It's pretty hard to beat the original 1968's Planet of the Apes, but Rise of the Planet of Apes was just as entertaining as the original. Directed by Rupert Wyatt, its story is similar to the fourth film in the original series, 1972's Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, but it is not a direct remake in that it does not fit into that series' continuity. This movie was intended to act as an origin story for a new series of films. Anybody looking for armor men in ape make up capturing astronauts might want to look somewhere else. The movie is about Will Rodman (James Franco) a scientist at biotechnology lab testing viral-based drug on chimpanzees to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. Will's boss Steven Jacobs (David Oyelowo) terminates the project when things don't go right, and orders the chimps euthanize. Will unable to kill a baby chimp life, save the baby by taking him home; calling him Caesar (Andy Serkis). At the same time, Will's father Charles (John Lithgow), is suffering Alzheimer's disease. After seeing, that Caesar (Andy Serkis) has inherited his mother's high intelligence due to the years of drug testing, Will thinks that his father Charles might be restored to better-than-original cognitive ability if he tested a new drug on him. Things go horrible wrong for Will, as the new drug take a negative effect on the humans. Mid while, Caesar grow smarter every day, questioning the horrible mistreated of apes as test subjects. Seeing the drug as a way out of their caged environment, Caesar use it to raise an army against humanity and on their quest to freedom. Unlike the original movie, in this movie, you have no choice, but to root for the apes. The way they presented it, remind me more of another Charlton Henson movie, 1956's The Ten Commandments. You really go through the mind of Caesar in this film. He is loosely based on the Caesar AKA Milo character from 1971's Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and 1973's Battle for the Planet of the Apes of the original series. Not only is Andy Serkis, one of the best CGI model motion capture actors of all times, he gives one hell of a performance as Caesar with his use of body language. The scene where Caesar is pressed against his draw up window wall at the primate shelter is heart breaking. In particular, Caesar's treatment at the primate sanctuary parallels Taylor's treatment as a captive in the original film to the point, you root him as the hero. You slowly see him as a sympathy character that is treated cruelly by the other chimps and the chief guard, Dodge (Tom Felton) because of his intelligent to a commanding alpha male looking for united the apes on their march to freedom. The visuals and special effects are great. The CGI apes truly look like apes, but some of their body actions during the action scenes can be bit questionable. Also the speed of the intelligent effects of the drugs on apes seem to be too quick at times. In a few hours, some of them master the art of modern warfare despite none of the apes being expose to that. It's a bit odd that the zoo animals know what even going on, when they haven't been expose to the gas yet. There are lot of Easter eggs or hints to the original movie in the names of the ape and the human characters. Maurice (Karin Konoval), Rocket and Bright Eyes (both play by Terry Notary), and Buck (Richard Ridings), are names of people that work on the film. Also look for the Charlton Henson's cameo in this movie. For the original film fans, look out for the Icarus mission in the background and listen to all the one-liners, as some are coming from the original film. The human characters acting are good, but blended. Even David Oyelowo's character seem more like a stereotype caricature of a greedy CEO than a real person. Does it have animal rights anti-animal testing message that PETA would love? Yes, but it also show why animal testing is very important to us, as well. If not, by testing animals first, we could unleashed negative effects on human like the film shows. There is a lot of symbolism in this film. Example is like Caesar uses a bundle of sticks to explain to Maurice how an ape alone is weak but apes together are strong. There is a great shot that represented this. The 4 leaders of the ape rebellion are shown standing upright on the roof of a trolley car. Their upright posture and the ascent give metaphoric connotation to the film's title as all of them representation of the 4 different dominant ape species (Chimpanzee, Orangutan, Gorilla, and Bonobo) united. Thus the bundle of sticks, or fasces, was a symbol of authority in ancient Rome, the origin of Caesar's name. It's a fascism statement that get even more chilling when you think of the Coba character. Coba is often known as the code word for Joseph Stalin. This movie mirrors a lot of George Orwell's Animal Farm with its allegoric politic message. The ending was a bit disappointing as there is no big twist like the original. It was pretty predictable. If you saw the trailer, you saw the picture. Nothing new by the end. At less, its post credit set up the sequel 2014's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Overall: there is some minor mistakes, but it's a good film. I would gladly pay to see its sequel.
Review of Rise of the Planet of the Apes
