I am engaged in a love/hate relationship with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the 2011 prequel to all the other Planet of the Apes films. When Rise of the Planet of the Apes gets things right, which it does very often, it’s surprisingly heart-wrenching. But when it gets things wrong, it yanks the viewer right out of the film. Fortunately, the scale tips more in favor of things done right, and so this Apes succeeds where Tim Burton’s failed.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes should give rise to a whole new string of Planet of the Apes films. With CG advancements and performance capture technology now able to allow filmmakers to create realistic chimpanzees, orangutans, and gorillas, the ability to bring the story of a planet ruled by apes to life is now fully within the grasp of talented special effects artists and directors. Nearly 40 years have passed since the fifth – and last – of the first string of Planet of the Apes movies, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, hit theaters, and those films absolutely do not – unlike other movies Hollywood insists on remaking – stand the test of time.
Still, when studios announced Rise of the Planet of the Apes, moviegoers who have been burned far too often by studios simply out to cash in on a brand name did not greet it with cheers. Even the fact the apes would not be actors in ape suits and make-up – or only CG creations – but instead would be created using actors in performance capture suits did not immediately ease concerns over the prospect of a new Apes film. However, while Rise of the Planet of the Apes has its problems, the performance of Andy Serkis as the chimpanzee named Caesar who leads his fellow apes in a revolt against their oppressors, is not one of them.
Serkis’ performance as Caesar should put an end to any and all debates over the validity of the technology and the worthiness of actors in performance capture suits of earning recognition for their hard work. Serkis knows performance capture in a way no other actor does, and director Rupert Wyatt’s decision to cast him as the main ape – a decision that was likely a no-brainer – was pivotal in making Rise of the Planet of the Apes rise above being simply a summer action blockbuster and into, at times, an endearing and emotionally moving film. Caesar is the most sympathetic and fully realized character of the film, and that’s due to Serkis’ amazing performance.
In a nutshell, the story follows Oscar nominee James Franco (127 Hours) as a decent, dedicated San Francisco-based genetic scientist named Will Rodman. His father (John Lithgow) suffers from Alzheimer’s, and Will’s research is focused on finding a cure for that debilitating disease. After five years, Will thinks he has created a revolutionary drug that can restore cognitive function in Alzheimer’s patients by repairing brain tissue.
Testing the drug out involves the use of chimps, and when one displays significant intellectual improvements, the company believes Will has created a miracle drug. However, when the chimp – nicknamed Bright Eyes due to the new green streaks that appear in her irises after the drug’s injected – is in the process of being prepared to be introduced to the company’s financial backers, she goes…well…ape. She lashes out at whoever gets in her way, breaking through glass, until ultimately a security guard is forced to shoot her.
Will’s boss calls for the immediate cessation of the experiments and for all the remaining chimps to be euthanized. While going about that heartbreaking task, the animal’s chief handler at the drug company, Robert (Tyler Labine), discovers Bright Eyes was not acting out of rage but was simply protecting her new baby that she’d hidden under a bench in her cage. Robert’s had enough of putting chimps to sleep and leaves the baby in Will’s care to either euthanize or take home.
Will takes Caesar home, initially believing this is a temporary situation. But as he and his father bond with the baby chimp, Caesar shows signs of extraordinary intelligence. And he has those same green streaks in his eyes as did his now-deceased mother. In the years that follow, Will teaches Caesar how to communicate through sign language, and with each passing year, Caesar’s level of intelligence dramatically increases.
However, after a disturbing episode involving one of Will’s neighbors, Caesar’s forced out of the only home he’s ever known and into an ape sanctuary run by cruel humans (Brian Cox and Tom Felton). The apes in the sanctuary recognize his differences and mistreat him because of them. But Caesar’s not down for the count for long. He uses his astonishing brainpower to devise a plan to unite his fellow apes in a revolt against their human captors.
The Bottom Line:
The filmmakers needed to fill in a few plot holes in order for Rise of the Planet of the Apes to be truly impressive. The movie starts storylines but fails to carry them through, and leaves some crucial questions unanswered. Why didn’t the researchers and scientists know Caesar’s mother, Bright Eyes, was pregnant? Wouldn’t they have discovered that in one of the tests they ran to get a baseline on the chimpanzee? Why does the executive in charge of the research facility flip-flop on his decision to continue experimentation on chimps after so vehemently arguing against the possibility of Rodman’s drug being a viable asset to the company?
Additionally, there’s enough of a hint of a relationship between Caesar and the female chimpanzee, Cornelia, to suggest that a storyline was chopped out. Because that hint is there, it feels like an incomplete storyline left to dangle. Also, there are completely superfluous characters wedged into the plot, including James Franco’s onscreen love interest, Freida Pinto. Pinto’s fine, but there’s no need for the character other than to throw a little romance into the mix.
However, those grievances are minor compared to where I believe Rise of the Planet of the Apes lets us down the most. The close-ups and one-on-ones with the film’s apes are outstanding and it’s possible to forget you are watching anything other than a real live chimpanzee perform in this film; that’s how seamless and authentic the effects look. But when the apes are further away or moving in a pack, the effects aren’t quite as good as you’d want/expect them to be. In those scenes, the fact these are not apes but CG creations creeps in and sort of jerks you out of the film. Which is really quite a shame given just how brilliantly Serkis’ performance works as Caesar and how perfect the apes look when viewed in tighter shots.
When I’ve spoken to people about Rise of the Planet of the Apes who have not seen the film, universally they have expressed their low expectations for the quality of the movie and the story it is telling. Even the trailers, which have been relatively entertaining, haven’t fully conveyed what Rise of the Planet of the Apes is all about. They’ve emphasized the action and the apes revolting, but Rise of the Planets of the Apes is truly a character-driven film. More time is devoted to allowing the audience to understand and bond with Caesar than it is in showing apes fighting against men. 20th Century Fox may find that selling the film via trailers and clips as an action piece is the best way to pull in summer audiences, but they miss the boat by not distinguishing this film from the pack of summer action movies. The story, which as I pointed out above does have a few shortcomings, takes its time to build, something most big-budget summer releases fail to do.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes isn’t one of the best action films of the year because of the sketchy long-distance shots of the apes. But it is a bold, fresh take on a franchise that actually benefits from having a face-lift done on it 40+ years after audiences first explored its make-believe world. Rise is a cautionary tale that’s fed to us without any dilution. We know the moral of the story writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver set out to tell, and they don’t sugarcoat that message to make it go down any easier (a very smart move on their part). Audiences might not go bananas over the film, but it’s a solid revamp of a classic franchise.
GRADE: B-
Rise of the Planet of the Apes was directed by Rupert Wyatt and is rated PG-13 for intense and frightening sequences of action and violence.
Theatrical Release: August 5, 2011
This post was last modified on April 27, 2024 11:23 pm