vent, replaced the grill behind him and that he's wriggling through the ventilation system right now?

DR. FLETCHER: Don't be defensive, Kathryn, this isn't an inquisition.

RAILLY: I didn't think I was being defensive. I was just...

DR. FLETCHER: He should have been in restraints. It was bad judgment on your part, plain and simple. why not just cop to it?

RAILLY: Okay, it was bad judgment. But I have the strangest feeling about him -- I've seen him somewhere and...

DR. FLETCHER: Two policemen were already in the hospital and now we have an orderly with a broken arm and a Security Officer with a fractured skull.

RAILLY: I said it was bad judgment! What else do you want me to say?

DR. FLETCHER: You see what I mean? You're being defensive. Isn't she being defensive, Bob?

JEFFREY: What...virus?

DR. MASON: She knew about it, Jeffrey. She knew you were going to try this.

JEFFREY: What virus are we talking about, Dad?

DR. MASON: You're insane, Jeffrey.

JEFFREY: You "develop" viruses and you're calling me insane? Typical. What does this virus attack? Don't tell me, you sick fuck, it doesn't matter. Have I ever "developed" a virus? Do I put helpless animals in cages and measure their reactions to electrical stimuli? Do I inject radioactive substances into living creatures and examine their bowel movements? Wow! And I'm crazy!

DR. MASON: Please tell me, Jeffrey, what exactly are you going to do? I don't have to tell you I'm afraid.

JEFFREY: THIS IS A FUCKING EXPERIMENT! YOU'RE OUR HELPLESS LITTLE TEST ANIMAL, DADDY. GOT THAT? NOW -- WHAT FUCKING VIRUS HAVE YOU COME UP WITH, YOU DEMENTED FUCKING MANIAC?

JEFFREY: WHO CARES WHAT PSYCHIATRISTS WRITE ON WALLS? You think I told her about the Army of the 12 Monkeys? Impossible! Know why, you pathetically ineffectual and pusillanimous "pretend-friend-to- animals"?! I'll tell you why: because when I had anything to do with her six years ago, there was no such thing -- I hadn't even thought of it yet!

FALE: Then how come she knows what's going on?

JEFFREY: WHY DON'T WE FORGET MY GODDAMN PSYCHIATRIST AND DEAL WITH THE TASK AT HAND. THIS IS IMPORTANT.

FALE: Your psychiatrist? Did you just say, "your psychiatrist"?

JEFFREY: Ex-psychiatrist! Now, what about flashlights? How many flashlights...?

FALE: That woman is...was...your... psychiatrist? And now she's spray- painting our building?

FALE: One dozen bolt cutters! Whadda you gonna do with one dozen bolt cutters?

JEFFREY: You really want to know?

FALE: No! Absolutely not. Don't tell me anything.

RAILLY: That would explain the bruises, I guess. The struggle.

FRANKI: You want to go in? Examine him?

RAILLY: Yes, please. You said he gave a name...

FRANKI: James Cole. That's everything we got. None of the James Coles on the computer match him. No license, no prints, no warrants. Nothing. You want me to go in with you?

RAILLY: No, thank you.

FRANKI: I'll be right here...just in case.

RAILLY: You have him in restraints.

FRANKI: Were you listening? We got two officers in the hospital. Yeah, he's in restraints, plus the medic gave him enough stellazine to kill a horse. Look at him! Still on his feet.

FRANKI: -- so they get there and they ask the guy real nice for some kind of i.d., and he gets agitated, starts screaming about viruses. Totally irrational, totally disoriented, doesn't know where he is, what day it is, alla that stuff. All they got was his name. They figure he's stoned out of his mind, it's some kinda psychotic episode, so they're gonna bring him...

RAILLY: He's been tested for drugs?

FRANKI: Negative for drugs. But he took on five cops like he was dusted to the eyeballs. No drugs. You believe that?

RAILLY: Nine thirty

WOMAN CABBIE: Might be tight.

RAILLY: Tight? My watch says 7:30.

WOMAN CABBIE: On your normal mornin', okay, plenty a time, but today, gotta take inta account your Army-of-the-Twelve-Monkeys factor.

RAILLY: What? What did you say?

WOMAN CABBIE: Twelve Monkeys, honey. Guess you folks didn't turn on your radio this morning.

Oscar Awards

Wins

Haven't Won A Oscar

Nominations

Haven't Nominated for Oscar

Media

Clip
Cole and Jeffrey’s Wild Meeting
Featurette
The Arrow Video Story
Trailer
Original Trailer