Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

It would seem that franchises don’t strictly get remade, anymore. Or, in the case of Planet Of The Apes, “reimagined”. Tim Burton’s rather terrible entry into the canon was negligible by its limp execution and dumber than bag of bananas ending that in no way logically made any sense. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, however, has taken the series to a time before the original Planet Of The Apes.

Rather like X-Men: Origins and the recent Star Trek, this is a prologue to a story and world we know about that, with subsequent instalments, could then go on to forge its own version of the originals. Indeed, the insinuation at the end of the original Planet Of The Apes, with Heston’s cry of how they had finally gone and done it, was that a nuclear war had crippled humanity and allowed primates the climate and conditions to evolve as the dominant species. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes posits a different explanation. . .



Dr. Will Rodman (James Franco) is trialling a revolutionary new drug that boosts brain capacity. His goal is to thwart and reverse the effects of Alzheimer’s, a disease he has personal interest in curing due to his father (John Lithgow) suffering from it. With the original drug proving to have terrible side-effects the project is shutdown – but not before Rodman manages to take an infant chimpanzee, Ceasar, born with the drug in his system.

Years pass, and Ceasar is raised at Will’s home and displays unprecedented intelligence. Rodman then trials the drug on his father and achieves similarly positive results and, before long, the drug is back in the laboratory and more primates are to be tested. However, Ceasar’s violent mood swings cause him to be incarcerated with other ‘regular’ apes whilst the longterm effects of the drug on humans aren’t fully understood. The ever-growing number of intelligent apes grows amidst a groundswell of mistreatment and internment that fosters a revolutionary uprising. . .



It’s fair to say that, despite James Franco’s leading man status, the movie really belongs to Ceasar – and as a consequence to Andy Serkis on motion capture duties. Whilst Serkis’ performance here is never going to be widely-recognised as a great acting display due to the lack of understanding about what is involved in the process, make no mistake that he owns this movie. Between his performance and the astounding CGI you cannot take your eyes off Ceasar. It’s all in the eyes and body language, in the expression, and it is uncanny, captivating, phenomenal.



Ceasar’s metamorphosis from playful, emotive ‘son’ to revolutionary freedom fighter is the real thrust of the plot. When he is imprisoned with regular apes and physically attacked (both by ape and his one-note captor, Tom Felton) it will stir your compassion. When he stares with contempt at his aggressors you feel his seething anger. When his schemes take shape and he rallies his kin you will urge him on. The film fairly zips along and, despite their being scarcely an action sequence of note until the climactic showpiece battle (actually it’s a fight against containment in a mass escape bid) it really coasts on the energy of a whittled-down-to-necessities script and the emotional draw of Ceasar’s journey.

It’s a shame the humans weren’t quite shaded with as much depth. For the opening half Franco manages to hold your attention. His endeavours to aid his father ring true but the moment Ceasar severs ties he’s suddenly a character fundamentally reduced to trying to stop the people in charge – but considering the title of the film we as an audience know it’s a fruitless exercise and so has no real merit. The apes will rise! Likewise his romance with Freida Pinto as Caroline is glossed over entirely, with her character basically on hand to deliver information about primates and supplicating gestures that will make sense further down the line.



A few clever-clever nods to the original Planet Of The Apes are slipped in. Some are subtle; Ceasar is seen playing around with a toy Statue of Liberty. Some not so subtle; a delivery of the iconic line is repeated here in a reversed context but sounds silly rather than packing a punch. Better is the brief subtext of the space launch that goes missing – captured in TV reports and newspaper headlines – that lay groundwork for the plot of the very first movie (and potential future rebooted instalment) and can pass over the heads of those unaware, but are a nice layer for the more informed ‘Apes’ fan.

I really enjoyed Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes. It’s a strange testament to its qualities that I thought the big finale – an apes versus army showdown on the Golden Gate bridge – was the least engaging part of it. Don’t get me wrong, it was rousing and brilliantly realised, but it just didn’t sweep me along the way the preceding portion did. If there’s a trap subsequent movies could fall into it would be to sacrifice the good character arcs generated here in favour of more fighting spectacle.

At time of writing the movie certainly made a big box office splash so I think there’s a good likelihood there will be more to come. The richness of the existing mythology coupled with this confident marker is an exciting prospect. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes is, perhaps, a slightly too grandiose title (I suppose Beginning Of The Planet Of The Apes didn’t sound as good) because it undermines just how much more this series has left to develop. So long as it can evolve without compromise it has inherited a pedigree to ensure it can survive alongside the fittest of blockbuster rivals. This certainly ain't no damn, dirty ape.