Sci-fi film with stacked cast ‘better than Back to the F | Films | Entertainment

A film set in a post-apocalyptic society after a virus has wiped out most of humanity might seem a bit on-the-nose for viewers in 2026. But don’t give up just yet, because this one has a stacked cast and has just been dubbed ‘better than Back to the Future’.

It features a prison inmate travelling back through time to research a plague that will exterminate the majority of people on earth. Released in 1995 and starring screen legends Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis and Madeleine Stowe, 12 Monkeys was directed by Monty Python alumnus Terry Gilliam.

And despite a plot that Rotten Tomatoes describes as “a bit of a jumble”, this hasn’t stopped it from being labelled a masterpiece by comicbook.com.

The film was shot in locations including Philadelphia and Baltimore and scored 88% from both critics and viewers on Rotten Tomatoes.

Compiling a list of time-travel films ‘better than Back to the Future’, website CBR.com picks out 12 Monkeys as a must-watch.

It says: “12 Monkeys has a stacked cast and a better story.

“12 Monkeys depicts a post-apocalyptic 2035, where a prisoner named James Cole is sent back in time by a desperate future government to gather information about the virus that wiped out most of humanity.

“They don’t want to prevent it but understand it, but what follows is a spiralling descent through institutions, madness, and a prophecy that may be self-fulfilling.

“In this film the past is immutable and every effort to change it is already accounted for.

“The hero fails, but even that was meant to be in Terry Gilliam’s magnum opus.

“Bruce Willis delivers the finest performance of his career as a man who becomes slowly disillusioned by what is real and what isn’t.

“Brad Pitt received an Oscar nomination for a supporting role, and Madeleine Stowe anchors the other actors.”

The film can currently be viewed on BBC iPlayer.

The other time-travel films that CBR.com lists as better than Back to the Future are Primer (2004), Looper (2012), Interstellar (2014), and Arrival (2016).

Primer, which reportedly only cost £7,000 to produce, is set in a suburban garage and centres on two engineers who accidentally build a time machine.

Meanwhile Looper is another film on the list to star Bruce Willis, also counting Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt and Paul Dano among its cast.

Interstellar, directed by Christopher Nolan, stars Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and Michael Caine. It has been praised for its scientific accuracy and was described as “brainy, barmy and beautiful to behold” by Empire magazine.

Amy Adams stars in Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival alongside Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker, playing a linguist asked to communicate with extraterrestrials.

It was nominated for a number of Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Picture, and won in the Best Sound Editing category.