Rise of the Planet of the Apes

The first “Apes” movie I saw was Tim Burton’s remake. I still enjoy it but I understand the problems with the film. I then saw the first film staring Charlton Heston and was very impressed. I was expecting “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” to be a flop because it was being released in August, which usually is the month for wanna-be blockbusters. While the film wasn’t amazing, I did enjoy myself. Motion capture technology was improved once again and the story was a good one. There were a lot of references to the original series such as the name of nearly every character and certain dramatic moments. Some franchises get prequels like “Star Wars” or remakes like “Ocean’s Eleven” and some get rebooted like "Star Trek". I see “Rise” as a reboot because of the references to the Icarus.

There were no huge problems with the story but it was predictable. The ending could have used a surprise or a twist because even the Tim Burton film had that. As usual with an “Apes” film, the ending is unresolved or slightly unhappy and the whole story is allegorical. I understand though that the filmmakers wanted to start a new franchise and they succeeded. The change of heart and mind that Caesar undergoes is a good source of drama. Will comes to see Caesar in the primate facility but Caesar is once again disappointed that he can’t go home. After having experienced how the rest of his kind is treated, this was the last straw. When Will finally buys Caesar’s freedom, Caesar rejects the offer because his mission is not yet finished. He still has feelings for Will as evidenced by his face when his back is turned to Will but his priorities are different now. This resembles the story of Benjamin Franklin. It took him a while to join the cause of the revolution because he liked Britain. After one particular visit to England however where he was publicly humiliated, he changed his mind and there was no going back. I love the use of the classic line: “Get your stinking paw off me, you…dirty ape”. It gets a laugh from the audience as you might expect but just as you stop laughing, Caesar yells “NO!!” This blows the audience’s minds and silences them because we went from laughing to being surprised very fast. It is the best part of the film and probably the biggest moment of the new franchise. This is in keeping with the mythology because in the previous films, "Caesar's" first word was also "No". There are so many other references to the original film. Dodge (his full name itself is an homage) yells at one point in the film “It’s a madhouse!” and he uses a water hose. Also, as mentioned, the spaceship that leaves for Mars and then gets lost is named the Icarus.

Andy Serkis’ acting is so good that it is hard to imagine him making Caesar’s facial expressions or performing his actions. We have the luxury of behind-the-scenes footage though and so we don't have to imagine. To see Serkis acting in his mocap suit is mesmerizing. With any computer generated character performed by Serkis, whether it's Gollum or Captain Haddock, the final performance does remind you a little bit of the real actor. As I said though, the performance and technology is so good that you genuinely accept the final rendered character. I didn't even see very much resemblance to King Kong in Serkis' performance (he did performance capture for that character also). All of the actors performing the apes and the special effects wizards do an amazing job because the final product is very genuine. The apes still look and act like animals but their intelligence creates a kind of character that we have never seen before, even in other films in the "Apes" franchise. A film like this required performance capture or it would have failed. The Tim Burton film had anthropomorphic apes but “Rise” depicts real apes that gain intelligence. This meant that performance capture was the best avenue. The human cast members also do well. I find it funny that after the filmmakers couldn’t get Tobey Maguire to play Will, they went after his cinematic friend and enemy: future Oscar nominated actor James Franco. He did a great job but that was to be expected. I remember Freida Pinto from "Slumdog Millionaire". Another thing I find funny about the casting is that John Lithgow, who has befriended Bigfoot on film before, played Caesar’s surrogate grandfather. Lithgow also did fine in his role. For the villainous characters, the filmmakers needed actors that have such personas. Enter Brain Cox from “X-2” and Tom Felton from the “Harry Potter” franchise. Felton has now been a part of two long running film series and it must be fun for him to deliver one of the most famous lines in film history according to AFI (it is #66 on their list of movie quotes). Some actors might have blown the delivery of such a famous line but the way Felton began the line was quite realistic and it caught me off guard. It is also a little funny that Caesar did what Harry Potter could not do. I guess when it comes to killing "Malfoy", never send a wizard to do an ape's job. I would say this movie introduced me to David Oyelowo, who plays Jacobs. The director of photography, the late Oscar-winner Andrew Lesnie, was the cinematographer on all three "Lord of the Rings" films. Weta Workshop did the special effects for both franchises so there are other familiar names such as Joe Letteri and Gino Acevedo.

“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” can be viewed without seeing the original film but it shouldn’t be done that way in my opinion. It ruins the surprise at the end of that 1968 film. The special effects in this movie advance not only digital animals but also performance capture. I was betting that this show was going to win Best Visual Effects at the Oscars. Its loss to "Hugo" was a little bit of a surprise because even today, the special effects look very good. The story was fine and the acting was good. I feel that this movie wasn’t extremely special because it wasn’t all that fun but it did provide a way for new sequels to be made in a classic franchise. I didn't expect any sequels to be made when I saw "Rise" for the first time but what really took me by surprise was that the entertainment value of this reboot franchise would ultimately improve.

3.5 Stars