You are absolutely right about Stowe. Pitt is actually an incredible actor who has chosen a lot of bad films and has has been underestimated because of his looks. Check out his work in Fight Club.
My interpretation of last scene in 12 Monkeys is that they are in a loop. They have been through it many, many times and are going to go through it at least once more… but they are getting closer.
In my view:
When the lady says “I’m in insurance” she is making a sly joke. She is Cole’s backup (his “insurance”) sent back to collect the virus when Cole couldn’t finish the job.
It has to be bittersweet for her. Since the virus has already been released, she has been exposed, and will likely die, but at least she is bringing back the “pure” strain. (Actually, now that I think about it, I suppose she may not realize that the virus has already been released and that she is being exposed. She may unwittingly destroy the future upon her return by being a carrier.)
I agree totally. My take on the ending is that she is there based on the information Cole has given the scientists. The fact that she says she is in insurance points to the fact that she is there to ‘insure’ the scientists means can be carried out. She’s the same age at all times in the movie.
I consider Blade Runner the best movie ever made, precisely because every time I have watched it I have seen another story. It doesnt play exactly on the same loop mode that 12 Monkeys does (time travel story privilege) but everything and everyone is ambiguous. If what you like in a story is not being certain (and God do I love that) you will love Blade Runner.
P.S:I agree with you on Madeleine Stowe, while she was active, I thought she was the most attractive and seductive actress alive (she’s so fucking beautiful in Last of the Mohicans). Disagree on Brad Pitt, thought his performance in this movie was atrocious.
P.S.2:you should also check 2001 (but start with Blade Runner).
For ambiguous endings, there’s also John Carpenter’s The Thing.
This is it simply. If Cole fails, she is ‘insurance’ that there is another chance.
And one of my favorite movies as well. Though I wouldnt say the ending is ambiguous, just that it is “in suspension”. Definitely a must see.
Like others posted, I always assumed the point was she was not really a scientist before the disaster. But the ending is purposely vague and other interpretations are just as valid.
Well again, if you buy that explanation you have to explain why she is the same age in the future, while Cole goes from childhood to middle age.
The only explanation is that she is a time traveler.
In previous discussions on this movie, we’ve come up with about ten different possible meanings to the ending. The problem is that we’ve never found one that tied up everything - every interpetation has at least one dangling loose thread. I assume this was intentional.
Off topic, but how has Brad Pitt chosen bad films? His list of films seems pretty good on the whole.
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And one of my favorite movies as well. Though I wouldnt say the ending is ambiguous, just that it is “in suspension”. Definitely a must see.
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I love “The Thing” too, but agree; there is no ambiguity about the ending. It’s just suspended. They’re gonna die, and the Thing is going to freeze.
The ambiguity is in whether Childs has been taken over by the Thing.
Are we sure that she says “I’m in insurance”, and not “I’m an insurance”?
My (admittedly hazy) recollection is that Dr. Peters said he was transporting biological material, so what I’ve never understood about the movie is why the guard opens a vial and sniffs. That’s not just unbelievably stupid on the part of the guard, it’s unbelievably unlikely.
Very unlikely – changing the past will only create an alternate, parallel world which cannot be bridged from the current present. (Ref.: Back to the Future II.) It won’t stop the virus in the scientist’s world, because their common past already happened; which is why their sole choice is to obtain a pure, unmutated sample of the original virus.
That’s clearly not at all how time travel works in 12 Monkeys, the past can be visited and modified and you dont have the "alternate universe created " cop-out of many time travel stories.
Did he? My equally hazy recollection is that Peters opened the vial and waved it under the guard’s nose, ostensibly to show how harmless it was.
I believe the movie works with the theory that Time flows like a river, and changing small events in the past is like throwing a stone into the river, which creates temporary ripples (as well as Cole’s insanity) but in the long run, everything evens out. (Source: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I think.)
Yep…that’s how the security guard became Patient Zero, and he didn’t even know it.
I didn’t realize there was this much ambiguity about the movie. What happens to Cole happens because it happened. Remember the scene in the cinema with the tree rings? It’s a subtle hint that the past is already set. He had his part to play. And given that Cole had been told to collect a pure form of the virus I always assumed that the scientist was there to ensure that it was collected - by her. The “I’m in insurance” is an in-joke - she’s ensuring that the job gets done.
Also, the time travel process improves throughout the film - we see hints of earlier attempts with the reports of the guy in the Middle Ages and the appearances in WW I trenches, but their targetting gets better until they are able to put people directly into the airport at the right time and place. The scientists weren’t going to go themselves until they could be sure that they would end up in the right time and place.
And I agree: Brad Pitt - talented actor with some terrible films (Mr and Mrs Smith, anyone?).
My view was that not only was the scientist there to collect the sample, but she was deliberately committing suicide to do it. I remember how she looked at her hand after shaking hands with Dr. Peters. She knew she’d be infected, but did it anyway to bring back the sample. And the insurance remark was a reference to bringing back the sample in case Cole failed.
I remember the guard being the one who opened the vial and held it under his nose. Gilliam utterly HATES bureaucrats and made this guard the epitome of an officious idiot exercising petty power.