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Overall Rating : 8.5/10
Directed By : Rupert Wyatt
James Franco (127 Hours)
Freida Pinto (Immortals)
John Lithgow (Blow Out)
Brian Cox (Manhunter)
Andy Serkis [Voice] (The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King)
Supplied By : Fox Home Video
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : December. 15, 2011
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| PLOT At the story's heart is Caesar, a chimpanzee who gains human-like intelligence and emotions from an experimental drug. Raised like a child by the drug's creator, Caesar ultimately finds himself taken from the humans he loves and imprisoned. Seeking justice, Caesar assembles a simian army and escapes -- putting man and primate on a collision course that could change the planet forever. | ||||
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| THE REVIEW In RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Will Rodman is head scientist at a lab called "Gen Sys". At Gen Sys, Rodman and his crue has been hard at work on an experimental drug known as "ALZ-112" With ALZ-112, Rodman hopes to find a cure for brain deteriorating conditions, such has Alzheimer, which Will's dad, Charles, is stricken. The initially test the drug on apes to see if it will be suitable for humans. At first it seems to work, as it seems to heightened intelligence of on Chimpanzee in particular, one that they have given the name "Bright Eyes", due to the green hue that the drug gives to her Iris. But just as Will is set to sell the drug to investors in a meeting, something goes terribly wrong with Bright Eyes. Enraged, "Bright Eyes not only trashes the lab, but gets incredibly violent toward the stuff and visitors. Security quickly spring to action and shoot down the chimp. Following the event, Will is ordered to cease the project and to put down the remaining primates. All of them are put down by Will's assistant,m except for one, a newborn that was born from an unknowingly pregnant, Bright Eyes. In order to save his life, Will takes the baby chimpanzee in, giving him the name Caesar. As Caesar grows, it is apparent that via his mother he had inherited the ALZ-112, thus making him intelligent. But since Caesar has had the experimental drug in him since birth, as each year passes, he continues to grow smarter and smarter. Seeing as the drug has work so well on Caesar, Will is even more tempted to try it on Charles, and after some thought, he gives in and tries it. His father's reaction to the drug is immediate,m and a mind that was nearly gone, is suddenly brought back to life. This is great for both Caesar and Charles, but unfortunately, as most stories go, things aren't as happy as they seem to be. Soon Will discovers that in both of the subjects, that their immune systems have developed antibodies that are able to over turn the drug. A short time later, both Caesar and Charles both begin to show signs of decline. When an event leads to Caesar attacking a neighbor, he later sent to be quarantined in an infirmary facility headed by John Landon, and a staff including his son dodge. In the infirmary, Caesar is uncomfortable and forced to interact with his own kind, something that he has never done before. But not only that, he is subjected to abuse, and cruel treatment. This eventually comes to a head when the ultra intelligent Caesar has had enough. One night, Caesar manages to free himself, as well as the other numerous apes being help captured, and as they all break free from the infirmary, it is Caesar who leads the primates as an army of sorts, as they take out everything and anything on their way to ultimate freedom. RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES was one of those summer blockbusters that was met with all sorts of acclaim upon its release, but like so many films, I just didn't buy into it. Why, because the film's that usually get most praise are the films made for a ridiculous amount of money, the ones that are more so lead by a CGI created something rather than the actors themselves. So in other words, they have a whole slew of things that blow up, yet when it comes to a great story, there is just not much of one. I initially felt that RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES would be one of those films, just a whole gang of fake looking apes, and little else. But after actually seeing the film in question, i'm afraid that I must backtrack and take back those initial assumptions about RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. As it turns out, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES tells one hell of a story, one that is solid, and full of real heart, as well as emotion that is truly human. And in addition to this, all of that CGI I alluded to, well it is actually some of the best animation that I have seen in film thus far. CGI in film these days has become quite common, you can have it cheaply made, or the animation can be a huge undertaking. And because of this, cinema is now littered with all sorts of CGI-driven entertainment, Unfortunately, since you can obtain passable rendering for cheap, most of it is awful. but with RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, I cannot say one bad thing about its animation, as it is simply phenomenal. All of the apes featured in