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Critic Reviews
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12 Monkeys hums along at a reasonable pace; its pilot is pleasingly energetic and efficient.... The problem is, 12 Monkeys tends to prioritize a series of MacGuffins over attempts to deepen its characters and their relationships.
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It’s an entertaining genre series with some fun performances, but it doesn’t make the same lasting impression as the works that inspired it.
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The TV version of 12 Monkeys pulls apart the movie, and finds the ingredients for just another dark, violent genre show.
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12 Monkeys won't hook those who aren't already fans of the genre. The characters are mostly two-dimensional. The philosophical conundrums are secondary to the action. The dialogue is terribly earnest.
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Through the first two episodes it’s just not enough to differentiate this series from so many conspiracy thrillers that have come before.
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Although the theme of toxic corporate greed is still there, the elongating of the story into many hours and the flattening of some mysteries for clarity on television may annoy devotees of the feature film.
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The problem, as always, is that the time-travel element can be disorienting from a narrative standpoint.
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The past is suddenly malleable. This removes all the stakes, but also downgrades 12 Monkeys from fatalistic sci-fi dystopia to a predictable genre piece. Not horrible by SyFy, or even cable thriller standards, but still disappointing.
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None of the performers can do much to enliven a show that, judging from the two episodes sent to critics, is comprised mainly of padding.
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There’s a lot of body-wrenching time-travel, lots of running across blasted urban landscapes, many predictable betrayals, and entirely too many melodramatic lines such as “You are going to help me change the world, Mr. Cole.”
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It’s a show that disguises its inadequacies through sheer will of pacing, sending characters running, often through time, in an effort to keep viewers from getting bored. It doesn’t quite succeed.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 197 out of 237
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Mixed: 29 out of 237
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Negative: 11 out of 237
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Aug 17, 2015
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Jan 17, 2015
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Oct 27, 2015