Plot: A reboot of the popular franchise that began in the late 1960s, Rise of the Planet of the Apes follows Will Rodman (James Franco) a scientist at the pharmaceutical company Gen-Sys. His research uses gene therapy in an effort to develop a drug to cure Alzheimer's disease. Just when Will reaches a major breakthrough, a disastrous lab accident derails his research resulting in the liquidation of his test chimps. However, Will rescues one chimp, Caesar (Andy Serkis) and continues the research on his own. But when Caesar displays signs of extremely heightened intelligence, evolution may lead to revolution.
Review: After the unmitigated disaster that was Tim Burton's 2001 film, I have to admit I was leery of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Was yet another reboot of a classic science fiction franchise really necessary? Rise renders the question moot because it is the surprise hit of the year. Full of fast action, cutting edge and believable science, and eerily realistic apes, Rise succeeds on almost every level, and is the perfect popcorn flick.
Rather than doing a straight remake of the 1968 classic, director Rupert Wyatt started fresh with an intriguing origin story. (It bears mentioning that there are numerous homages to the original however, including a famous quote from the first film.) Wyatt and screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver approach Rise in a fresh and dynamic way, centering the film on hard science. The research involving the cure for Alzheimer's balances the personal with the practical. Will's father Charles (John Lithgow) has the disease but Will's greedy boss Steven, played by David Oyelowo, cares only about how much money the drug can make the company. The push-pull relationship is a central theme throughout the film.
This dichotomy plays out in Rise through the character of Caesar. While Will, Will's girlfriend Caroline (Freida Pinto), and Charles see Caesar as a thinking feeling entity, others like animal control agent John Landon (Brian Cox) and his son Dodge (Tom Felton from the Harry Potter series) see Caesar as less than an animal. To them he's a non-entity. And like so many oppressed groups throughout history, eventually they're going to get mad enough to...well...rise up. The tension elevates Rise from a mere monkey movie to a tale about the inherent rights of living creatures and what it means to be an intelligent being possessing real thoughts and emotions.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes also benefits from an epic score by Patrick Doyle. It serves as a great backdrop to Andrew Lesnie's excellent cinematography and Conrad Buff and Mark Goldblatt's quality editing. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the excellent job done by Weta Digital in bringing the apes to life. Unlike the CGI from my previous review of The Thing, the special effects were flawless.
Without question the real star of the show is Andy Serkis as Caesar. The man who will forever be known as Gollum from The Lord of the Rings series, once again puts on an epic motion capture/CGI display. Since Caesar doesn't speak, Serkis is forced to rely on facial expressions and gestures to display emotions. Serkis successfully pulls that off, as Caesar's expressions of happiness and rage are equally believable. Kudos to Serkis. It's too bad the Academy won't recognize him with an Oscar nod. Oh well.
My one and only complaint with Rise is James Franco. After a masterful performance in 27 Hours, Franco completely phones this role in. Sad to say that Serkis evoked more emotion as a chimp than Franco did as a human.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a thoroughly enjoyable film and moreover one of the best of 2011. Here's to the sequel swinging into theaters as quickly as possible. All hail our simian overlords!
My Rating: 9/10
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