There's a Robot Chicken sketch, of all things, that always made me chuckle. It recreates an episode of Law & Order using anthropomorphized chickens who only speak in clucks and bawks. The joke is that the rhythms of L&O are so standardized at this point, that you can essentially have characters talking nonsense and still get the point across as long as you keep it in that form. But it also stands for another interesting proposition -- that things like body language, tone, and how someone behaves in a particular situation or environment can establish a character and tell a story even without the venerable words that those pesky writers are always talking about.
That's Rise of the Planet of the Apes's (heretofore to be abbreviated RotPotA both for convenience and because it sounds like a dish at T.G.I.Friday's) greatest achievement. Though he speaks only four words in the entire film (three of which coming at the very end), he is a character the we see grow, change, react, suffer, lead, and love. Boatloads of credit should go to Andy Serkis and the team of animators, special effects crew, and motion capture specialists who brought this amazing being to life on the silver screen.
Handicapped without the ability to use dialogue with Caesar, the film has to rely on Serkis's expressions and the character's actions. When we witness him pouncing on a neighbor who hassles a dementia-added loved one, and then see the horror and fear on everyone's faces, it's frightening and complex and sad. Caesar is still ape enough to instinctively attack an aggressor and use his considerable skills to do harm, but he's human enough to feel things like love for his erstwhile grandfather, to have the desire to protect the people he cares about, and to feel shame and self-doubt and anger when outsiders see him as a freak.
The first half of the film soars by leaning into this. Despite the fact that James Franco (who is perfectly solid as the scientist who raises Caesar) receives top billing, this is a story about a very special creature having an existential crisis, trying to figure out who and what he is, and where he fits into this world. It's hard to make a story where a character assaults innocent people and mounts an attack on a major city sympathetic, but Rise pulls it off.
It does so by creating an incredible juxtaposition, between an ape who is slowly developing the mind of a human, and an elderly man who is slowly losing his. Caesar is, effectively, a teenager -- rebelling against his father, trying to figure out what he's meant to do, and slowly but surely understanding the wider world and his peculiar place in it. At the same time, Charles Rodman (the stellar-as-always John Lithgow) is fading away, meaning well and finding himself not adept at being the man he used to be. They're two sides to the same coin, and Charles's journey in the film adds shading and depth to Caesar's.
Unfortunately, the second half of the film takes a decidedly different turn, and Rise never really recovers. Instead of the loving human father, the avuncular Alzheimer's patient, the affectionate-but-concerned zoologist, the film surrounds Caesar with a prick of a handler, a corrupt zookeeper-type, and a slimy corporate shill who only cares about money. Gone are the interesting characters who have complicated, deep relationships with the protagonist, meant to be replaced by one-note, trite antagonists.
Some of that is obviously necessary. As interested as someone like me would be in ninety minutes of meditation on how a sentient ape would adjust to having the intellect to understand the world but a taxonomy that means he'll never be a full member of it, the folks behind the film need more conflict than that, and in service of the larger Planet of the Apes mythos, need to motivate Caesar's turn. Director Rupert Wyatt has to give Caesar a reason to turn his back on humanity--despite the humans who raised him--and lead the ape revolution that will one day consume the whole planet.
To that end, the film does well to both explain Caesar's change of heart and fit in some nice world-building at the margins. Though Caesar has his doubt and moments of unhappiness and questioning, like everyone who grows up does, he is a happy member of society (more or less) when he is with people who treat him as an equal, and as a person. But when thrown into captivity, for reasons he does not fully understand, and treated like, well, an animal, he grows resentful. But he's also smart. Having been isolated from his fellow chimpanzees, he gradually assimilates with them, makes friends with them, teaches them, and earns his place as their leader.
But at the same time, the film subtly lays the groundwork for the world we find in Planet of the Apes. A treatment for Alzheimer's that focuses on neural regeneration and requires testing on apes before it can be approved for use on humans is a surprisingly plausible explanation for how intelligent apes could come about, or at least passes the smell test for a science fiction film. There's subtle mention of astronauts lost in space as a nice nod to the series's original, and the next mutation of the Alzheimer's treatment accelerating the more resilient apes' intelligence while having deleterious, impliedly pandemic effects on humans helps explain the change in command, so to speak. What's more, Rise does well in its nods to its predecessor, from a nice--if-clumsy use of the "damned dirty apes" line to a policeman netting one of the apes in a reverse of the original's most iconic scenes.
But then, the film devolves into the usual disaster movie spectacle, with an army of simians launching themselves across the Golden Gate bridge to a symphony of toothless destruction. It's a nice enough set piece, with a few twists here and there to keep things interesting, and well-animated apes bounding hither and yon. It just quickly becomes apparent that as Caesar takes revenge on the various bad guys in the film, and then commands his ape army to get into a blockbuster battle with the police (and a conveniently present corporate executive), the philosophical bent of the first half of the film has been abandoned for the usual pre-viz spectacle.
It's a shame, because the film brings Caesar to life in such an amazing fashion, and tells an incredible story about how slowly learns more about where he came from, what makes him different, and how he decides to better his people rather than stand with ones who capture and kill them, despite his upbringing. It's powerful, complex material that touches on important ideas about what it means to be sentient and how we treat those who are different from us, be they human, simian or otherwise. It's just too bad that it gets lost in a sea of action movie cliches and stock characters. But Caesar, the Moses of this tale of a man raised by one people and born to lead another, is anything but stock, and his presence and journey alone is worth the price of admission.
