Will Rodman (James Franco) is a scientist who may have found the cure for alzheimer’s disease in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. His new drug, or rather virus, is in trials on chimps. Enter Caesar, the offspring of one of his performer. Will adopts Caesar and discovers that his mind functions at a remarkable level. Of course Caesar isn’t a flush fit with the human world.
More so than any of the entry into the franchise, Rise of the Planet of the Apes contains kinetic action sequences that flow beautifully, if not surreally. You can’t get orangutans or men in suits to swing like the CGI apes in this movie. Because of the thrilling execution, I have to side with the CGI creatures. Sure, they look very little like the chimps at the zoo, but the fluid grace on display adds so much more to the movie.
Humans take a back seat. “James Franco” appears above the title on the poster. He’s the actor featured most prominently on-screen, but the central character is Caesar—played by Andy Serkis in a motion-captured performance. Andy gets wide praise every time he does this, honestly I can’t think of many actors who couldn’t.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes benefits from a screenplay that uses few words. It’s considered smarter writing to allow actions to speak for themselves, instead of reinforcing them verbally. Much of the second half plays this way as Caesar commands his army. Director Rupert Wyatt takes the audience into the ape train of thought, building an empathetic response for the slightly plastic CGI creatures.
It’s silly to think that the apes can actually overtake the humans without a heap of help. There is a force in the movie that ultimately sides with the apes. Through the course of Rise of the Planet of the Apes we are briefed on a manned mission to Mars which, in a logical way, sets up the original 1968 movie. I’d like to hope that Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a special one-off movie that serves as a retconned prequel, but I’m sure Hollywood will go the next step and remake Planet of the Apes for the second time. ***
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