So despite all of the hard efforts on behalf of our staff to steer our series in a more viable direction, numbers did not improve in the manner that was expected as a result of last week’s article. Therefore, we have axed our entire writing staff, and sacked the person who was in charge of sacking the previous staff. New market research indicates that the previous article was a little too soft, and therefore, less interesting to the average reader. We have, therefore, decided to reboot our reboot of our series on reboots in order maintain that soft, and relatable direction, but also give it an edgy tone that will hopefully give it that much needed punch that it was lacking previously.
Last week, we looked at the 2001 reboot of PotA, and how it didn’t quite work as a spiritual successor to a franchise that had been so groundbreaking back in its day. This week, we’re going to look at the other, slightly more successful reboot of the PotA franchise, 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I mentioned in passing last week that this film actually benefited from being a little more grounded. We’ll get to that, but first, let’s take a look at the basic story behind the film.
James Franco plays Dr. William Rodman, a geneticist working for a cutting edge corporation. Specifically, he’s researching the feasibility of using genetic correction to cure alzheimer's disease, which his father, Charles, played by John Lithgow, happens to have. The program is in the animal testing phase and Will administers his drug to a chimp that he lovingly, and in no possible ironic way, named Bright Eyes. Bright Eyes is put on display during a meeting with the big wigs, but she’s forced from her cage, which sends her on a rampage, and she’s ultimately killed by security. This is bad for Will because in response, his boss terminates the project, and this means that the company will also terminate the animals that were used in the experiment. During the euthanization process, Will’s lab partner finds out that Bright Eyes had been protecting her newly born son. Will opts to secretly take the son home to raise him and study him, and he names him Caesar, and there’s lots of sappiness for, like, twelve seconds.
A few years pass, and Caesar is showing signs of incredible intelligence, and he’s starting to question his own identity. In the meantime, Will has been giving the drug to old dad Charles because Charles had alzheimer’s so naturally, we give this person our untested, and definitely unapproved drugs. However, over several years, Charles has built up a tolerance to the drug, and its effects are starting to diminish. There are some things that happen that kind of get Caesar carted off to an animal shelter where the two biggest douches in this universe, one played by Draco Malfoy, happen to work. Caesar is caged up with all of the other apes that are there... for some reason. I guess people in California really enjoy collecting dangerous primates.
Meanwhile, Will had been working on a more powerful form of the drug that apparently could also boost intelligence. This drug is administered to a bonobo and in the process, Will’s good friend is exposed to the drug, which kills him. This is ground zero for the beginning of the third act as all of the apes at the genetic corporation bust out and go on a citywide rampage. Also in the meantime, Caesar breaks out of the animal shelter, and steals a canister of the new drug. He goes back and gives it to all of his new ape brethren. Draco and his pops attempt to get Caesar and friends back into their cages, but Caesar rebels by shouting, “no,” and this is when all of those apes take off. The apes from the genetic corporation have freed the apes in the San Francisco Zoo, and now both groups converge on the historic Golden Gate Bridge. By this point, the military has gotten involved, and there’s a pretty intense battle going on between the humans and the apes. The apes are just trying to find someplace safe to live at this point, and the military is just trying to make some primate heads explode. Honestly, I’m not sure which motivation I sympathize with more, but I generally find myself rooting for the apes whenever I watch this film soooo… (That was most definitely sarcasm, BTW.)
After the intense Golden Gate Bridge battle, the apes manage an escape to the redwood forest where Will used to take Caesar to play. There’s a heartwarming goodbye between Will and Caesar, and then the apes disappear into the mists. That’s pretty much the end, but not really because the new drug that Will made was airborne, and acted like a deadly virus to humans, and some of those army dudes were exposed to animals that were ‘infected’ with this virus, and so during the credits, we see how the virus begins to spread all over the world, killing millions upon millions of humans in the process, and most likely spreading to more apes as well.
Okay, so remember how I said that grounding this franchise a bit worked really well? Here’s why… The original movie was a cautionary tale about the nuclear arms race, and man creating the source of his own demise. That was during the Cold War era, and for the time, it was really poignant. It still is in a lot of ways, but I’m going to leave all of that alone because I’ve already discussed it enough in the previous article for that portion of the franchise. This film also serves as a cautionary allegory for man’s inherent arrogance. It just approaches the subject from a direction that’s more relevant to our society today. Instead of nuclear weapons being the instrument of our destruction, it’s us trying to tamper with the basic building blocks of life on Earth without necessarily having sufficient understanding to successfully do so. It’s an approach that works because that is the cutting edge right now, and anything on the fringes has the potential to blow up in our collective faces, which is unsettling. That’s why this reboot works, and the 2001 reboot doesn’t. The 2001 film lacked the cautionary message, and the unadulterated expose on humanity’s follies that are a hallmark of the franchise.
Beyond having a very concrete and well built theme, this film also benefits from an engaging story. We do spend quite a bit of time in montage mode, but all of that serves to help get to the exciting stuff a little more quickly, and the story doesn’t suffer any for it. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it actually helps the story. Instead of wallowing in pretentious, drawn out, and muddled explanations of things that really aren’t important, this film paces itself so that it can lay all of its foundations early and quickly. The viewer never feels like they’re not getting enough information to keep up, but nor do they feel like the film is taking too long to give them that information. It’s all very concise, and very well executed. The actors in the this movie are also exceptional. Every last actor gives their best performance. They have fun doing so, and that translates well into the movie. The touching moments are touching, the sad moments are sad, and the exciting moments are exciting. There’s no real loss between the film and the audience as far as tone is involved.
Of course, we have to look at the special effects. This film would not have been possible without them. I love the original franchise, and I’ll even admit to enjoying a decent amount of the 2001 film, but even I have to concede that the apes in those movies were lacking a bit in their appearance. Don’t get me wrong, I still think they look great for what they are, and when they were done, but some things just don’t age all that well. This movie, again, benefits from grounding itself a little more. We’re not dealing with physically evolved apes, we’re only dealing with intellectually evolved apes, and so we can just show regular looking apes. The audience still gets the same effect, but in the grand scheme of things, it will all age a little bit more gracefully. And the rendering of the apes is fantastic. Andy Serkis probably worked his butt off to bring Caesar’s performance to life, and he did a great job. Even through the lens of the movie being over half a decade old, those creature effects still hold up well, and I don’t usually praise CG, but I really have to give credit where credit is due.
I’ve been giving this movie a lot of high praise. That’s not to say that it’s without fault. It does do a little too much homaging for my tastes. Several of the character names are lifted directly from either characters, or real people associated with the making of the first film, and there’s actually a scene where a scene from the original movie is playing on a TV. There are probably others, but I don’t want to spend too much time there. Just know that they exist, and if you’re in the know, they can get a little annoying after the third viewing or so. The reason that I feel comfortable praising this movie so freely, though, is that it really captures the feel of those old Sci-Fi movies that I enjoy. It poses a theory, and it presents its own sort of corroborating story, and it makes the viewer think about stuff. It may not be up to the level of some of the greats, but it makes that attempt, and that’s what good Sci-Fi is supposed to do. For that reason, I’m going to say that this is a movie that not only deserves a watch, but that probably deserves a spot on your DVD/Bluray shelf, or hard drive, or whatever you use to store and watch movies. I think it’s destined to become a classic, and I’m sticking to that assertion! Stay tuned for next week as we finish up reboot month! What will I be skewering next? The answer may surprise you!
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