The current trend for rebooting films has finally come full circle and we’re now treated to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a film that will mark the second time the Planet of the Apes series has been done over. The first attempt was the notoriously bad Tim Burton remake of the original which, although financially successful was critically panned. This put the planned sequel on the backburner and the franchise has remained in something of a limbo and now the whole cycle has started again with a film that seems to have created a whole new set of continuity, ignoring almost all the plot points from the late Apes films and just keeping the bare bones of the original.
The plot here is that James Franco is a scientist working for the Gensys Corporation and attempting to develop a cure to Alzheimer’s, a disease which is currently in the process of taking his father (John Lithgow) away from him. He eventually successfully develops a virus which repairs the brain cells before an unforeseen catastrophe hits and all the apes who have taken the virus have to be put down. However, feeling pity for a new born baby ape, Franco begins to look after him and it soon becomes clear that Caesar (Andy Serkis) has inherited his mothers intelligence.
Rise is relatively rare amongst recent films as it’s one of the few which have been marketed off the back of the special effects studio producing it. Instead of really driving the presence of James Franco, the teaser trailer really drove home that this was from the same effects studio behind Avatar. Ultimately this pays off as Weta Digital provide some truly stunning set pieces. Although sometimes the movements of the apes in some of the later action sequences can come off as a touch too computerised, like something from a video game cutscene, this is more than made up for by the absolutely outstanding facial animation on the all of the apes. The effects really help make the film and they give Serkis and all the other ape performers the opportunity to deliver an outstanding performance with every facial twitch accurately transferred to screen. This looks to be one of the films in which the making of… documentary on the DVD will be almost as interesting as the main feature.
The performances, aside from Serkis, are a mixed bag. Lithgow is impressive accurately portraying the trauma of Alzheimer’s and how it can effectively steal a personality. James Franco also does a decent job and makes a very sympathetic lead, but the character seems somewhat contradictory spending the entire film railing for the advancement of his research and then when the corporation actually pushes ahead he whines about how it’s going too fast. The other characters are fairly competently acted but are in most cases two dimensional such as Brian Cox and Tom Felton as the villains of the piece who ultimately set the war in motion. The most disappointing secondary character, however, is Freida Pinto with her character just being a pretty face for the sake of it with little to no impact on the actual story. Even her romance with Franco seems undercooked with what little screen time it’s given only serving to take time away from the apes without adding anything interesting.
The films main success is the empathy the audience feels for Caesar and the apes. No matter how well or poorly the human characters are portrayed; the apes are truly the star of the show. In order to set this up the film has a leisurely pace to its first half which allows the audience a gentle introduction and the chance to make a connection with Caesar and also mean the later scenes of anarchy pack a much greater punch as we see what drives the apes. It’s interesting that in a film which was marketed as a special effects extravaganza the film lets the action take a back seat to character development and there’s not even a real fight scene till the second half of the film.
In conclusion, Rise is not a perfect film. What it is is a refreshing take on the big money blockbuster. It’s that rarest of things, a blockbuster with brains which also boasts a fantastic performance from Andy Serkis. It successfully retains the spirit of the old films whilst also taking on the source material in a new and interesting way and it absolutely deserves its inevitable sequel.
Final Verdict: Epic Win
