Movie Review: 'Rise of Planet of the Apes' best film of the summer so far
Submitted by Carson Now Reader on Sun, 08/07/2011 - 12:31pm
"The Rise of the Planet of the Apes,' now playing at the Fandango Galaxy cineplex in Carson City, may well be the best of the summer popcorn fare. It is not an extension of the "Apes" series of the 1970s and '80s but the beginning of a new franchise of films. And its primate hand is there for all of us.
Plot is the corporation working on medication for Alzheimer's disease with James Franco scientist in charge. The medication ALZ-112 can repair brain cells, modifying chimpanzees to human intelligence levels. A female chimp goes wild and is put down and scientists discover that she was only trying to protect her newborn son.
Steve Jacobs (David Oyelowo) orders all chimps put down, but Robert Franklin (Tyler Labine), a scientist at the lab, can't bring himself to do it and Will Roadman (Franco) takes the baby chimp home and with the help of Caroline Aranha (Freida Pinto) and raises the little one, calling him Caesar (Andy Serkis). He is also helped by this father Charles (John Lithgow), who is suffering from advancing Alzheimer's.
A sidewalk neighbor bully attacks Charles on the street and Caesar comes to his rescue and winds up in the Primate Section of the San Bruno zoo, run by John Landon (Brian Cox). The apes are held in tight quarters except when allowed out in a sort of ape playground, where Caesar for the first time meets his fellow chimps as well as an orangutan and a gorilla.
Caesar is abused by a zookeeper Dodge Landon (Tom Felton) and eventually Caesar teams up with the other primates and they escape. The apes battle police on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and flee to the nearby John Muir National Monument.
Then Rodman finds Caesar and tells him he wants to take him home. But Caesar looks at the giant redwoods and says, "Caesar is home."
Perfect ending.
Much to admire in this film. The computer technology that makes the apes so realistic is excellent --- no men running around in monkey suits. And Lithgow as the declining father offers a fine portrayal of a man losing is way. Serkis as Caesar is adept at catching a chimp's facial expressions and gait. Pinto is a solid backdrop against which Franco can play. And Franco is convincing as the scientist seeking the better way.
This is the second film in recent weeks to include an Alzheimer's character, and here Lithgow is captured at his best as a man losing his mind. His brief recovering is a bright spot before the drug loses its effect on him.
As mentioned, this not a computer-hyped follow up onto the earlier films --- no Charleton Heston here. The chimps are living creatures and deserve more than the cages of the zoo, and even if not mental super stars (they do get a shot of the new drug which lifts them to human levels of intelligence, thanks to Caesar) they're good enough to take on the SF police. If there's a spoiler here here, it's the violence as the cops attack the fleeing apes.
No Tarzan, no Jane, no Cheeta but a fine director, Rupert Wyatt and script by Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa.
--- Sam Bauman
Cast
• James Franco as Will Rodman
• Freida Pinto as Caroline Aranhath
• Andy Serkis as Caesar
• John Lithgow as Charles Rodman
• Chelah Horsdal as Irena
• Brian Cox as John Landon
• Tom Felton as Dodge Landon
• David Oyelowo as Steven Jacobs
• Tyler Labine as Robert Franklin
• David Hewlett as Hunsiker
• Jamie Harris as Rodney
Directed by Rupert Wyatt
Produced by Amanda Silver,a
Rick Jaffa
Peter Chernin
Dylan Clark
Written by Amanda Silver,
Rick Jaffa
Music by Patrick Doyle
Cinematography Andrew Lesnie
Editing by Conrad Buff
Mark Goldblatt Studio 20th Century Fox
Chernin Entertainment
Distributed by 20th Century Fox. Running time 105 mins, rated PG-13
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