Rise of Planet of the Apes (2011) --- "Sometimes A Reboot Can Have Positive Results."

Copyright

Plot Summary

 Will Rodman (James Franco), a scientist in San Francisco, is experimenting with a drug that he hopes will cure his father's (John Lithgow) Alzheimer's disease. After his work is deemed a failure, Will becomes the guardian of Caesar, an infant chimp who was exposed in-utero to Will's drug. Caesar displays unusual intelligence, and Will decides to continue his experiments secretly. But as Caesar's intellect and abilities grow, he comes to represent a threat to man's dominion over Earth. (1)

WatchTrailer

Review

Subscribe to my blog via email HERE and share with your friends. 

Hello, Movie Buffs! 

     I was a bit hesitant to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) when it first came out, partly because I loved the original 1968 version and the 2001 reboot did not do the franchise justice. After seeing the film, I was truly surprised that I enjoyed the film. The script is very well written by being both entertaining and intellectual with a certain depth of storytelling that it is very rarely seen in movies today. In films like Transformers, the non-human characters end up getting lost somewhat as the plot is primarily driven by the human characters. This film does not do that, in fact, the humans take a back seat in the film and are mostly there for dialogue purposes. This allows for the ape-centered story to shine through and it does so with purpose.

     Director Rupert Wyatt (The Gambler) clearly understands the moral of the story and knows how to provide an appropriate amount of thrill every scene. This allows for the mouth-agape moments to be most exciting. Normal apes/monkeys/gorillas have some impressive physical abilities, so the film gives audiences an insight as to what it would be like if apes had more intellectual brains, like with humans. Most of the action is displayed in final scenes but the tension leading up to that has been slowly building since the opening scene. As a result, the action does not have to super explosive or in your face in order to make a point but instead, the action is more subdued and allows for some imagination-inspired gore. In addition, like with humans, the film demonstrates that there are two kinds of apes some are violent and evil in nature while others are sympathetic and merciful. The film is more of a thought provoking throughout and it forces audiences to put themselves in Caesar’s shoes.

     Andy Serkis (Gollum/Smeagol in The Lord of the Rings) through the use of motion cap technology, delivers a great performance as Caesar, who is a superbly animated character. Since Caesar has very few lines in the film and Serkis has to use his facial expressions to portray what he is thinking, feeling, and ‘saying’. It also helps that the CGI is good and the character development is written very well.  In my opinion, Serkis outperformed most actors in Hollywood and he did so without saying a word. Throughout the film, audiences with go through all of his emotions and will be able to understand what he is wanting to say. Both James Franco (127 Hours) and Freida Pinto (Immortals) portrayed their respective characters well -  as scientist Will Rodman who is experimenting with his Alzheimer's cure on apes and Will’s love interest Caroline Aranha.

     Overall, Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) is a very entertaining and thought-provoking film that focuses on humanity itself Despite the fact that many people familiar with the story of Planet of the Apes and know the end result, Rise of the Planet of the Apes continues to maintain interest by asking moral and ethical questions like, ‘What is human nature?’ or ‘What does it mean to have humanity?’ The film easily pays respect to the original 1968 classic, while still doing its own thing. Some of the minor human characters are uninteresting but that doesn’t make much difference considering their screen time is small. Other than that the other human and ape characters are driven by excellent performances from Franco, Pinto, and especially Andy Serkis. The film does end relatively quickly after the battle but that only entices audiences as to what is to come in the sequel, Dawn of Planet of the Apes (2014).

“Caesar shows cognitive skills that far exceed that of a human counterpart. The drug in his system has radically boosted healthy brain functions.” 

– Will Rodman [from trailer]

Final Vote

Worth Seeing:  4.5 of 5 star

Worth Buying:  4.5 of 5 stars

I hope you liked this post, subscribe to my blog via email HERE, send in your comments, and watch Rise of Planet of the Apes (2011).

Movies Similar 

Godzilla (2014)

Jurassic Park (1993)

Jurassic Park 2: Lost World (1997)

Jurassic Park 3 (2001)

Jurassic World (2015)

King Kong (2005)

Kong: Skull Island (2017)

Legend of Tarzan (2016)

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)

Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)

Planet of the Apes (2001) REBOOT

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

War on the Planet of the Apes (2017)

Cast & Crew

Directed by Rupert Wyatt

Writing Credits: Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver

Produced by 

     Peter Chernin             ---   producer

     Dylan Clark                 ---   producer

     Thomas M. Hammel  ---   executive producer

     Rick Jaffa                    ---   producer

     Mike Larocca              ---   co-producer

     Amanda Silver            ---   producer

     Kurt Williams              ---   co-producer

Music by Patrick Doyle

Cinematography by Andrew Lesnie

Film Editing by Conrad Buff IV and Mark Goldblatt

Production Design by Claude Paré

Cast

     Andy Serkis                           ---            Caesar

     Karin Konoval                      ---            Maurice / Court Clerk

     Terry Notary                         ---            Rocket / Bright Eyes

     Richard Ridings                   ---            Buck

     Christopher Gordon           ---            Koba (as Chris Gordon)

     Devyn Dalton                        ---            Cornelia

     Jay Caputo                             ---            Alpha

     James Franco                       ---            Will Rodman

     Freida Pinto                          ---            Caroline Aranha

     John Lithgow                        ---            Charles Rodman

     Brian Cox                               ---            John Landon

     Tom Felton                            ---            Dodge Landon

     David Oyelowo                     ---            Steven Jacobs

     Tyler Labine                          ---            Robert Franklin

     Jamie Harris                         ---            Rodney

     Ty Olsson                                ---            Chief John Hamil

     David Hewlett                       ---            Hunsiker

     Joey Roche                            ---            Todd Hunsiker

     Madison Bell                         ---            Alice Hunsiker

     Makena Joy                           ---            Alice Hunsiker (Teen)

     Jesse Reid                              ---            Donnie Thompson

     BJ Harrison                           ---            Dottie

     Chelah Horsdal                    ---            Irena

     Mattie Hawkinson               ---            Linda