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The
Planet of the Apes
series is basically
pop culture at its
finest. You can’t
take it too
seriously and you’re
not meant to. You’re
just supposed to sit
back and enjoy it.
That’s the spirit of
the series. Enjoy
them, don’t over
think it. Well,
Rise
of the Planet of the
Apes
changes all of
that.. Instead of
giving it this loose
almost comedic vibe
they made a movie
that most people,
(including myself)
would give it a 5%
to 8% of actually
happening. Is it
likely? Absolutely
not. Is this plot
foreseeable in any
kind of way?
Absolutely.
Rise
of the Planet of the
Apes
centers around two
characters, one
chimp and one human.
Will Rodman is the
human and he’s
played by James
Franco. He’s a
scientist that works
for a pharmaceutical
company and he’s
working on a cutting
edge medicine that
would help people
with Alzheimer’s. As
it turns out though,
it won’t just help
people with
Alzheimer’s, it
increases brain
activity for healthy
people too. On the
day of his big
presentation to a
board of financial
backers, Will’s main
Chimp and most
impressive one goes
nuts for reasons
that everyone ties
back to the drug.
The disaster ends
with orders from the
board to kill all
test chimps and to
stop the project. We
learn that the
reason Will’s prized
chimp went nuts; she
was protecting her
brand new baby. A
baby that now has no
one to take care of
it. Will takes the
baby chimp home and
soon realizes that
the serum he gave
the chimp’s mother
was genetically
transferred down to
the baby and that
the baby is
extraordinarily
intelligent. Not
just for a chimp,
but for anything.
His father, Charles
(John Lithgow) who
suffers from
Alzheimer’s and
dementia, helps Will
care for the young
chimp and they deem
him Caesar. Of
course you can kind
of figure out where
this is going…. Will
and Caesar’s
relationship becomes
complicated, Caesar
ends up living in a
California primate
facility where the
care is less than
adequate, and he
leads an ape escape
and then a
revolution of
primates of sorts.
Rise
of the Planet of the
Apes features some
amazing CGI. They
did an amazing job
with this film
incorporating
motion-capture
technology. And if
you’re going to
incorporate motion
capture technology
you might as well do
it with the best and
director Rupert
Wyatt and the
producers of the
film enlisted
motion-capture
veteran Andy Serkis,
most known for his
work as
Gollum/Sméagol in
Lord
of the Rings,
to star in the film.
Serkis plays the
role of Caesar and
does so brilliantly.
Without Serkis this
film never gets off
the ground and
doesn’t even
approach a
functioning level.
Serkis performance;
facial expressions,
movements,-
everything related
to Caesar is
unbelievably
spectacular. They’re
so good that you
don’t even think
about the Chimp
being computer
animated until after
the movie is over.
Serkis is the heart
and soul of this
film.
Around Serkis are
some great actors
acting traditionally
as well. John
Lithgow gives an
admirable
performance as
Will’s father and
Alzheimer suffering
Charles. And James
Franco plays the
role of Will
remarkably. James
Franco does great
work, he needs to
get more of it and
higher-profile roles
too. He’s amazing
here and he’s fun to
watch as he
interacts with
Serkis.
There
aren’t any problems
to speak of with
Rise
of the Planet of the
Apes.
It’s a riveting
story, it’s paced
incredibly well, and
the CG animation and
the direction are
spot-on. The one
lone criticism is
that it ends to set
up a sequel. Whether
that sequel already
exists and has been
made in the past or
whether they’re
going to reboot that
movie too remains to
be seen.
As
far as extras go,
Rise
of the Planet of the
Apes
has a plethora of
them. There are
several deleted
scenes (but with no
animation), features
on making the movie
and using the motion
capture with Andy
Serkis. There’s also
a great feature on
chimps and other
primate series
that’s very
informative.
Rise
of the Planet of the
Apes
is a brilliant
movie. Rupert Wyatt
updating this
realistically with
was an unexpected
and welcome addition
to the list of
movies to come out
in 2011. It’s hard
to imagine this film
being made better
than it was, and I
hope that it gets a
couple of sequels in
the coming years.
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