From: Tony Williams English SIUC Really good points suggesting the variations in what is otherwise a highly derivative film - plundering LA JETEE and not doing anything new with the original except to highlight Gilliam's inferior "monkey business" tampering. Is it coincidental that Chris Marker appears on the staircase near the end,scowling like an aged David Bowie at the camera? (assuming a past correspondent is right about Marker's cameo appearance). The scene resembles Jack Nicholson's similar scowl towards Tom Cruise in A FEW GOOD MEN prior to his taking the witness box - a signifer of a more experienced actor towards the contemporary weak thespian nature of a superannuated member of the Brat Pack? Anyway, apart from Gilliam's irritating repetitions to the Marx Brothers and the inadequate performance of Brad Pitt (who no longer has a more experienced actor such as Morgan Freeman downplaying to compensate for his deficiencies as in SEVEN), there are some intriguing aspects of 12 MONKEYS which deserve discussion. Is the Pitt character also a returnee from the future? Despite his blood relationship to the Plummer character, does he not appear in one of the irritatingly frequent "dream" sequences at the airport? Also, how does he manage to obtain the key whereby Willis gets out of the room in the mental hospital? Although 12 MONKEYS suffers in comparison to BRAZIL, as a compromised work revealing how the director may have been personally affected by the debacle surrounding its American release, there are many issues worthy of debate. The scientists resemble Jack as torturer in BRAZIL. Greenberg is right. They don't give a damn about humanity. All they care about is getting the formula back to their own time. On the other hand, if they intervened and stopped the plague earlier, the altered past would change both their future and present. Tony Williams ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]