88. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

 

So I'm aware this is yet another older movie, but this time it isn't because its been at the cinema. In preparation for the new movie it was agreed I'd familiar myself with the series first and thus I was introduced (technically for the second time) to the first film in the revived Planet of the Apes franchise. 

First thought- it's alright.

Not a fan of the animal cruelty or murder of the apes.

On a deeper and more insightful level, I can see the appeal but I'm not sure this is my sort of franchise. I'll watch it because Jamie likes them and I guess I'm interested to see how the new race of intelligent apes evolve. But I'm not really here for the advanced evolutionary apocalyptic narratives, it's the same with the Jurassic franchise, just doesn't appeal to me.

You may be thinking, 'and yet she watches zombie movies with relish', indeed I do dear readers. But there is just something about the fall of humanity through decomposition which appeals to me rather than the fall through another species rising to power and crushing us. 

So in Rise of the Planet of the Apes we see James Franco adopt an ape which has been exposed to a new drug that is meant to fight dementia, which coincidentally his father suffers from. The drug is not ready for human trials as the bambino's mother freaks out in the lab and is killed, forcing the board to abandon the trials and thus the drug which Franco's character thought would be a godsend for his dad. Turns out though, it wasn't the drug, it was because she was protecting her baby.

So anyway, we see young Caesar (the baby ape) grow up in the Franco household and is basically brought up as a child. It isn't until he is attacked by a neighbour that things start getting difficult and he is taken to a facility for primates run by Brian Cox and Tom Felton, both of whom are not very nice (in this movie). 

Meanwhile, Franco has stolen some of the drug and is trialling this on his dad and at first it works, but then an immunity is built up and the condition worsens, eventually leading to the death of his father. He then tries to free Caesar from his little primate prison but by this point Caesar has started a revolt and this is the start of the Planet of the Apes. Caesar steals the drug and exposes his fellow prisoners to it which makes them all smart too and then they break out and cause havoc.

The film ends with Franco letting Caesar go free in the forest to continue to cause ape-havoc and thus the franchise is born.

My first take away from this movie is that Tom Felton is very good at playing bad guys considering he is so lovely in real life. 

In terms of the narrative, this one flowed pretty well and the origins of how primates took over makes sense. This was a good introductory film and easily paves the way for the others. It was also easy to follow, no one blinded me with science, which was good considering it was the end of the day and it was a smooth watch. Outlandish when you think of it, but smooth.

Considering this was 2011 the CGI was pretty good, there were also big names for the time involved, and it wasn't this dark and brooding movie in terms of cinematography. I could actually see what was going on which was pretty cool, unlike nowadays where you have to struggle to see what's going on with the lighting. 

I like the fact that Franco's character is motivated purely by love. First his love for his father and then for Caesar. The acting is a little two dimensional as expected, I've never rated Franco as massively talented in his dramatic phase, when acting as pretty much himself in his comedic movies he's alright. But aside from in Spiderman, I'm not to thrilled by him and I don't find him too believable, but I was impressed with his acting here, as I mentioned, it lacked a little, but it was an improvement.

Otherwise, absolutely hats off to Mr Andy Serkis. I don't know another actor who is as dedicated to CGI work as that man. The talent. Wow. I think this franchise would have failed without this man. One of my favourites.  

Rise of the Planet of the Apes was an interesting introductory film into the world of these sort of disaster movies. It had action, trauma, drama, and drive. Without the motive for better treatment of these animals, coming from these animals, I don't think this franchise would have been as successful as it has been. If the story had swayed any other way I think it would have lost its realism, and that was the key here. The only reason I feel this story was as good as it was, is purely because of the realism. It was justified, the origin was plausible. 

Overall then, to quiet my tangent, I give Rise of the Planet of the Apes a 7/10. I'd perhaps consider this again for background noise, but I'm not sure I'd pick it again for a Saturday night movie.

What do you think? Comment on my socials as normal!