[QUOTE=Pushkin]
From what I have gleaned…
[spoiler]A plague kills of most humans and leaves the planet uninhabitable.
Scientists in the future send prisoners to collect samples of the plague from the infected future or send them back throughout time to see if they can track down those responsible. The prisoners are treated to time off their sentence if they comply.
Willis goes back in time to track down the army of the 12 monkeys, suspected of spreading the disease.
When they are found to be pranksters, Willis is put onto the trail of the real nutcase scientist behind it all. Helped by other time travellers and a dead letter box voicemail to the future, he tracks him to an airport.
Willis is killed trying to kill the scientist as he boards a plane. As he falls, a child watches and we see Willis fall and die through his eyes. The scene that unfolds, a man falling after being shot is a recurring dream for Willis’ character and we realise that the dream is really a flashback from his childhood, he recalls seeing his future self being shot dead.
Meanwhile, the scientist has seated himself on board the plane. Just as we think he’s getting away, we see someone from the future has seated themselves beside them. They remark that they are in insurance and shake hands with him. The idea perhaps is that she either kills him before he can do any damage or shakes hands with him to obtain a sample of the virus and bring it back to the future.[/spoiler]
[/QUOTE]
Wow, it seems I interpreted the movie completely different from everyone else here.
WARNING OPEN SPOILERS IN THIS POST (most of it has been already stated though.
Remember, the scientist has ALREADY released the plague. He did it when the baggage inspector opened his vial. He is now going to carry it to several other loacations to ensure it breaks out everywhere at once, making it next to impossible to stop.
Two important points. 1) They said one of the things they wanted was an original unmutated version of the virus as that would it make it much easier to come up with a cure and 2) the woman sent back from the future was one of the ruling elite in that time.
My take on it is that she is in “insurance”, ensuring that he releases the plague as is suposed to happen. That way the the future she comes from occurs, they have an unmutated version of the virus they can use to get humanity back on the surface of a world in which she is one of the leaders. The people sending Willis back have no vested interest in preventing the plague, only in controlling it in the future.
