|
 This
may be the summer of movies that are not-as-bad-as-I-thought. Rise of
the Planet of the Apes is being brought out with the minimal fanfare of
a production that its releasing company is sure will fail. Oh, ye of
little faith, rest assured this newest chapter/reboot of the Planet of
the Apes film series is not only much better than one might assume from
the lack of hype surrounding it, but is actually an enjoyable addition
to the long-lived franchise.
In the middle of an
African jungle, a family of apes is torn apart: Poachers savagely hunt
the mammals as they desperately try to flee from their captors. We’ll
follow the sad journey of one chimp whose journey will end in a cage as
a test subject in an American laboratory. Will Rodman, a young
scientist searches for the key to the end of the Alzheimer’s disease
which afflicts his father; injecting a host of apes with a serum meant
to reverse and forever banish the deadly, debilitating illness. The
ape, named Bright Eyes for the side effect of gold flecks in her irises
displays amazing test results and her enhanced intelligence is a huge
breakthrough for the drug. Unfortunately, Bright Eyes’ inexplicable
freakout on the very day the investors check in shows the money folks
that they might not want to bank their bucks with a animal research
facility as badly prepared for an escaped critter as this one is. Of
course, the immediate conclusion to this disaster is to destroy all the
chimps in lockup, except for one, the baby Bright Eyes was shielding,
causing her meltdown. Will has the adorable infant dumped on him, but
the golden-eyed chimp seems to have a wonderful effect on his ailing
father, who dotes on the baby. Will quickly discovers that the banana
doesn’t fall far from the tree and the beneficial aspects of the drug
Bright Eyes exhibited were passed down to her offspring, now named
Caesar. Caesar shows a supernatural intelligence and is able to
communicate by signing and reasons as well as any human. With a brain
this big, how could Will have thought that Caesar would stay under wraps
for long? After five fairly idyllic years together, trouble comes
courting when Caesar, in an attempt to protect Will’s dad, is dragged
away from the only home he’s ever known only to be imprisoned in a
wretched animal shelter run by a sleazy guy and his sadistic son.
Locked in a filthy, dark cage, Caesar’s long-seething identity crisis -
Is he a pet? Is he a person? - comes to a head as he understands the
natural order of things and how apes aren’t exactly at the top of it.
Did I happen to mention that Caesar is exceptionally brainy? Yeah,
that’s important. Not only did the chemical passed down from mommy to
son enable Caesar to understand human language, it made him smarter,
way, way smarter than most of the Homo sapiens he comes across. Caesar
escapes his confinement and gets hold of more of the drug that made him
so bright and passes it on to his fellow inmates. With a skill and
leadership that any five-star general would envy, Caesar turns out to be
a simian Moses and Napoleon wrapped in one furry package, leading his
brethren out of bondage and away from their human adversaries.
Yeah, it’s
preposterous and takes a bit to get started, but once Rise of the Planet
of the Apes revs up, it’s a lot of fun. The new origin for how the ape
uprising begins is a pretty neat one - Vivisection is bad! - and I’m
perfectly willing to believe that the downfall of the human race will
come at the hands of a well-meaning James Franco. Rise gives a full and
even overflowing measure of gratitude to 1968’s Planet of the Apes with
all sorts of in-jokes that get too cheesey for even the most die-hard
Apes-lover. The opening poaching sequence is practically a reversal of
how Charlton Heston’s astronaut, Taylor was first pursued in the
original film. Later, in the Rodman home, Caesar plays with a not-quite
completed Statue of Liberty doll. While imprisoned, two of Caesar’s
fellow inmates are a chimp named Cornelia and an orangutan called
Maurice. Cornelius is the name of Caesar’s simian daddy in the original
series, and Maurice Evans famously played the orangutan, Dr. Zaius in
the first films. Charlton Heston himself makes a cameo on the animal
shelter’s television set. Bright Eyes was also Heston’s nickname in the
first film. The name Caesar was originally used in 1972’s Conquest of
the Planet of the Apes, which this movie most closely resembles. Many
of the cornier references come via Draco Malfoy -- er, I mean Tom Felton
-- playing the bad boy once again as the son of the ape facility keeper,
who takes a special joy in torturing his subjects. The character’s very
name, Dodge Landon, is itself a direct reference to the two other
astronauts who landed with Heston’s Taylor in the 1968 film. Another
homage is Dodge’s frequent use of a fire hose on his captives. He also
likes to rile up the apes while yelling, “It’s a madhouse. A madhouse!”
And yes, from Dodge’s lips springs the immortal line, “Get your
stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!” Which really is too much,
but there ya go. There are silly plot holes too, like how five years
manages to go by and Will doesn’t seem to be any closer to marrying the
exceedingly lovely zoologist he met half a decade ago to take care of an
ailing Caesar. Nor does it make sense that Will never thought to look
at Caesar’s blood in the effort to figure out why the Alzheimer’s drug
was so successful in the chimp and isn’t in the human bloodstream? Ah,
such details.
All Apes in-jokes
aside, what truly makes Rise of the Planet of the Apes special is our
leading man; by no means to do I mean James Franco, who seems
half-asleep during the film (Shot during the school year, perhaps?)
playing a character that is a bit of an idiot for believing he could
keep a fully grown, hyper-intelligent chimpanzee under wraps in a
close-knit suburban neighbourhood. The lead of this film without a
doubt is Caesar, a walking wonder of CGI magic. Embodied by Lord of the
Ring’s Gollum, the excellent Andy Serkis; who was already familiar with
the motion capture involved to simulate a simian thanks to his amazing
work on 2004’s King Kong. Caesar’s role is much more intimate than that
of the great gorilla; as the supernatural chimp shows a full, very clear
range of emotions including joy, betrayal, devastation, jealousy, rage
and determination. The grim purpose on Caesar’s perpetually furrowed
brow reminded me at times of the actor Sam Worthington in a
contemplative mood. It’s not hard to root for the beleaguered chimp
when everyone around him is so stupid, including his human “father”,
Will. In fact, once Caesar leads the charge first against the
moronically cruel Dodge Landon, then makes his way to the lab to free
the other apes (Running into Will’s cold-hearted, ape-murdering
supervisor), and then against the entire San Francisco police force,
you might start wondering if the apes taking over is such a bad thing?
All they seem to want is to be left alone to live in some big trees.
There are other neat aspects to the film, like the great climax of the
animals trying to get across the Golden Gate Bridge, the use of real ape
dominance behaviour, and the early look-in as to why when we get to the
future represented in the 1968 film, gorillas are the loyal law
enforcers. There is also the clever, unexpected explanation of exactly
how humanity will fall. In terms of the CGI, the early look of Caesar
isn’t convincing as he seems weightless; gaily flipping around the
Rodman home, but that quickly improves as the film goes on. The
aforementioned gorillas are the best looking of the computer-generated
creations and the work done on the apes’ movements is excellent.
Rise of the Planet of
the Apes is far better than one might expect and absolutely worth your
precious movie bucks, with exciting action and a memorable hero in the
CGI-created Caesar. An added plus is how this movie definitely helps
wash out the sour taste of Tim Burton’s unfortunate 2001 “re-imagining”
of the first film. Rise’s premise is clever enough to entertain
longtime Apes fans and a great way to introduce the Planet of the Apes
lore to a new generation.
~ The Lady Miz Diva
Aug. 5th,
2011
© 2006-2022 The Diva Review.com
|
