Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Rise of the Planet of the Apes may have the worst, most awkward title of the year. I am a fan of the original Charlton Heston movie. I was not impressed by the Tim Burton remake, although I do not have a deep hatred for it. I bought the box set of the original five movies in hopes of watching them all before seeing this reboot/prequel like I did with the Fast & Furious franchise, but I just flat ran out of time. But, I did not let that lower my hopes for this latest in the franchise.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes opens with chemist Will Rodman (James Franco, 127 Hours) and his lab partner Franklin (Tyler Labine, TV’s Reaper) observing an ape doing the Tower of Hanoi test. Upon completion, Will goes to his boss, Jacobs, and says that he has developed the cure for Alzheimer’s disease with his ALZ-112 formula. After a disaster, they are ordered to put down all the apes that have been exposed to ALZ-112. Turns out, the one ape from the beginning had a baby, and she passed the ALZ-112 to her offspring.

In a moment of weakness, Will takes the young ape to his house. Charles (John Lithgow), his father, suffers from Alzheimer’s. So, obviously, Will uses his father as the proverbial guinea pig. It works, but has side effects.

The ape is now named Caesar after the character in Shakespeare’s play. Like the character in the play, Caesar feels betrayed by those he loves. A quick geek fact: Charlton Heston plays Marc Antony in the 1970 movie, Julius Caesar. Anyway, Will and his father have been raising Caesar and teaching him to communicate via sign language. Caesar also understands spoken English.

After an incident with the neighbor, Caesar is injured and taken to the zoo for a vet visit. The veterinarian is Slumdog Millionaire’s Freida Pinto. It is five years after the original disaster at the beginning and there is another unfortunate run-in with the same neighbor. This time, it lands Caesar in an animal control specially designed for primates, run by Brian Cox and his son Tom Felton. That’s right, Harry Potter’s Draco Malfoy. The rest of the plot can easily be seen in the preview, and if you are familiar with the franchise, you know where it is headed.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes main drawing power does not come from its cast of relatively small unknown actors. Instead, the viewers will want to see apes of all types destroy and attack humans. This puts a lot of pressure on the visual effects. The CGI holds up very well in short close-up shots, but tends to be lacking in larger scenes. Yet, the action scenes are fun. The climactic battle on the Golden Gate Bridge hits all the right notes.

The movie as a whole is well-paced. I was worried that it would either feel rushed, or drag on. It did neither. Rupert Wyatt directs a solid adventure film in his second outing behind the camera from a solid-enough script. I found it odd that this is the first script since 1997’s The Relic for the writing duo of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. It took them fourteen years to write this script? Or, is this the only script they have managed to sell in fourteen years? Either way, it’s odd.

In the end, the character development is lacking, but the adventure helps carry the slack. Not being in 3D was a relief, but there were a few scenes that could have been enhanced a little with the 3D aspect. I found this film more entertaining that I thought I would. Rise of the Planet of the Apes fits nicely as a prequel to the franchise. But, if it makes enough money, I would not be surprised to see a sequel. There is still room between the ending of this film and the beginning of the others. Are you looking for a way to wrap up this summer season? Look no further.

RATING 7.5/10