These apes certainly live a long time. Forty-three years after Charlton Heston was on the evolutionary pyramids short end, a new film appears that has resurrected the lucrative franchise with Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Fox wisely stayed away from the attempt of remaking anything close to the original. As about ten year ago Tim Burton succeeded in doing that and in a bad way. Fox has decided on a scientific yarn with a contemporary flair that can serve as the prequel to the others. Strong special effects, great action and to date the best ape performance making this possibly a real chest thumper.
Many of the special effects were thanks in part to the breakthrough in Avatar. Also the experience over many years of Andy Serkis in hairpieces and makeup and all that goes with it officially closed the door of the past Ape films now and forever.
As with prior Ape films, this one hinges on the belief of the viewer that primates that are genetically advanced can possess cranial and emotional capacities that are similar to humans. This is done so well that audiences will stand and cheer the primates as they take out their revenge on their captors and launch an ambitious liberation movement.
This of course helps when the humans in the film are completely venal and dull as they appear. Will Rodman played by James Franco is the genetic scientist that makes all this possible. He experiences a breakthrough after five years researching a drug for gene therapy known as AOZ-112.
The drug advances a young chimp to new heights of ability and intelligence. Its side effects also end up reversing the dementia that the scientist's father, portrayed by John Lithgow, has been suffering from. That is seen by Will's money hungry boss to be a potential huge money maker.
But the dementia returns and Caesar the chimp transforms to a rebellious, rough malcontent adolescent who becomes hard to control because of his incredible strength. This chimp over and above all others that have preceded him is his own thinker. Caesar is eventually taken to a detention center that is run by a group of sadists led actor Tom Felton.
Nasty things are done to inmates and a prison riot ensue turning into a huge rebellion that all the San Francisco area ape population seems to join in on. The special effects particularly in the Bay area were quite good.
The writing is solid work done by Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa, and Rupert Wyatt directs well by moving the film at a steady pace that leads to a climatic action scene below the famed Golden Gate Bridge that satisfies even the most avid action seeker.
The door to a sequel was aptly left open in the final shot. The film lacked in the human element as scientist Will and his girlfriend Caroline who is a vet should have been portrayed as opinionated, brainy, eccentric characters. The series is likely to continue and the first instalment in ten years is worth the time to go see it.
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