Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Year: 2011
Genre: Action/Drama/Sci-Fi
Runtime: 105mins
Rating: PG-13
IMDB Score: 7.7/10 (95,200+ Votes)
Director(s): Rupert Wyatt
Writer(s): Rupert Wyatt,Amanda Silver and Pierre Boulle (novel La planete des singer)
Plot/Synopsis:
During experiments to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, a genetically-enhanced chimpanzee uses its greater intelligence to lead other apes to freedom.
Forethought(s):
I’m worried James Franco may bring the movie down but John Lithgow is in the movie and any movie he’s in get a few bonus points.
Fun Fact/Trivia:
This is the first Planet of the Apes in which Charlton Heston or Roddy McDowall are not in involved in.
The Breakdown:
Do you still have a bad taste in your mouth from the last Apes movie form 2001 reboot? Worry not, you aren’t alone but you shouldn’t hold that movie against this one. This one will wash that taste out no problem.
Let me start off by saying that this movie is quite sad ,in fact, I got misty eyed in a place or two. That was not something I never would have expected. It was due to great writing and a very emotional CG ape. The apes in this movie are mo-cap (motion capture) and that means humans wore special suites that translated all their movements to a digital model. This adds a true sense of realism when it comes to expressions which helps sell the emotions of the primates. And if you’re going to bitch about CG and live action I hear ya but the effects in this are so good that most of the time,I shit you not,I thought I was looking at real apes. There were a few times when you could really tell,they,the banana eaters were fake.
The writing for this part of the series leads logically into the ones before this. They took the experimentation road but not in the way one would think they would. Instead of trying to make apes better they are using them to help find a cure for Alzheimer’s. Well, the cure works differently then expected. The cure makes apes smart. Then near the tail end of the movie (for those that are slow anyways) we find out just how the humans become almost extinct in the other movies. Seriously if you can’t figure out why by say the 1hr mark you should just give up. While on the topic of writing, this movie has so much packed in it I thought at the 40min mark it was about an hour or so in. And I do not say that negatively. It’s nice to have a lot of stuff packed in like that,hell,more so when it’s done well like it was in this movie.
While James Franco did not bring the movie down he does not add anything to it make it great. To be honest no one really brought an A+ game other than the dude who played Caesar (Andy Serkis) you might know him from such films as King Kong (yes he was Kong) and those shitty ass walking movies The Lord of the Rings as Gollum. No I’m not kidding,I do not like that series. Even John Lithgow was upstaged in this movie by Serkis. Most of the acting was nice and solid but there is one actor I felt was just ham fisting it (Tom Felton) I have no clue who this dude is but I can tell you that if he’s staring in something then I’m most likely not going to enjoy it. What really pissed me off was that he got to say THE LINE! “Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!” He fucked the delivery of that line like a virgin in his lover for the first time.
Almost forgot, there this ape whose face,I shit you not,looks like Ron Pearlmen.
The Verdict:
Strong acting, great writing, some very touching moments all add up to a great flick. If you don’t like this then I think you may be more dead inside than I am.
I give this movie 5 planets out of 5.
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