For those of you unfamiliar with the Planet of the Apes franchise just know that sometime in the future (or actually on another planet, I don't remember), the world has been overtaken by intelligent apes with the humans locked up in cages or hiding in the wilderness. Rise of the Planet of the Apes serves as a sort of prequel (hence the title) explaining how such a thing might happen.
Will Rodman (James Franco) is a scientist working on a cure for Alzheimer's. The drug is shown to drastically boost all the stuff that goes on in the brain. They've been testing on monkeys. Do you see where this is going? The movie proceeds exactly as you'd expect it so it's just a matter of ironing out the details and making sure the special effects and action sequences are up to par.
This isn't necessarily the movie you might expect though coming in. It is not a crazy action orientated picture, but a rather slow burning character study. Well, clearly not of the humans because every one of them has the depth of a sheet of paper. James Franco and Freida Pinto get top billing, but the real star of the movie is Andy Serkis who plays Caesar the chimp. Caesar is highly intelligent and shows emotion and self awareness. He is raised by Will as if he were his child, even dressing him in clothes. However, Caesar is also clearly a chimp and not a human, a fact made well aware to him when he gets sent away after an incident, sewing the seeds for the inevitable progression of the movie.
The special effects are quite spectacular and easily the best part of the movie. While watching it I had no idea if it was some combination of actual monkeys, CGI or dudes in suits. Either way, Caesar and the rest of the monkeys look highly detailed and very convincing. Serkis, the man who played Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, plays Caesar in what I assume is one of those skin tight blue (or is it green?) suits with white balls on it. The computer does the rest in remarkable fashion. Serkis and the special effects team does a great job in showing what Caesar is thinking and feeling, a task that is harder than it seems. What they create is a memorable and sympathetic hero despite being, well, you know a monkey.
The same cannot be said for the humans in the film. They are all pretty useless. Yes, even Will. James Franco wasn't given much to work with. No one is. The bad guys in these things are always impossibly dumb and/or malicious. Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter series) plays a cruel animal keeper who treats the monkeys like prisoners and takes pleasure in tormenting them. I can't say for certain if it's a direct quote from the 1968 original, but his character has the honor of saying, "Take your stinking paws off me you damned dirty ape!" Pretty hilarious, but kind of cool that they're throwing a shot out.
ROTPOTA is entertaining even if it is a little stupid. It's predictable but doesn't disappoint. You know it has to progress and end in a certain direction; you just want to see how it gets there. Once the apes go wild there is good solid summer action with the city of San Francisco as its backdrop. This movie serves as a prequel to the Planet of the Apes mythos and it would not surprise me at all if this was just the first installment of a planned series. For those who might be looking for something a little deeper, it may or may not have a message regarding animal testing.
Grade: B-
No comments:
Post a Comment