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Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt’s 1995 sci-fi thriller 12 Monkeys joined Prime Video’s streaming lineup on March 1st. Directed by Terry Gilliam and based on Chris Marker’s 1962 short film La Jetée, the film is set in a future devastated by a man-made plague and centers around James Cole, a convict who is sent back in time to gather information about the virus’s origins, only to become entangled in a paradox that challenges his sanity, memory, and fate. The movie is one of the best sci-fi films of the ‘90s and was such a standout in the genre that it ultimately inspired a modern remake, Syfy’s breakout 12 Monkeys TV show, all four seasons of which are also available to stream on Prime Video.
12 Monkeys Remains One of the Best ‘90s Sci-Fi Movies
12 Monkeys remains a quintessential ’90s sci-fi masterpiece for a reason. More than just the memorable performances from Willis and Pitt, the latter of whom even earned an Oscar nomination, the movie has one of the most airtight and logical time-travel plots in cinema. Rather than more flexible time-travel stories, 12 Monkeys strictly adheres to a fixed and unalterable closed-loop timeline where everything James does in the past has already happened and is part of a history that cannot be rewritten. The movie never once breaks its own established rules, resulting in one of the most tragic, predestination-based time travel stories that results in Cole being trapped by fate, doomed to fail in his mission to stop the pandemic.
