Directed by Rupert Wyatt
Written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver
Starring: James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, Tom Felton
Never be fooled by an overly exultant review by a critic you know to be untrustworthy. I went against my instincts to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and although it was certainly not a bad movie, my expectations were so high for a transporting experiences, I was let down.
PLOT: Will Rodman (Franco) is developing a vaccine for Alzheimer’s with a personal investment: his father (Lithgow) suffers from the disease. Naturally chimpanzees are being used as guinea pigs in the lab. Will takes an orphaned baby chimp home, the child of a chimp who has received the drug. The chimp (Caesar) displays increased intelligence almost at once and Lithgow, when given the drug, seems cured. Naturally things go bad for nearly everyone by the ending.
Stereotypes are rampant: the primate facility is run by indifferent or outrightly cruel men. The businessman who owns the drug company is callous if not criminal in his actions. Everyone either wears white or black. There is no gray on this planet.
But there are things to like. RISE does a good job of explaining how Caesar is able to become the leader he becomes. It takes its time laying out its story clearly. Franco and his girlfriend (Pinto) are likable if dull, but the script gave them little to do other than stick needles into arms and look worried. The star is most definitely Andy Serkis, playing the chimp in tandem with special effects I can’t begin to explain. The final scene is well set up and exciting. You could do worse than spend two hours at the theater. But it could have been the film my critic suggested it was if it veered away from what had gone before it.
Patti
Patti Abbott writes crime fiction short stories. She hosts a look at Forgotten Books every Friday with readers, writers and reviewers at http://www.pattinase.blogspot.com/ She hopes you’ll join in.
Franco has been consistently dull in what I’ve seen, and I knew I didn’t need to see the film when I saw the tv ad showing gorillas jumping from helicopters at a distance that, in proportion, a flea or grasshopper might not make. Nope. Freda Pinto ain’t cute enough to make that worth paying for (I did catch the fifth film of the original sequence in a theater, and dug it at the time)(I was, say, eight.) However, “the primate facility is run by indifferent or outrightly cruel men. The businessman who owns the drug company is callous if not criminal in his actions…” doesn’t seem too far from life, sadly…though that doesn’t mean it makes for good art.
My favorite part was when the apes rose. The first two acts were kind of a drag, but I love to root against the human race.
I will take my time and wait for whatever the next generation offers in a reboot.
Thanks, Patti.
New versions of original films tend to put me off. They rarely rise to the occasion. Example: Christopher Reeve’s SUPERMAN II, III & IV. All they did was keep the box-office cash register ringing. I haven’t seen RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES but I did see the 2001 version starring Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Roth, two very fine actors, and the Matt Damon lookalike Mark Wahlberg. Now James Franco is a good actor but how tall does he stand in Charlton Heston’s shoes?
This wasn’t a reboot, really, it was sort of a prequel (though one could argue it was a reboot of one of the latter installments of the original series, but I don’t tend to think beyond the original PotA movie). I enjoyed it. I liked the nods to the mission and astronauts who are the focus of the original movie. It certainly had some problems and plot holes, but it was still entertaining. I’ll watch it again on DVD.