Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Discussion/Review

[Procutus]

It was just better written and better developed and is a very good basis to build upon for further movies.

Well, the original's screenplay was written by Rod Serling. Can't do much better than that. It was wickedly clever in its day. Yes it was reflective of its time (the political unrest of the late 1960s) but so is this new one.

The original remains, IMO, one of the five best science-fiction films of all time. The fact that it was down on such a shoe-string budget, and yet worked, is testimony to the creative efforts of all involved. Even without Serling's twist ending, it was still a phenomenal movie.

 

[RAMA]

I'm honestly not looking forward to this one too much. The only Planet of the Apes movie that I've seen is the remake with Mark Wahlberg, so I don't have a lot of interest in the franchise as a whole.

You haven't seen the 1968 original yet? It's still a terrific movie. YMMV when it comes to the sequels, but see the original.

Maybe some day, but I'm not in a rush. The whole concept doesn't interest me all that much, and since I already know the big twist at the end, I see no real reason to watch it.

Because the srcipt was written by Rod Serling and has some interesting commentary on modern man? Seems an awful lot to give up just because you know the twist ending. You knew how Harry Potter ended and you went to see it anyway. The 1968 PotA movie is way better than any Harry Potter movie.

RAMA

 

[Kelso]

Yeah, the original is easily one of the best science fiction films ever made.

 

[Admiral2]

Where the hell is this bullshit coming from? I'm a right winger and I just saw this movie a second time. I think it's great.

Exactly. I'm a "right-winger" as well and I loved this film. What's more, every conservative site I've visited this week has had nothing but good things to say about this film as well.

I wonder if there would be more negative on fundamental religious sites, rather than simply conservative. I don't know. I haven't checked. But I can see that being more of a problem with those groups. Just wondering.

That still would make no sense to me. If you get right down to it this is about the most creationist movie I've ever seen. "Genesis" is even in the drug company's name!

 

[stj]

It's not half so ridiculous as FTL travel, so...

Actually, no. Something like forty genes have been implicated in the origins of schizophrenia which shows how many genes are involved in the growth and regulation of the brain. Plus, everything we know about how genes are expressed in the growth of the organism shows that the placement of the genes in the chromosome is absolutely vital to determining which genes are expressed. This means that such a genetic input would have to include some means of rearranging that as well, which means rewriting the so-called junk DNA which seems to act as punctuation. And here of course is the killer: Chimpanzees have 48 chromosomes, while humans have 46. Scientists don't like to talk about it because they don't understand the effects very well, but Down's syndrome and sex chromosome disorders show how important chromosome number is.

The premise is literally impossible. As it happens I can still swallow it, for the sake of the story. I was pointing it out in contrast to the immunity of chimpanzee skin to shards of glass or falls from a height.

By contrast, "FTL"*/time travel (physically they are the same thing) are theoretically possible. In the physics literature, they usually are discreetly called "closed timelike curves." At the moment any scientist who announces time travel (and "FTL") is impossible is talking from his or her gut. They may be right in the end (actually I suspect better theory will prove the naysayers right.) But they aren't talking from current scientific knowledge.

*FTL is in quotes because some people can't figure out that most fictional FTL drives do not actually accelerate the spaceship beyond the speed of light, which is indeed flatly impossible for material objects. Not even Doc Smith of Lensman notoriety had material objects accelerated beyond the speed of light after news of Einstein penetrated. (His trick in the Lensman series was simple enough in one sense: The FTL drive turned the spaceship into something that didn't have inertia, i.e., wasn't ordinary matter! That's like a tranporter, I'll never ride it! [And isn't it nice to have the answers to difficult problems like that worked out already?])

 

[Gojira]

Yeah, the original is easily one of the best science fiction films ever made.

I concur! That is one of the reasons I never cared for the rest of the franchise because none of them could live up to the original classic.

I am still looking forward to seeing this new movie though.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

I saw it last night... and it was really good!

The best "tentpole" movie this year (though First Class was also good, this was better). It felt more like an actual sci-fi movie than an action movie. Just a great story.

Caesar's storyline was incredibly well done and well executed. I wish we had just cut out the human storylines and focused entirely on him.

This is by far better than ANY of the 'Apes' sequels/remakes. Second only to the original classic.

