6) James Cole, 12 Monkeys
Maybe it’s a stretch to say James Cole (Bruce Willis) is good at time travel, but I’d maintain he’s certainly competent in this 1995 Terry Gilliam movie. After a devastating plague wipes out most of humanity, a small cadre of scientists sends the imprisoned Cole back to 1996 to investigate who released the virus. Unfortunately, Cole is sent to 1990 and several other times in an attempt to figure out the mystery, but that’s hardly his fault. By the end of the movie, he’s figured out the culprit, passed on the info to the future scientists, and, uh, died in front of his childhood self. All in a day’s work, so to speak.
