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2011, 08-08:
Review of film: “RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES”
In 1968, one of the more “talked-about” films was “PLANET OF THE APES” with Charlton Heston. It was so well-received, it led to a sequel “BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES” in 1970, & “CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES” in 1972...
... In 2011, “The Year of the SEQUEL”, 20th Century Fox has created ANOTHER in the “series”, in the form of this 105-minute PG-13 “PRE-quel” telling how it came to be that the Apes ended up in “control”...
... As the film starts out, we’re taken to the fancy San Francisco-area lab of a biotech company called “GEN-SYS”. A scientist named Will Rodman (JAMES FRANCO) is working testing out a serum on various chimpanzees...
... He’s helped by his ape-loving assistant, Robert Franklin (TYLER LABINE)...
... One chimp, Bright Eyes (played via motion-capture by Terry Notary), has responded especially WELL to the serum, being exceptionally BRIGHT & learning a huge amount of things...
... James excitedly tells his company’s boss, Steven Jacobs (played by DAVID OYEWOLO), that the “# 112” serum seems to be able to affect the brain in a way that can improve ALZHEIMER’S Disease.
... David is mainly concerned with the FINANCIAL benefit that’d accrue to the company if that was accurate, & agrees to bring the progress up to his Board, scheduling a demonstration to show them the advancement made with the serum...
... When James goes home, we find out “why” he’s so eager to find something that’d improve Alzheimer’s: he lives with his father, Charles (JOHN LITHGOW), a once-exceptional musician who now SUFFERS from the disease!...
... In time, a meeting is scheduled to “present” chimp Bright Eyes to the Board, to get final approval from them to EXPAND the testing program for the serum...
... But, when James works with Tyler to bring the chimp to the meeting, she seems to go “CRAZY” & violently DESTROYS a lot of the company property...
... David (who’s been made to look like a “fool” for promoting the meeting) angrily demands that the “112”-serum chimps in their lab be DESTROYED...
... James is very against David’s plan... At one point, he finds that Bright Eyes has had a BABY, & she was just PROTECTING it when they came to take her to the Meeting!...
... Feeling terrible about what had happened to the other chimps, James spirits the baby OUT of the lab & secretly raises it in his HOME, giving it the name “Caesar” (played via motion-capture by ANDY SERKIS, who did “Gollum” in the LORD OF THE RINGS” + “KING KONG” films)...
... The Gen-Sys company continued to run some TESTS trying to “improve” the “112” serum, & James steals some of those vials & tries it out on his dad JOHN... He’s thrilled when he sees an initial improvement in him...
... As the years go by, James continues working to TRAIN chimp “Caesar” (ANDY), being excited when he finds that he’d inherited some of his exceptional intelligence from his MOTHER...
... James also grows closer to, & starts living with his girlfriend, Caroline Aranha (FRIEDA PINTO), who’s very supportive of his efforts to help his father and Andy...
... Andy readily learns “SIGN” language to help him communicate with James & John...
... James eventually reports to David how the serum had WORKED on his father & ANDY... David’s initial “concern” about that starts disintegrating when he has visions of how much MONEY the company can make from a successful Alzheimer’s drug, & he allows James to start work on an IMPROVED # “113” serum...
... James brings HOME some of the new serum, which makes his father even BETTER than he’d been... But, at one point, problems start developing with John, & he & “escapee” ANDY have some problems with the NEIGHBORS which James tries to “smooth over”..
... Because “Caesar” (Andy) had grown so much & caused problems, James grudgingly turns him over to a private “PRIMATE CENTER” run by John Landon (BRIAN COX)...
... Altho James feels bad about leaving Andy, he convinces himself it should turn out “OK” because Andy will be able to “interact” with OTHER apes there & have a special area to run & “play” in...
... What James doesn’t know is, Brian’s son, Dodge (TOM FELTON, “Draco” in the “HARRY POTTER” films), is a sadistic assistant to Brian & enjoys HURTING the animals under his control...
... Tom’s underling, Rodney (JAMIE HARRIS), tries to “restrain” Tom’s actions at times, but has no real power & is very subservient to him...
... Andy is treated horribly by not only Tom, but also by the “leader” of the other chimps named Koba (played via motion-capture by CHRIS GORDON), who dislikes that Andy is “DIFFERENT” than the other apes...
... The only ape who’s friendly to Andy is an orangutan named “MAURICE” (played via motion-capture by KARIN KONOVAL), who’d also learned sign language from having been in a circus (so, “he” can COMMUNICATE with Andy)...
... Andy grows to REBEL against his treatment by Tom & “Koba”, & devises plans to take CONTROL of the Primate Center (with hoped-for help by “Maurice” & a gorilla named “Buck”, played via motion-capture by RICHARD RIDINGS)...
... Will Andy SUCCEED in gaining control over the Center & be able to ESCAPE, as is his great dream?...
... Will PROBLEMS arise with the new genetically-engineered “113” serum, &, if so, “WHO” will that affect?...
... What will “happen” concerning James’ dad JOHN & his girlfriend Frieda?...
... How FAR will the Apes be able to really “RISE” in this prequel?!...
... Before seeing this film, I expected it would be “competent”, but feared it would go off on lots of far-fetched & specious “TANGENTS”...
... To my surprise, it did NOT do that: it followed an unusual “STEP-BY-STEP” logic for the most part, with a bunch of “SENSIBLE” choices & BELIEVABLE actions...
... A great part of that can be attributed to those playing the various APES, especially ANDY SERKIS, with the exceptional work done on expressing “human”-like “EMOTIONS” to what was developing with and around him...
... The main human characters also do fine jobs. While some may complain about the CGI & other SPECIAL EFFECTS, I found them to be EXCELLENT overall in how they “ADVANCED” the story in a basically “smooth” way...
... There was a hefty number of impressive ACTION segments, which I enjoyed...
... Because of the successful start to this “reboot”, I expect there may be a goodly amount of SEQUEL “pre-quels” in this, & I for one would look FORWARD to them...
... Thus, I rate this at 8.75 of 10 stars...
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