12 Monkeys

Terry Gilliam returns to time travel with this film, but where Time Bandits was a dreamlike fantasy adventure, 12 Monkeys is a nightmarish sci-fi tale. There is humour here but it is of the blackest kind, with Willis' brutalised 'volunteer' Cole sent back to the past by a group of grotesques, the scientists who run what is left of future society after a viral apocalypse - "science ain't an exact science with these clowns..." as another unfortunate volunteer informs Cole, and this proves to be true, as Cole often finds himself in the wrong time with disastrous results. As his path crosses those of psychiatrist Dr Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe) and mental patient Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt) Cole finds himself wrapped tighter and tighter in a web of fate he is powerless to stop. One of the great things here is that as Cole spends more and more time in the past he becomes more and more willing to be convinced that he's mad, that the world isn't going to end and that he can be cured of his 'delusion'; meanwhile Kathryn goes from trying to fix what she sees as his delusional mental state to being a true believer, meaning their views of reality are almost always in conflict. It makes their developing relationship just fascinating to watch. Willis, Stowe, and Pitt give top-notch performances, and Gilliam's warped perspective is as wonderful as ever, making this must-see sci-fi. The Blu-ray boasts a Gilliam commentary track, a making-of documentary, a bunch of interviews (none with Willis, Pitt or Stowe, though), and the standard (but very welcome) Arrow regulars: the reversable sleeve and the glossy booklet (I love getting a booklet with a Blu-ray or DVD, it's just so nice to have something tactile). Picture and sound are good, as you'd expect from a set like this. It's a great package altogether.

I love how flawless that the HD 4K digital transfer looks and sounds after first the cinema version then the mouldy old VHS version and a sadly lackluster and cropped DVD transfer that never did justice to Terry Gilliam's nightmarish masterpiece until now. Finally with this version, I got the much sought after director's commentary and a 5.1 DTS MA track that's a sublime joy that has none of the old hollow VHS or DVD audio that always annoyed me in the past. On the one Blu Ray disc, you get a slew of cool extras, including retrospective documentaries, a trailer and "The Hamster Factory". This film changes from science fiction, to horror and finally tragic romance, so you can't really classify it in any one singular genre box. It's endlessly rewatchable and yes, on each revisit, you may just find something new ♥️ .

When purchasing the product it took about a week to get to me and it was in top notch condition and the quality is as good as arrow products usually are