A very strong start to a new series of films, it understands that the Apes franchise is buoyed by spectacle, not carried by it. It is spectacle in the service of character and thought. Caesar and Serkis’ performance is the standout, of course. Even if you can see a bit of the seams now, the effects still hold up and more importantly, Serkis conveys Caesar’s growth expertly, communicating much through eyes and body language. Lithgow is terrific as always, stealing your heart with his screentime and serving as ample motivation for Will and the audience both. Oyelowo and Felton are both having a blast as scumbags.
Where the characters falter are Will and Caroline. Pinto’s performance is fine, but Caroline just stops mattering as a character at a certain point. Maybe that’s for the best- her last real scene of substance is a hamfisted and shoddily execution of the themes of human hubris that comes off like she’s implying some things just can’t and shouldn’t be changed, like. Alzheimer’s. The cure part was never the issue. And Franco has baggage now, but even setting that aside he just never feels bought in. He’s only slightly more distinct as a leading man than Wahlberg. He doesn’t sell the emotion whether with his father or Caesar, always feeling a step removed.
That said, this continues the Apes staple of being a thoughtful blockbuster. There’s only one big action scene, and because they take their time and build to that climax it’s all the more exciting and meaningful. That time is spent on Caesar’s journey and humanity’s greed and ambition. There’s not as much room for rumination on human- or should I say humane- nature with so much time devoted to Caesar’s and the apes’ rise as pretty unambiguous righteous figures, but what’s there works as the groundwork for the sequels to take off with when humans are decimated and the apes must reckon with what comes after revolution. It lacks a Taylor, or Zira and Cornelius, or MacDonald, or, well, original Caesar to turn a disgusted or disappointed eye on human and/or ape foibles, but that’s because this Caesar just isn’t there yet. He needed to be set up and developed into that spot. Now it’s up to the sequels to run with this strong foundation.
Second time to watch this but it was basically like watching it for the first time, as I really remembered nothing except "NO!!!!"...and vaguely recalling how it ended. I found it very entertaining, filled with drama and action enough to satisfy both genres and keep me drawn in. You, of course, almost immediately begin to sympathize with the apes due to their harsh treatment by the humans and with the CGI effects now coming into play (as opposed to the old rubber masks and makeup) they can really draw you into the story. "Caesar" was absolutely amazing and even though James Franco was the leading actor, John Lithgow essentially stole the spotlight...as he usually does, due to his incredible on-screen ability. It's a tiny bit dated, even with CGI effects (there were numerous scenes were "Caesar" looked/moved more like a computer animation than an actual ape) and there were some scenes that seriously had me scratching my head wondering how/why they tried to pass that off. (For instance, the scene where the apes were leaping to the pavement from windows that were obviously several stories above ground, yet without consequence. You would think if a jump from that height would severely injure/break a human ankle or leg, it would have a similar effect on apes. But nooooooooooooooo... you would be wrong in this case.) All that aside...I mean, come on...it's no more outlandish than an unstoppable serial machete-wielding murderer in a hockey mask who keeps coming back from one gruesome death after another, right?...all that aside, it really was a nice change-of-pace movie with a lot of drama and a considerable amount of action on the part of humans AND simians. Definitely worth watching, and I look forward to the upcoming releases as (hopefully) the CGI and storylines will only get better.
"NOOOO!"
The 1968 original is hard to beat in many aspects (a technical masterpiece, stylish, rich thought-provoking themes, complex characters...) but this one's just better for me. As a reboot Rise of the Planet of the Apes feels familiar but also fresh—that's how you do a proper reboot! It might not be as technically adequate or stylish as the original but the themes are thought-provoking and the characters are certainly interesting.
Caesar makes this movie great, the journey and growth he goes through are so captivating. Basically a character study on a CGI ape that's somehow capable of making me cry. In the span of one movie, Caesar gets more character development than both Kong and Godzilla in their whole universe.
The theme of fatherhood/parenthood is strong here, from Will with his father Charles, to Caesar with Will, to even Caesar being a strong figure to the other apes. The Alzheimer storyline with Charles was a nice touching addition. Tom Felton was perfectly cast here, he was hateable all the way.
The CGI isn't perfect, there's scenes once in a while that aren't as fluid as the rest but it absolutely does the job overall. Great third act with epic action and memorable set pieces (I remembered them after all those years). Very cheap how they conveniently added some gorillas and orangatangs in the third act, they just pop out of nowhere.
Review by whitsbrainVIP 6BlockedParent2022-01-15T16:51:41Z— updated 2023-11-05T14:38:37Z
Well, this is a rarity. Hollywood shuns originality these days. It settles for established brands. The goal is low-risk high-reward. That makes for smart business but generic moviemaking. I suppose odds are with the occasional oddity, and that's what "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is.
I just finished watching all of the original "Planet of the Apes" series of movies. They are generally considered hit and miss in quality with the original "Planet..." being considered a classic, and it is. But...and I know this is sacrilegious, "Rise..." is a better movie than all of the original series' movies.
It's so well paced and the story, while definitely science fiction, seems plausible. James Franco is really good in this role. I didn't think he could pull off a scientist, but he does it well. He also pairs up nicely with John Lithgow, who plays his sick father.
The CGI apes are at times a wonder, primarily when interacting with humans. When they are together in packs or communicating without human interaction, the effects seem a little cartoony. Then again, the final showdown between the San Francisco Police and the rampaging apes is pretty amazing and is super entertaining. I especially liked watching the powerful gorilla, I think his name is "Buck". He steals the action sequences.
The ending is very satisfying and the cut scene in the final credits incorporates an actual continuation of the story and brings some clarity to how the apes managed to take over the Earth. This vaguely dovetails "Rise..." into the 1968 "Planet of the Apes" film, of which this is a prequel to.
You don't need to see any of the other "Planet of the Apes" films to understand "Rise of the Planet of the Apes". It stands entirely on its own and really surpasses the original series in story and quality.