Runtime: 129 minutes
Directed by: Terry Gilliam
Starring: Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, Christopher Plummer, David Morse
From: Universal
I am catching up; I neglected to post this review a few days ago-my bad. As Bruce Willis is now a hot topic...
This will be a slightly different review from me. However, it has to happen as I'll elaborate upon why there was no review from me on Tuesday and why I felt “Blah”. Early on Monday, the Razzies (which have always been absolutely worthless, but that's another topic for another time) announced that this year, they have a “Worst Performance by Bruce Willis in a 2021 Movie” category that has EIGHT nominations. Sure, it's a shame that Old Bruce is now known for appearing on set for only one or two days a shoot on each terrible low-budget film he does now, delivering a performance best described as “comatose”. Then, I start seeing scuttlebutt concerning his health... as someone as notable as Nathan Rabin referenced it in a new series he's doing on the Willis movies of '21-that poor fool-let's just say the rumor is “memory loss”. Further details can be found via a careful Google search. That said, the only sources are “a gossip rag magazine” and hearsay on messageboards; I need far more conclusive proof to be convinced this is the rock solid truth. It may just be poppycock that someone came up with to explain his performances, the easy paychecks, and him wearing earpieces on set so someone can tell him his lines. In the best case scenario, it is sad that there is now gossip to explain the career choices of Mr. Willis, and I'll leave it at that.
Thus, I decided to review one of his more famous movies for the first time; that is even though the topic of the motion picture was rather dour at the time and the past two years, the idea of “a virus has wiped out most of humanity” has an even more bitter resonance. Of course, some people probably divorced from reality have a conspiracy theory concerning the origin of The Black Plague we have now... anyhow, I was wanting to see Willis deliver a quality performance and he did so here in this tale. Presumably many are familiar w/ the plot of how a prisoner in a hellscape of 2035 (where because of the virus all the survivors live underground) is sent back in time to investigate the origins of the virus so I won't dwell on that or what the lead experiences while sleuthing in the 90's.
Overall this was very good. What a bold story, a film loosely based on the French short film classic from the 1960's La Jetee. It was the type of story that seemingly could only be brought to life by Terry Gilliam, even if for once he did not write the script. For certain, his unique style and production design are all over this; at times I was reminded of Brazil—thank goodness that the experience making this was far better than the last time he made something released by Universal... it was a solid cast overall, with Willis, Madeleine Stowe and especially Brad Pitt standing out the most. At first, at least one element had me going, “WTF?” then only later did it make more sense. It was quite the nonlinear journey, filled w/ Hitchcock allusions I understand were also a key element of Jetee. Thankfully the production was relatively smooth, at least by Gilliam standards as the majority of them seemed to be so cursed you wondered if someone had placed a hex on him.
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