UK poster for the film. Credit: Twentieth Century Fox
Synopsis (From Twentieth Century Fox):
A single act of both compassion and arrogance leads to a war unlike any other — and to the Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The Oscar-winning visual effects team that brought to life the worlds of Avatar and Lord of the Rings is breaking new ground, creating a CGI ape that delivers a dramatic performance of unprecedented emotion and intelligence, and epic battles on which rest the upended destinies of man and primate.
My review/analysis
As a Planet of the Apes fan (and I mean the ’60s-’70s movie series, ’70s show, and the original book), I was not sure what to expect. Having reported on various elements of the film for my job at Shockya, I saw very promising things but was very scared about being let down. It seemed like the story was actually going to respect the source material, unlike the oft-made fun of Planet of the Apes by Tim Burton Turns out I was wrong about being afraid of the film. So, so wrong.
I actually can’t say much because I’m going to attempt to refrain from using spoilers, but the film is amazing. If you’re an Apes fan, this will meet, and possibly, exceed your expectations, since that’s what happened to me. I went into the film being a little skeptical, and came out with a better sense of how the original audiences felt when they saw the first ever Apes film in 1968. I thought I knew every nook and cranny about the series, but this film still managed to surprise and actually scare me. I was unnerved, sympathetic, and thoroughly entertained.
James Franco’s character, Will Rodman, is the human “star”, a scientist who is intent to find a cure to Alzheimer’s Disease due to his father’s (John Lithgow) battle with the disease. But, Caesar, the genetically-altered chimp he nurtures into adulthood, is the real star of the movie. Caesar is played by Andy Serkis, the mastermind behind the characterizations of King Kong and Gollum. Together with WETA Digital, he has created possibly the most complex, emotionally-rounded ape character since the original Caesar, played by veteran Apes star Roddy McDowall. In fact, many are now calling for Serkis to get the first ever Best Actor award for a performance where he was, practically speaking, never on screen. I will have to include myself in that group of people. The facial expressions alone were simply jaw-dropping, and to see Caesar interact with the human characters was fantastic.
To be fair, there are minor problems–Freida Pinto’s bland but necessary character; poor Tom Felton–who is really great at playing the jerk–struggling with his American accent in his role as the sadistic Dodge Landon (notice the callbacks!); the CGI on the apes falling apart a few times, a few interesting callbacks to the original Apes (most of them were good, however–there were two really good ones involving a space shuttle mission and a few more with the names of certain characters, like Maurice the Sumatra orangutan (played by Karin Konoval) and Cornelia, another chimpanzee (played by Devyn Dalton) the usage of the nickname “Bright Eyes” and tons more spoken and non-spoken homages sprinkled throughout the film)–but these are actually very minor quibbles, since you stay engrossed in the story from the get-go.
I also say those are minor quibbles because there’s a moment in the film that’s just as jawdropping as the moment when Taylor finds the broken Statue of Liberty at the end of the 1968 film. In my audience when the scene in question happened, everyone–including myself–gasped and were shocked into silence, which matched the shocked silence of Dodge Landon and the apes, in particular Buck the silverback gorilla (kudos to Richard Ridings, who was the motion capture actor for Buck). This moment really cements the tone for the final act of the film as well as the movie as a whole.
Also something that cements the tone–the thing that makes humanity close to the brink of extinction. No, the thing that begins killing humans isn’t the apes. You just have to watch to see what’s going to kill us in this new series (and take my word for it–there will be two more sequels!)
Overall, this is possibly the best movie I’ve seen thus far. I know I said Thor was great, but this movie really is the best of the summer. GO SEE IT!
