Rise of the Planet of the Apes (***½)
Directed by: Rupert Wyatt
Starring: James Franco, Freida Pinto, Andy Serkis, John Lithgow, Brian
Cox, Tom Felton, David Oyelowo, Tyler Labine
Seen: August 14th 2011
***½
Out of ****
I come to the Planet of the Apes series a complete novice, having seen
only Tim Burton’s miserable 2001 remake. The trailer of Rise of the Planet of
the Apes (Rise for the remainder of this review) had me cautiously optimistic,
curious but not necessarily expecting the world, as there is a fine line to
tread when making a movie about intelligent animals taking over the world (or
at least rising towards it). It is with great relief then that I say Rise is a
rousing success, it is believable and exciting and even emotionally involving,
with the only caveat being that the apes, with no dialogue, are better
characters than all the speaking humans across the board.
Will Rodman (Franco) is a scientist studying and developing a
retrovirus to heal or significantly reduce brain damage, he idealistically
calls it the cure for Alzheimer’s. The results look good, as it makes the
Chimpanzees he tests it on much smarter, but something goes wrong and his prize
chimpanzee is killed. His boss, Steven Jacobs (Oyelowo) puts the program on hold
and orders the ape handler, Robert Franklin (Labine), to put down all current
test subjects. He saves one, the baby of a test subject, which he gives to
Will. Will calls him Caesar (a motion captured Andy Serkis, known as Gollum in
The Lord of the Rings and King Kong in Peter Jackson’s recent remake) and takes
the little guy home, where Will’s motivation for his research becomes glaringly
obvious; his father, Charles (Lithgow), has Alzheimer’s and he’s slipping fast.
What’s supposed to be a night or two turns into five years, and
eventually Caesar has his own attic room, fitted with chains and more, and he’s
built a close relationship with Charles, now much better after ‘covert’ retrovirus
treatment. Caesar joins Will, his veterinarian girlfriend Caroline (Pinto) and
Charles on many outings to a nearby redwood forest, but he slowly starts
resenting being a glorified pet. When Charles is accosted by a neighbour and
Caesar attacks the man, Will has to take Caesar to a primate shelter. At the shelter
it’s clear that owner John Landon (Cox) and his son Dodge (Felton, playing his
Harry Potter role of Draco Malfoy) don’t care about the animals’ well-being at
all. Caesar fights for position, and after initial humiliation his intelligence
allows him to come out tops, make friends, and eventually get all the apes infected
with the improved retrovirus – which starts small and after quite a bit of
ape-rioting and impressive plot advancement ends up in a spectacular showdown
between ape and human on the Golden Gate bridge.
Rise is a pleasant surprise as it doesn’t underestimate the viewer’s intelligence,
enough is left to the imagination or thoughts to keep you involved to the end. Visually
Rise is a treat, with the apes no less real than any human actor on screen, in
fact at times they seem more real. The liberation of the apes is well-written
and their rise to San Francisco dominance chilling. The plot progresses at a
healthy pace and director Rupert Wyatt can be commended for keeping it taut,
releasing tension in bursts of energy and action that don’t disappoint. This is
the start of a potential new franchise, and I am definitely on board, as its end
is clearly the start of something big…
Comments