Rise of the Planet of the Apes Review
By: T.J. “Why cookie Rocket?” Mulligan
In a struggling economy the safest bet is to stick with the familiar. If you’ve found a way to keep or even make yourself a little extra money, why not return to that well? However you have to be careful with this theory as returning too often could deplete your resources, or it could have been what got you into the messy state you’re in in the first place. This has been the mentality in Hollywood now for a couple of years, with most major motion pictures released now coming in the form of sequels, prequels or remakes. This gives the audience a familiar product only retooled and repackaged. Some folks in Tinseltown have proved how the method could be a bad move, providing movies that are dumbed down, poorly prepared and/or too similar to their original. Others, however, have shown just how great putting an old story into new hands can be (I’m looking at you, Batman Begins). And so we have Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a prequel/reboot of sorts to the already multi-sequeled/prequeled/rebooted Planet of the Apes (1968). The last attempt to resuscitate this franchise brought us the abysmal Tim Burton version in 2001, so will Rise be the flick to officially bankrupt this series or will new creative heads return this once successful franchise to the black?
Rise of the Planet of the Apes tells the story of Caesar (Andy Serkis), an ape born in secrecy to a mother dubbed “Bright Eyes” who was the test subject for a trial medicine known as ALZ-112. Meant as a potential cure for Alzheimer’s, the drug showed improvement in Bright Eyes’ brain function before she was put down after running amuck in the lab in an attempt to protect Caesar. When the discovery of Caesar is made, lead ALZ-112 scientist Will Rodman (James Franco) decides to bring the chimp home with him for fear that he will be put down otherwise. Once home with Will and his Alzheimer’s suffering father, Charles (John Lithgow), Caesar begins to show cognitive improvements in much the same way his mother did, even sharing the green glow in her eyes that was brought about as a side effect to the drug. As the years pass Will continues his research from home, studying Caesar as well as his father, whom Will begins treating as well. After 8 years Caesar is beginning to question his rightful place in the world while Charles’ immune system is beginning to fight back against the drug, even going so far as to deteriorate his health more rapidly. While Will begins fervently working on a better version of his drug an incident occurs that sees Caesar placed into an animal sanctuary, his first time around his own “kind.” It is there that Caesar encounters a version of man he has never seen: high-and-mighty, cruel and corrupt, while at the same time discovering that his fellow apes lack the intelligence to bring about any change. It is then that Caesar decides to take matters into his own hands in an attempt to shift the balance of power.
This movie, the first of the Apes movies in which the titular apes are not portrayed by actors in ape make-up and costumes, hinges on the performances behind the motion capture and CGI, namely that of Serkis’ Caesar. Without words the audience is supposed to sympathize with Caesar and truly take emotional impact away from almost every movement. How one would go about pulling something like that off I don’t know, but Serkis would be the absolute best person to ask. The emotion portrayed by Serkis’ performance in this flick is better than some of the most dialogue-laced acting I’ve seen in a long while. It helps that the CGI is impeccable, really portraying even nuanced facial movements and body language in a realistic manner. If they were going to do away with the monkey suits then they really had to step up and deliver quality effects, which they certainly did (and, yes, I know that monkeys are different from apes). As well the film has very game live-action performances as well. Franco is on as always, Lithgow, also as always, brings the goods (and, having worked with people with Alzheimer’s, I can say that his performance was pretty spot-on), and David Oyelowo deserves special attention as Steven Jacobs, the villainous head of GEN SYS, the company that is funding Will’s research. He does exactly what he should to make the audience soooo want him to get his in the end. On the other side of the camera we have director Rupert Wyatt, who’s unique style makes the film pop in a way that is at the same time unfamiliar and inviting.
Everything isn’t completely great on this ape planet, however. First would be Frieda Pinto’s character of Caroline, a zoo vet who is hurriedly introduced and then thrust into the role of simply a love interest for Will. I won’t knock her performance here as I’m sure she tried her best, I just don’t think she was given much to work with. The character of Caroline is so insignificant (outside of her knowledge of chimpanzees, which she doles out on occasion like the god damn Microsoft Office Paperclip) that she often just blends into the scenery. They could have had Will read from an encyclopedia bookmarked to the section on “Chimpanzees” and talk to himself every once in a while and it would have been more impactful. The other problem I had, which made me literally face-palm in the theater, was the reciting of the famed “damn, dirty apes” line by Tom Felton’s character Dodge (I dislike that they did it so much I refuse to type it out fully). Dodge is the asshole son of the guy who runs the ape sanctuary and is basically the other guy you can’t wait to see get his. Before he does, as the apes are starting to get unruly, he is at one point grabbed by Caesar, at which time the line is spoken. I get that it’s supposed to be a nice little throwback to the original, but there are so many little references placed throughout the film that this is just the point where it becomes too much. It didn’t need to happen and shamefully it still did.
Other then that there are little piddling complaints (the pacing of the beginning feels very rushed but it kind of needed to be to cover all the time and content) and things that I just like to think about and laugh (the apes never use doors, they just smash through windows. And not just one, each one has to smash through their own) but what your left with is an enjoyable cinematic experience. This has to be my personal biggest (pleasant) surprise film of the summer as I had no desire to see it until about two days before it was released. It’s got plenty of action (for my taste), a well-told story with decent-to-great performances throughout and most importantly, no “Ape” Lincoln - that’s money for me every time.
I give Rise of the Planet of the Apes 4 creeper chimp watches you sleep out of 5.
