The planet of the apes films were shown to me by my dad and I love them, they are genuinely fun to watch and with the 2001 release which didn't live up to many peoples expectations it only seemed right that it got a reboot or more specifically a prequel reboot (prequboot) Rise of the Planet of the apes gave us the famous story from the start and although things changed the conventions were a lot more grounded and real plus it got rid of this idea of time travel introduced in 2001... Apes and time travel just don't go.
The general gist of the film follows a scientist portrayed by the wonderful James Franco who is working on a cure for Alzheimer's. The drug that is developed enhances a chimpanzee's behaviour making it smarter when "bright eyes" gives birth the ability is passed on to "Caesar" who lives with Will. As Caesar grows he becomes more intelligent and begins to question his identity and his purpose in life believing he is just a pet, things get worse when he is forced into an enclosure whilst Wills employers work on a new drug (ALZ-113) which turns out to be deadly to humans. In captivity Caesar exposes his companions to the drug increasing their intelligence and they plan their escape to be free.
If your familiar with the original films then the first question is how do the apes take over, in the classic Charlton Heston film most of humanity is gone and in this film they slowly begin to develop a new cause for their demise which will become clear in the sequel. Its a great introduction to a fantastically designed story.
The cast in the film is fairly small but a lot of people forget about the actors who portrayed the apes; never forget them! James Franco is brilliant in it and because he has the most interaction with the apes I would have thought it would have been difficult to visualise an ape, for actors I think the hardest thing is to imagine something that isn't there and even though they used actors such as Andy Serkis they had to pretend they were apes, that's got to be a pain in the ass. The cast consisted of some really big names like John Lithgow who plays Franco's dad who is suffering from Alzheimer's and he was fantastic, for me I think he really lays down the foundation of the film and he does offer a very sympathetic role and its great to see two sides to his character. We get a severely broken man who has lost the ability to do the simplest of tasks but when the drug is introduced its like his character has aged backwards to his normal self and its a very interesting development and it plays a big part in Caesar's transformation.
Honestly the role that really stood out was from Tom Felton although it was difficult to look at him without think "what's Draco doing there... he should be studying" and I swear to god when I went, a confused child just said "Draco?" but don't worry he is still playing the bad guy essentially. What I liked about his role is that it was one of his first films away from the Harry Potter franchise and his character despite not being in it long actually played a big part in the story and Tom did a really good job of being a asshole to the apes. What was also very good was the fact they intertwined famous quotes from the original with Tom's character like "take your filthy paws off me you damn dirty ape" it was really refreshing to hear such an iconic line with a modern twist to it. Overall the entire cast is great but what is a shame is that none of them are returning for the sequel which is a shame really because I really enjoyed the casts interaction with the scenario in the film and they handled it really well however... Gary Oldman's in the next one so its fine
I think we all know what the highlight of the film was! it is of course the stunning effects used to create the apes as well as the actors portraying them, hats go off to Andy Serkis who is well known for using motion capture for roles like Gollum and King Kong. The effects used for the apes were amazing, they looked absolutely fantastic but it was their realistic movement and expressions which made them even more believable. These actors had to pretend to be apes which isn't easy and these guys nailed it to perfection, they way they walked, their dominating gestures and their facial expressions were just full of immense detail. Because I'm an absolute nerd for CGI the one thing I would have loved to have seen (which is in the sequel) is rain or high winds reacting with the apes fur I think that would have looked amazing and it would have been challenging but worth it! My favourite ape was actually Caesar and Rocket. There was something about Rockets behaviour which made him more believable compared to the others and I found that really interesting plus his overall design was just stunning.
Caesar is just awesome! the way his character changes from this sweet innocent pet into a revolutionist is fantastic to watch, one particular scene that I will never forget is when he speaks for the first time... sure its only one word but I saw it twice in the cinema and you could hear a pin drop each time.
Overall I give this a 9/10 because it was a really interesting story and although there wasn't a mass of action or things like that it was just great to watch mainly because of the effects. The entire cast was awesome and generally it was an awesome film to watch.
Bring on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes!!
well thanks for reading today!
I will be back soon
Until next time :)
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