Rise of the Planet of the Apes, 2011
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2011)
Stars: James Franco, Freida Pinto
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
Rating: PG-13
Grade: B
Rebooting popular movie franchises is becoming increasingly popular in Hollywood these days. 2011 alone will host reboots from film franchises such as X-Men, Total Recall, Fright Night, Conan the Barbarian and The Three Musketeers. You can also add to that list the recent reboot for the sci-fi Apes franchise starting with Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Rise stars James Franco (127 Hours, 2010), who has been in pretty much every movie released in the last year, as Dr. Will Rodman, a brilliant scientist who has discovered a new drug (ALZ-112) that could ultimately cure Alzheimer’s disease. The drug is being tested on chimpanzees in preparation for human trials. ALZ-112 gives the chimps extremely advanced brain functions speeding up their ability to learn new things and adapt to the world around them. All appears to be going well for Will and his team since the chimps are miraculous geniuses suffering from no side effects. However, during a demonstration, that all changes when we learn that the smartest chimp has a bit of an anger management issue. The chimps are not only becoming smarter by the second, but apparently they also become more dangerous as the drug takes effect. When Will’s project is shut down after the scare, he takes in a baby chimp, Caesar, and raises him as his own child for six years. After another bout of anger befalls Caesar, he is forced to live in a primate facility with other apes. However, as Caesar’s intelligence increases and he becomes closer to the other apes in the facility, there may be an uprising brewing. Rise was a pretty entertaining sci-fi reboot. The CGI animators that did most of the ape’s close-ups are the same 3D effects crew responsible for Avatar (2009), so you can only imagine how top-notch the effects in Rise turned out to be – amazing. The film comes with a very dark and ominous overtone, leaving you feeling regret as a human for what has been done to the apes, making their ultimate rebellion somewhat validated. This is not the first attempt at rebooting the original Apes series that began in 1968. Back in 2001, director Tim Burton released a reboot (Planet of the Apes) starring Mark Wahlberg that was told from a much different angle. It had a lot less reality and a lot more fantasy. With Rise, we get much more of a realistic setting because the film takes place in San Francisco where the apes are “taking over” Earth, not a fictional planet. It hits closer to home that way – pardon the pun. The film, or at least the ape’s story lines, were also very touching at times. There are connections made amongst this default minority of primates, and it’s obvious that they care about each other and their civilization. I already attested to the brilliance of the special effects, and along with the acting abilities of Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings films), the ape hero, Caesar, is an amazing protagonist in the film. He is both creepy and adorable at the same time. James Franco (aka the busiest actor in Hollywood) does an admirable job as Will Rodman, though it was not his best performance by far. This movie is more about the action, special effects and, let’s face it, the apes. John Lithgow has a small role in the film as Will’s father who is battling Alzheimer’s, hence Will’s obsession with finding the cure. It is endearing, and Lithgow is one of the greats. However, one performance that was extremely disappointing was that of Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire, 2008), but it wasn’t her fault. The filmmakers seriously underutilized her character. Pinto plays Caroline who is Will’s love interest in the film and she was there for most of Caesar’s childhood. She was extremely forgettable in the movie and didn’t really serve a purpose to the overall plot. I feel like they did her a huge injustice as she is a very charismatic and lovely actress who usually stands out on camera, but here she was just in the shadows. In the end, Rise is a far cry from the 1968 original, but then again many of these reboots suffer the ailment of having to live up to their predecessor, so from that point of view, I will say that it is a valiant reboot attempt. I’m sure there will be many more in this string of Apes films, and I welcome the special effects action/adventure that they are promoting. Rise was a good way to spend your summer movie money. It’s not the best option out there, but in a summer that features cowboys, aliens, bridesmaids, crappy bosses, robots, teenage wizards, little blue Smufs and superheroes galore, why not throw in some apes with some serious chips on their shoulders?
