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Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
When the film came out I wasn’t expecting as much positive reviews as this film has received, probably due to how much I dislike Tim Burton’s remake of the 1968 original. Unlike Burton’s remake, “Rise” is an almost completely new film, not a remake but a reboot for the franchise with the film leaving the door open for further sequels.
Overall I enjoyed watching this film, it was far from bad but I must admit I felt it could have been improved even more to make it a ‘great’ film. For those who don’t know, the story is set prior to the events of the original film with the main character Will Rodman (A lab worker portrayed by James Franco) adopting a baby ape after a experiment gone wrong,
the story follows the apes progression in to adulthood and inevitably comes to explain the ‘rise’ of the apes.
The biggest positive of the film is the special effects on display, particularly those used for the film’s main character, the ape Caesar who is magnificently crafted as a result of a motion capture performance from the ever brilliant Andy Serkis and the work of the CGI team.
Unfortunately the same praise can not be applied to the other actors involved in the film. Caesar ultimately is the film; everything else is just there to allow the story to develop. The film wants to show the ape’s emotions, his life and his intelligence, and it certainly does that with some powerful scenes involving Caesar. Unfortunately this focus on the apes comes at a cost to the rest of the film that seemingly sacrifices the development of its other characters.
James Franco, whilst putting in a decent performance, fails to go beyond the expected and give us something to remember. The same can be said for John Lithgow (an actor who was brilliant in one of my favourite TV shows Dexter) who plays the part of Will’s dad, an Alzheimer’s sufferer, once again his character is only used simply to advance the plot, to show the affects of the drug and not much more in terms of the actual character. Will’s girlfriend who is portrayed by Freida Pinto is simply there and does absolutely nothing to contribute to the story; their relationship not really looked at all despite the film being set over a number of years.
Another criticism that goes in hand with the limited characters is a poor script, some of the dialogue just comes across as a little weak and strange, such as the unnatural change in attitudes when Will is trying to persuade his boss to develop the Alzheimer’s drug once again. The film is lacking in realism, overall you can only be so realistic with a bunch of super-intelligent apes taking over the world, but like I said some of the conversations and things that happen are a bit strange and unnatural.
The ending is good, and because of heavy focuses Caesars development it means we get what we want and expect. I also enjoyed the little touches such as the rocket getting lost in space shown throughout the film that leave the ending open nicely for possible sequels and show exactly how it all fits in with the original.
Perhaps I’m being too generous with my rating although I feel that “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” succeeds at what it attempts to be and because of that I found myself enjoying the story which is important in a film that focuses on our emotions with the apes throughout. It’ll be interesting to see what will happen now with a potential sequel in the pipeline, at least I think.
RATING:
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When the film came out I wasn’t expecting as much positive reviews as this film has received, probably due to how much I dislike Tim Burton’s remake of the 1968 original. Unlike Burton’s remake, “Rise” is an almost completely new film, not a remake but a reboot for the franchise with the film leaving the door open for further sequels.
Overall I enjoyed watching this film, it was far from bad but I must admit I felt it could have been improved even more to make it a ‘great’ film. For those who don’t know, the story is set prior to the events of the original film with the main character Will Rodman (A lab worker portrayed by James Franco) adopting a baby ape after a experiment gone wrong,
|
The biggest positive of the film is the special effects on display, particularly those used for the film’s main character, the ape Caesar who is magnificently crafted as a result of a motion capture performance from the ever brilliant Andy Serkis and the work of the CGI team.
Unfortunately the same praise can not be applied to the other actors involved in the film. Caesar ultimately is the film; everything else is just there to allow the story to develop. The film wants to show the ape’s emotions, his life and his intelligence, and it certainly does that with some powerful scenes involving Caesar. Unfortunately this focus on the apes comes at a cost to the rest of the film that seemingly sacrifices the development of its other characters.
James Franco, whilst putting in a decent performance, fails to go beyond the expected and give us something to remember. The same can be said for John Lithgow (an actor who was brilliant in one of my favourite TV shows Dexter) who plays the part of Will’s dad, an Alzheimer’s sufferer, once again his character is only used simply to advance the plot, to show the affects of the drug and not much more in terms of the actual character. Will’s girlfriend who is portrayed by Freida Pinto is simply there and does absolutely nothing to contribute to the story; their relationship not really looked at all despite the film being set over a number of years.
Another criticism that goes in hand with the limited characters is a poor script, some of the dialogue just comes across as a little weak and strange, such as the unnatural change in attitudes when Will is trying to persuade his boss to develop the Alzheimer’s drug once again. The film is lacking in realism, overall you can only be so realistic with a bunch of super-intelligent apes taking over the world, but like I said some of the conversations and things that happen are a bit strange and unnatural.
The ending is good, and because of heavy focuses Caesars development it means we get what we want and expect. I also enjoyed the little touches such as the rocket getting lost in space shown throughout the film that leave the ending open nicely for possible sequels and show exactly how it all fits in with the original.
Perhaps I’m being too generous with my rating although I feel that “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” succeeds at what it attempts to be and because of that I found myself enjoying the story which is important in a film that focuses on our emotions with the apes throughout. It’ll be interesting to see what will happen now with a potential sequel in the pipeline, at least I think.
RATING: