Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Discussion/Review
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Andy was fuckin' brilliant. I totally bought into his performance, feeling his pain during his lock-up and his ascension into the leader he was clearly meant to be. The scene of him drawing the window on his cell wall really got to me on an emotional level.
I loved all of the nods and homages to the original film, but I'm not convinced that while this film lovingly acknowledged the source material, clearly the events of that 1968 movie are not going to be the end result of this storyline. The mission of the Icarus more or less proves that, I think.
All in all, I really liked it. Of the four movies we've seen this year, this was the best by far.
I give it five bananas out of five.
Wow, I was not expecting to love this movie as much as I did.
The trailers really paint the wrong picture. They make this look like a movie about humans. It's not. This is Caesar's movie through and through. It's unbelievable how he is able to be a fully realized character through so many scenes without speaking. You feel his anguish, and his sorrow. You feel catharsis when he finally steps up and becomes the leader of the apes. There is not enough praise in the world to be heaped upon Andy Serkis. He's truly one of the greatest actors around today, and manages to be so without even showing his face.
If I can criticize one thing, it might be that the human characters are cyphers. Brian Cox and Tom Felton's characters are evil for the sake of being evil. In truth, Felton's character makes Draco seem like a pretty nice guy. This does however tie into one thing I do like about the movie. It's not a movie about how evil science is, as movies like this can often be. The downfall of humanity doesn't come about from messing with forces we shouldn't. It comes from the fact that people suck. The ones responsible for the rise of the apes are not the scientists, but the assholes. By the end, you're rooting for the apes to win.
Which brings me to the climax. Holy cow, does this deliver. The big showdown at the end is frantic, exciting, with more than one "holy shit!" moment. I have now seen a chimp riding a horse, and a gorilla wrestling with a helicopter. Yeah....that was awesome.
The trailers really paint the wrong picture. They make this look like a movie about humans. It's not. This is Caesar's movie through and through. It's unbelievable how he is able to be a fully realized character through so many scenes without speaking. You feel his anguish, and his sorrow. You feel catharsis when he finally steps up and becomes the leader of the apes. There is not enough praise in the world to be heaped upon Andy Serkis. He's truly one of the greatest actors around today, and manages to be so without even showing his face.
If I can criticize one thing, it might be that the human characters are cyphers. Brian Cox and Tom Felton's characters are evil for the sake of being evil. In truth, Felton's character makes Draco seem like a pretty nice guy. This does however tie into one thing I do like about the movie. It's not a movie about how evil science is, as movies like this can often be. The downfall of humanity doesn't come about from messing with forces we shouldn't. It comes from the fact that people suck. The ones responsible for the rise of the apes are not the scientists, but the assholes. By the end, you're rooting for the apes to win.
Which brings me to the climax. Holy cow, does this deliver. The big showdown at the end is frantic, exciting, with more than one "holy shit!" moment. I have now seen a chimp riding a horse, and a gorilla wrestling with a helicopter. Yeah....that was awesome.
The trailers make the movie look idiotic. A bunch of chimps swarming around, the effect is just comical.
If it's a decent movie, I'll at least Netflix it.
I saw this movie this afternoon, and I liked it a lot. In fact, I think it was one of the best movies I've seen all summer.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a good example of how special effects should serve the story, instead of vice versa. They did a phenomenal job on the apes, some of whom became more rounded and interesting characters than the humans. Andy Serkis, in particular, was terrific as Caesar.
I only gave it an A-, because, in a weird way, it reminded me a bit too much of a standard superhero origin story. But it's a very solid A-. Now, bring on the sequel!
Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a good example of how special effects should serve the story, instead of vice versa. They did a phenomenal job on the apes, some of whom became more rounded and interesting characters than the humans. Andy Serkis, in particular, was terrific as Caesar.
I only gave it an A-, because, in a weird way, it reminded me a bit too much of a standard superhero origin story. But it's a very solid A-. Now, bring on the sequel!
A+
Just got back from it and I thought it was great. Easily one of the best films I've seen this year. And to think, it only took 43 years to do another good Planet of the Apes movie.
Once it goes "all ape" this film really takes off. The apes were amazingly brought to life and it's long overdue that Andy Serkis receive some kind of Oscar for his contributions to film. He made Caesar a fully-realized, sympathetic, complex character. The rest of the Apes were brought to life incredibly well and I was impressed how several of them really emerged as characters.
The CGI work is first-rate and one of the best uses for CGI in a long time. The action scenes were freakin amazing and creative. It really does leave you wanting more. I also loved the little homages to the original film even the the "damn dirty ape" line was embarrassingly bad. Very nice to see a clip of Charlton Heston from The Ten Commandments in there as well.
