Twelve Monkeys is a story somewhere between the Time Machine and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Scientists from the future want to get information on the outbreak that wiped out most of the human race in 1996. Bruce Willis is the "volunteer" sent back to collect that information.

Terry Gilliam weaves a visually intriguing web of desperation. This is exactly the sort of work he excels at. There may be nothing to nitpick about his directing job.

The story is interestingly welded together, purposefully turning causality on its head, in a way that most other time travel tales manage to screw up. Yes, it's well done, but I feel a little cheated by the tongue-in-cheek irony of it. Maybe I'm just looking for more depth here than what is really just commentary in a lot of ways.

Bruce Willis is good as a borderline personality. Brad Pitt is even better as someone well beyond that same border. There's more of a challenge watching Twelve Monkeys than the average movie - be sure to pay attention.