Btw did anyone catch the reference to the manned flight to Mars taking off? Is Chuck Heston's character supposed to be in that ship I wonder? I like the idea that this is a true prequel to the original PotA without Cornelius/Zira's time traveling meddling.

 

[Procutus]

Btw did anyone catch the reference to the manned flight to Mars taking off? Is Chuck Heston's character supposed to be in that ship I wonder? I like the idea that this is a true prequel to the original PotA without Cornelius/Zira's time traveling meddling.

Stone_Cold, catch some of my earlier posts on this subject; IMO, this is NOT the same Icarus space-flight from the original, which was clearly stated in PotA (1968) to be an interstellar flight. The Mars Icarus is a cool nod to the original, and may in fact even have a commander named George Taylor, but the world they may eventually return to is not the same world depicted in the original. My gut tells me that we're not going to witness a nuclear holocaust in this new series.

 

[Agenda]

I missed the whole space flight thing until I read about it afterwards. Feel kinda dumb about that.

 

[Dark Gilligan]

My gut tells me that we're not going to witness a nuclear holocaust in this new series.

I disagree. As humanity starts dying off worldwide because of the 113-virus, who's to say a crazed nation or militia driven mad by the sickness launches it's nukes in desperation? With so much of the world's defense systems being automated, retalitaion strikes would soon follow with or without a human hand to guide them. Linking back to the original PotA, something's got to turn New York into a desert.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

"A." I'd place it in a tie with 'X-Men: First Class' as my favorite genre film of the summer. Fantastic movie.

They really need to find a way to honor Andy Serkis with an Oscar for his motion capture performances, because he emotes and builds more sympathy for the creatures he plays than most regular actors do. Caesar is a fully-realized, lovable, and sympathetic character throughout the film and quite frankly blows his co-stars (with perhaps the exception of Lithgow) out of the water.

I would say Franco did a good impression of a mad scientist who doesn't care about the consequences of his actions, but that emotionless veneer is a pretty standard performance for him.

There are some major plot holes, logical flaws, and cheesy homages to the original (the Icarus stuff was cool though) but I think it's more than balanced out by the plight of the apes and the final escape from Frisco across the bridge to Muir Woods. There are some stunning visuals throughout the film and the CGI was amazing. The CGI really supplemented the story perfectly instead of dominating it.

It was good to see Malfoy and that traitor Captain Kelly get the ends they deserved.

I can't wait to see it again.

 

[Agenda]

My gut tells me that we're not going to witness a nuclear holocaust in this new series.

I disagree. As humanity starts dying off worldwide because of the 113-virus, who's to say a crazed nation or militia driven mad by the sickness launches it's nukes in desperation? With so much of the world's defense systems being automated, retalitaion strikes would soon follow with or without a human hand to guide them. Linking back to the original PotA, something's got to turn New York into a desert.

Well, it's a revamp, not a prequel, so anything can happen. However, it wouldn't surprise me if we see a war between the apes and the human survivors of the plague. Who knows if nukes become involved.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Linking back to the original PotA, something's got to turn New York into a desert.

No it doesn't; there's no indication that this movie does "link back" to the original.

 

[Procutus]

Linking back to the original PotA, something's got to turn New York into a desert.

No it doesn't; there's no indication that this movie does "link back" to the original.

That's my feeling as well, but I'm not going to say that a nuclear war can't happen in this scenario. All I'm saying is that it's not a given this time around.

 

[SG-17]

Linking back to the original PotA, something's got to turn New York into a desert.

No it doesn't; there's no indication that this movie does "link back" to the original.

It doesn't. This is a complete reboot of the franchise. We already had the prequels to the original film.

 

[Procutus]

It doesn't. This is a complete reboot of the franchise. We already had the prequels to the original film.

And as proof of that, I point once again to the Icarus being lost on a mission to Mars, not an FTL flight to another star system.

 

[Kelso]

We freaking LOVED it! Best movie of the summer by far!

Spoiler: spoiler

And thank you to everyone for not spoiling one pivotal scene that I was not expecting to happen! I loved it and I don't even want to mention it in spoiler tags!

 

[Vendikarr]

My gut tells me that we're not going to witness a nuclear holocaust in this new series.