The Apes definitely outshine their human counterparts. James Franco was bland at times but I bought his relationship with Caesar. A lot more than his relationship with Caroline. Freida Pinto is stuck in an utterly useless role as Franco's love interest. It's funny, I read one review that said John Lithgow was "embarrassingly bad" in the film but honestly, he gave the best performance in the movie outside of Serkis. It doesn't matter what franchise he's in, Tom Felton always plays a prick. I agree that his character was evil for the sake of being evil but he does his job. I was surprised that Brian Cox's character wasn't more villanious as he tends to play those types in films. Also recognized a familiar face. Ty Olsson, who played Captain Kelly on Battlestar Galactica, was the cop in the helicopter at the end.
Like I said, the end definitely has you wanting more. But this film is great and returns the Planet of the Apes franchise to its former glory.
Just got back from it and I thought it was great. Easily one of the best films I've seen this year. And to think, it only took 43 years to do another good Planet of the Apes movie.
Once it goes "all ape" this film really takes off. The apes were amazingly brought to life and it's long overdue that Andy Serkis receive some kind of Oscar for his contributions to film. He made Caesar a fully-realized, sympathetic, complex character. The rest of the Apes were brought to life incredibly well and I was impressed how several of them really emerged as characters.
The CGI work is first-rate and one of the best uses for CGI in a long time. The action scenes were freakin amazing and creative. It really does leave you wanting more. I also loved the little homages to the original film even the the "damn dirty ape" line was embarrassingly bad. Very nice to see a clip of Charlton Heston from The Ten Commandments in there as well.
The Apes definitely outshine their human counterparts. James Franco was bland at times but I bought his relationship with Caesar. A lot more than his relationship with Caroline. Freida Pinto is stuck in an utterly useless role as Franco's love interest. It's funny, I read one review that said John Lithgow was "embarrassingly bad" in the film but honestly, he gave the best performance in the movie outside of Serkis. It doesn't matter what franchise he's in, Tom Felton always plays a prick.
I agree that his character was evil for the sake of being evil but he does his job. I was surprised that Brian Cox's character wasn't more villanious as he tends to play those types in films. Also recognized a familiar face. Ty Olsson, who played Captain Kelly on Battlestar Galactica, was the cop in the helicopter at the end.Like I said, the end definitely has you wanting more. But this film is great and returns the Planet of the Apes franchise to its former glory.
That's because Cornelius and Zira traveled back in time and changed everything after Red Matter destroyed the world. Er, I mean The Bomb.
[snip]
That's what I was thinking; that they might be depicting the original timeline before Cornelius and Zira changed things.
So you don't believe the original POTA films were a closed time loop?
The movie's version of Caesar has a lot of Magneto-ish elements.
Wait, Caesar can manipulate metal in this one? That's retarded. He had ice-powers in the comic.
When Tom Felton was in Australia a few months ago, he mentioned something about enjoying playing the bad guy.
This film was just superb. I especially loved the moments where you can see the human-like intelligence dawning in Caesar's eyes. It was epic.
But you know, I've been looking around the Internet, and I've discovered that right-wingers really fucking hate this movie. No really. Many are actually offended by it. Holy shit.
But you know, I've been looking around the Internet, and I've discovered that right-wingers really fucking hate this movie. No really. Many are actually offended by it. Holy shit.
No, Cornelius and Zira changed everything. Their evolved baby created a different planet of the apes that happened much earlier than in the original timeline.That's because Cornelius and Zira traveled back in time and changed everything after Red Matter destroyed the world. Er, I mean The Bomb.
[snip]
That's what I was thinking; that they might be depicting the original timeline before Cornelius and Zira changed things.
So you don't believe the original POTA films were a closed time loop?
I nearly forgot about that - that was indeed, a nice nod. Prior to seeing it last night, I had entertained the notion that perhaps they might include a still photo of Heston as Taylor during the news broadcast about the Icarus launch, but as this Icarus went on a different mission entirely, this seems to confirm that this world is lining up to a somewhat different future than the one Taylor landed in. This movie sets the tone and borrows heavily from the original idea, but it is a reboot adhering to the realities of today.
Still, we may find that the name of the new Icarus' commander is indeed Taylor in a future film. Clearly, the newspaper headline is an indication of where the filmmakers may want to go with this.
I'll reiterate what I said earlier; I hope this film does well enough to warrant several sequels. As Pipes pointed out, this new movie restores the franchise to its former glory.
Why do they hate it?