the film are computer generated via a motion captured actor, but then again, sometimes it is very very difficult to tell, as they all look very lifelike. For the Caesar. character since he is very intelligent, the filmmakers her have gone into great detail to make him very human, and in the end, I was really drawn to him emotionally. Although he is just a CGI ape, I bet it will be difficult to find anyone who is not attached to Caesar by the film's end. The film film itself is sort of a grand adventure one filled with action, suspense, but most all it has heart, and this alone will make RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES a film that a viewer won't soon forget after viewing. Opposite of what I alluded to above, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is not a film that has its human characters buried by its actors still have a great presence here, although the apes do have a stronger one. James Franco, who I think is a fantastic actor, in this film, portrays the lead role of Will Rodman. As Will, Franco is a likable character all the way though, as he is seen as someone who is just trying to do a good deed. His father Charles has Alzheimer's, and by developing the ALZ-112 drug he hopes to not only cure his father, but others as well. Through the testing, Will has also developed a bond with Caesar, the chimp that he helped rescue. The bond between Caesar and Will has lasted years, and we as an audience truly believe this, as Franco makes makes us believe in the authenticity that he creates via the character. Supporting Will is veteran actor John Lithgow, as his father, Charles. We also have Freida Pinto as his veterinarian girlfriend, "Caroline". Additionally, notable performances come from the likes of veteran, Brian Cox("John Landon", Tom Felton(as his son, "Dodge Landon"), and David Oyelowo as the head of the Gen Sys project, "Steven Jacobs". But as for the acting overall, personally, I must give this film to Andy Serkis, who "is" Caesar. Although Caesar is CGI, he is aided in creation" by the motion capture performance, of the talented Andy Serkis. Serkis, who mostly had just facial expressions and mannerisms to work with, gives a superb performance that conveys a ton of raw emotion. Fans want Serkis nominated for an Oscar for his work in this film, and I wholeheartedly agree with everyone else, that he rightfully has earned one here. Overall, everyone does a good job in helping bring RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES to realistic life. RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is one big budget blockbuster that is about more than being just flashy, it's story is solidly realized, making it one of the most satisfying. Action fans get their action, SciFi fans get their plot, while those looking for a good story get heard. I really did enjoy this film, as do many others, and for good reason! The film looks great on the Blu-Ray format, in fact, i'd say it is one of the best Blu-Ray releases that I have seen, not only visually but also as far as supplementary material as well There are things such as deleted scenes as well as featurettes that take you behind the scenes of the making of the film in great detail making t]he extras useful other than just being the kind that are merely added to pad out a disc. |
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| GORE
METER 1.5/10 Not much by way of gore in this film, just a bitten finger. |
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MUSICAL
SCORE 7/10 The film has a booming adventurous score that not only helps aid in the excitement, but also adds depth to some of the film's more emotional scenes. Great stuff. | ||||
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES really came as a surprise to me, as it was so much more than I was expecting. It's not just some silly Sci-Fi action film, but rather a well crafted piece of modern cinema - one that exudes emotion. A prequel of sorts to the 1968 original, supposedly, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is up for sequel treatment sometime in 2013, and for that, I cannot wait. Definitely see this one, as it is likely to be one of the most memorable films that you'll see in quite sometime. Special Features include : - Audio commentary by Director Rupert Wyatt - Audio commentary by writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver Deleted scenes: * "Alpha Gets Shot" * "Will's Meeting with Lab Assistants" * "Will Discovers Caesar Has Solved Puzzles" * "Caesar Plays with Bicycle" * "Caesar Questions His Identity" * "Caesar Bites Off Neighbors Finger" * "Will Ignores the Risks of an Airborne Mutated Virus" * "Rodney Gives Caesar a Cookie" * "Rocket Gets Hosed by Dodge" * "Caesar Destroys the Lab and Koba's Attempted Revenge on Jacobs" * "Caesar Pushes Helicopter" * "Koba with Shotgun" Behind the scenes featurettes: - Pre-vis for The Future * Capturing Caesar – Script to Screen - Studying the Genius of Andy Serkis - Multi-Angle: Rocket Cookie Scene - A New Generation of Apes - Breaking Motion Capture Boundaries - Breaking New Sound Barriers: The Music and Sound Design of Rise of the Planet of the Apes Ape Facts featurettes: * "Chimpanzee" * "Gorilla" * Orangutan" - Character concept art gallery - Three theatrical trailers |
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