I disagree. As humanity starts dying off worldwide because of the 113-virus, who's to say a crazed nation or militia driven mad by the sickness launches it's nukes in desperation? With so much of the world's defense systems being automated, retalitaion strikes would soon follow with or without a human hand to guide them. Linking back to the original PotA, something's got to turn New York into a desert.

I agree. Some nation or nations may interpret the 113 virus as an attack, and may launch against the nation or nations they perceive to be the enemy.

But I don't see many rational people left after the virus.

I think the majority of the world's population will die off, a small percentage may actually be immune. That sort of thing always seems to happen in films. The rest of the population would be those who contract the disease and seem to fight it off.

But what if 113 has the opposite effect on humans than it did on apes. What if there is a loss of intelligence? That could explain the animalistic humans we see in the 1968 film.

 

[Procutus]

We freaking LOVED it! Best movie of the summer by far!

Spoiler: spoiler

And thank you to everyone for not spoiling one pivotal scene that I was not expecting to happen! I loved it and I don't even want to mention it in spoiler tags!

I think I know which scene you mean; if we're on the same page, I wasn't expecting it when it happened.

 

[Trekker4747]

I've been on sort-of a self imposed hiatus from the board the last couple of weeks, but just wanted to delurk for a moment to express my thoughts on this movie.

It's been a long time since I've seen the original Planet of the Apes, the sequels as I recall are best forgotten but it's been even longer since I've seen any of those, but I do have it order from Amazon on Blu-Ray and it's due here Wednesday. (Best Buy sucks, by the way. They had the "collectors pack" of all of the original POTA movies on DVD, but no copy of the original on BD.)

Anyway, I saw "Rise" last night with some buddies and I really enjoyed it. I think some elements were too glossed over or not really thought through, even though something like 12 years pass over the course of the movie it seems like pretty much everyone stays the same. Someone as ambitious and high-ranking as the dude who was James Franco's boss wouldn't have stayed in the same position for so long, Franco's "evidence" on what was happening with Caesar would've given him good direction on what to do with the drug back at the lab, etc. The timeline issue seems mostly glossed over.

I think the "love story" between Franco and the veterinarian lady was pointless and could've been left out. Seeing a "love story" develop between Caesar and one of the animals at the "zoo" would've been better.

Also find it hard to believe Franco hid Caesar from both the ver, his neighbors and the authorities for so long. With the drug working so remarkably well on his father you'd think that alone would've caused something to happen between "then" and when the effects begin to erode away several years later.

The CGI with Caesar and the other animals was very, very, well done. And I really hate PETA and their "praise" for the movie going this route. I don't disagree with them doing it this way, or the stated reasons why they did it (it'd was both easier to get the effect they wanted and to prevent an "irony" in the film's "message.") I like the couple of references to the original movie we got, including the "Get your paws off of me..." line.

I liked the "prison atmosphere" the zoo/chimphouse was given, the zookeeper guy being the surly CO, Rip Torn being the warden who lets go on either through incompetence or ignorance, the system of relations between the "inmates" especially in the "yard."

Loved the climatic battle between ape and man over the climax. Only thing is I wish the coda with the neighbor guy getting sick in the airport was with the movie proper and then cut to the credits with the map of the disease spreading.

Instead the movie "ends", the credits run for a couple of minutes and the movie restarts right when the lights in the theater is up, the "into the movie" sense is broken and people are getting out of their seats and heading out the door.

As I said I don't much recall the original movie but I think I can see how this movie could work as a sort-of prequel to it, at least in part. I don't recall much detail in the original movie of it being to explicitly stated they were on a FTL mission to an etra-solar location. And if it did, clearly this movie wants us to think that's what the shuttle launch/loss was and that this is what happened in this series of movies.

Anyway, hope this movie does well as I'd be interested to see more in this series and where it goes when it comes to the downfall and enslavement of man. I suspect some members of the population will be naturally immune to the virus or, maybe, Caesar will come up with a way to stop/reverse it, save what little is left of humanity, and then enslave them.

But very well done movie with great effects and something I enjoyed. My own real, serious, hard complaints would be the movie not seeming to acknowledge its own passage of time (I mean over a decade passes in this movie, and no one really changes over the course of that time!) and the "romance" between Franco and Vet chick wasn't needed.

Oh, and I guess Franco isn't exactly the greatest of actors, IMHO. It's bad when watching this movie I confused him with the dude who plays Edward Cullen in the Twilight movies.