Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Medical researcher James Franco is working on a hopeful cure for Alzheimer’s, using an experimental drug on apes, who apparently get a boost in intelligence from the drug. Unfortunately, one of the apes escapes its cage and goes wild, pretty much putting the kybosh on further funding. All of the apes are to be put down, but Franco manages to sneak out the baby of the super-intelligent ape who caused the ruckus, and raises it himself, naming him Caesar (Andy Serkis through CGI and motion capture). He also performs unsanctioned experiments with the drug on his own Alzheimer’s-afflicted father (John Lithgow), who initially shows a remarkable recovery. Unfortunately, over time Caesar has grown too big and too wild, and an unfortunate incident with one of the neighbours sees him taken away by animal control and locked up by gruff Brian Cox. Tom Felton plays a cage cleaner there who likes to pick on the apes, especially Caesar. But Caesar is no ordinary ape (nor was his namesake in “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes”), he’s thinking. Plotting. Planning. He’s a born leader. Meanwhile, the same drug that boosts the apes intelligence, has a massively negative side effect for humans. Freida Pinto plays a pretty primatologist whom Franco becomes romantically involved with, and David Oyelowo is Franco’s ruthless boss.

 

Marking a franchise reboot was this 2011 Rupert Wyatt (the underrated remake of “The Gambler”) film, with a screenplay by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (who then teamed up for the subsequent “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and “Jurassic World”). I enjoyed it well enough first-time around, but with some reservations in its use of Alzheimer’s as a plot point in a film about the downfall of man, as well as not being entirely enamoured with the CGI/motion capture work. Watching it again in 2020, I have to say both of those issues were far less problematic for me this time around.

 

If there’s a flaw here, it’s that I don’t think the screenwriters have quite found the right idea behind what causes this catastrophic situation. It’s not that the idea of the Alzheimer’s research angle is on the nose as such, I was probably taking things a little too personally at the time due to the disease impacting my family. However, I think the film would’ve been far better had David Oyelowo’s ruthless character been the one to have started this whole mess. Nope, it’s James Franco’s likeable, well-meaning protagonist who actually starts it all, and although he eventually figures it out and tries to stop it, it’s too late. It’s his fault, and it’s such a horrific thing that he has caused that it really does impact one’s feelings towards his character. I’m just not sure I understand what the message is there. Playing God leads to trouble? Sure, but why does it have to be the Franco character?

 

Although I don’t quite like his character’s arc, wannabe Renaissance man James Franco is quite appealing in the lead and easy to take to. Freida Pinto was quite ubiquitous for a hot minute, wasn’t she? Didn’t quite work out though, and whilst I can see why (she’s rather bland), she nonetheless brings a bit of sweetness to the film. John Lithgow is affecting in quite a difficult role, he could’ve been over-the-top but Lithgow really does modulate his performance wonderfully well with limited screen time. Ominously dressed like an NRA guy, Brian Cox is well-cast if underused as the owner of the animal shelter. Tom Felton is suitably hateful as the piece of shit who cleans the cages there.

 

The ape stuff is a lot more interesting than the human stuff to be honest. The CGI/mo-cap work isn’t as strong as it would be in the two subsequent films, but it’s nonetheless a lot better than I’d previously given it credit for. The eyes are obviously a problem, and we get too many shots of them early on in particular. The eyes aren’t quite as photorealistic as they’d get in subsequent years, but it’s probably the best CGI/mo-cap work that 2011 money could buy. Baby Caesar in particular sure is the cutest thing ever. And when not in close-up, the CGI and mo-cap performance by Andy Serkis are absolutely terrific, and occasionally had me doing a double-take. Most of the time, Caesar looks like he’s occupying the same physical space as the humans, and seems real enough to me. 95% of the time I was fully buying it. The scenes towards the end of the film charting Caesar’s rebellion and the ape uprising are terrific. The character of Koba is interestingly damaged, and Chris Gordon does a terrific mo-cap job, doing a lot with very little. Also worth a mention is how good-looking the film is, with very attractive cinematography by the late Andrew Lesnie (The “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “The Water Diviner”) a standout in the film.

 

I’m not quite on board with the idea of the downfall of man being the result of good intentions by a good person. He’s not a very effective ‘Science Gone Mad’ character, and so it seems a bit unnecessary. However, if you can get past that this is a quite original reboot idea, instead of just rehashing what happened in the 1968 or 2001 “Planet of the Apes” films. There’s some really terrific stuff in this, particularly with the apes, and the FX are more often than not terrific.

 

Rating: B-