Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Discussion/Review
- Thread starter PlainSimpleJoel
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One season for the live-action series. It's pretty good, though (Roddy McDowall is in it). It's actually the first TV series I ever got on DVD.
Yes, it's a straightforward adventure series. But it's got a good cast, good stories and it's fun. Also, I was 13 when it premiered (same night as Night Stalker).
we ain't out the woods yet
I loved it when I was younger, but when I watched it as an adult I got tired of the repetitive plots. Over half the episodes involved one of the three friends being captured and the other two having to rescue him.
I know that is what passed for TV back then, and I love Roddy McDowell, but I think I need a few years between viewings. I once worked up a re-imagining of the series with modern sensibilities.
I was watching the a little of the cartoon on youtube. Two things stand out...first, the ape society portrayed in it is technologically advanced like in the novel. Also, the voice of the ape general is the same guy who did Fred Flintstone from the 70s on. Kind of distracting.
btw, in regards to some referring to Caesar as 'The Lawgiver,' in the original 5 movies, Caesar and The Lawgiver aren't the same person.
As in Battle the Lawgiver is the guy at the beginning and end of the movie reading the story to the ape and human kids, many years after the main events of the film.
Although that concept, like a lot of things in the film, doesn't really make sense.
As in Battle the Lawgiver is the guy at the beginning and end of the movie reading the story to the ape and human kids, many years after the main events of the film.
Although that concept, like a lot of things in the film, doesn't really make sense.
^ We covered that earlier. 
Just back from this.
Loved it.
I've always been a little leery and weary of the notion of a Planet of the Apes 'franchise', because the first film's powerful ending was never the kind of premise that made me think 'well, what happens next?'
And personally the four sequels that followed weren't anything I thought highly of, and Tim Burton's remake is a matter best passed in silence.
It doesn't help I've been down the road of 'Andy Serkis as CGI ape' before, and Jackson's King Kong wasn't anything I was wild about... so I had a few reservations going into the cinema.
This, though. It takes the basic premise of Conquest, the ape revolution, and then executes it really, really well. Caesar's devolpment, the development of the drug, Caesar's disillusionment and then his revolt - it is, basically, Spartacus with apes, with strains of robot insurrections (humans make things smart, still treat them poorly, tables are turned).
I guess the one interesting and ambiguous thing the film threw at me - and I don't mean in the sense of plot holes or contrivances, though it's not immune to this - is Maurice. When going into the film as a bit of a fan of the original flick I was geekily hoping to see some orangutans - which had been absent from the trailers I'd seen.
Well I got my damn orangutan. Hooray! The interesting thing about Maurice is he's portrayed as fairly intelligent even though he never seems to have been exposed to the drug. Is the film suggesting apes are already slightly more intelligent then they are given credit for, or that they are already evolving towards greater intelligence in ways the drug merely accelerated?
Or possibly I'm just reading too much into this for my own amusement. The bottom line is I had a helluva time, and that's all I really wanted here.
That the guy was disavowing the film before it even aired makes more sense now that I've seen it. The film is great, but Franco isn't, and deciding pre-emptively that it's not his fault that his acting isn't anything much is not a very compelling argument.
Not that this really matters. This is Andy Serkis' film, and he bloody owned it.
Loved it.
I've always been a little leery and weary of the notion of a Planet of the Apes 'franchise', because the first film's powerful ending was never the kind of premise that made me think 'well, what happens next?'
And personally the four sequels that followed weren't anything I thought highly of, and Tim Burton's remake is a matter best passed in silence.
It doesn't help I've been down the road of 'Andy Serkis as CGI ape' before, and Jackson's King Kong wasn't anything I was wild about... so I had a few reservations going into the cinema.
This, though. It takes the basic premise of Conquest, the ape revolution, and then executes it really, really well. Caesar's devolpment, the development of the drug, Caesar's disillusionment and then his revolt - it is, basically, Spartacus with apes, with strains of robot insurrections (humans make things smart, still treat them poorly, tables are turned).
I guess the one interesting and ambiguous thing the film threw at me - and I don't mean in the sense of plot holes or contrivances, though it's not immune to this - is Maurice. When going into the film as a bit of a fan of the original flick I was geekily hoping to see some orangutans - which had been absent from the trailers I'd seen.
Well I got my damn orangutan. Hooray! The interesting thing about Maurice is he's portrayed as fairly intelligent even though he never seems to have been exposed to the drug. Is the film suggesting apes are already slightly more intelligent then they are given credit for, or that they are already evolving towards greater intelligence in ways the drug merely accelerated?
Or possibly I'm just reading too much into this for my own amusement. The bottom line is I had a helluva time, and that's all I really wanted here.
That the guy was disavowing the film before it even aired makes more sense now that I've seen it. The film is great, but Franco isn't, and deciding pre-emptively that it's not his fault that his acting isn't anything much is not a very compelling argument.
Not that this really matters. This is Andy Serkis' film, and he bloody owned it.
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Serkis was good in King Kong...it was Peter Jackson who fucked up that movie.
Maurice kicked ass!
True. But I think Serkis was also better in this film. King Kong is a great, iconic ape, to be sure, but he's not got anything close to the kind of character arc Caesar gets in this movie, and there's none of the toying ambiguity between ape and man - Caesar's convincing as not a human with ape features (which is what the apes of the previous movies have essentially been) but an unusually smart ape.
Maurice kicked ass!
Oh he did. The apes across the board were good in this movie - Bright Eyes, Buck, Koba.
Samurai8472 said:
Yep. Perhaps Rise is a prequel to the 2001 version?
I definitely subscribe to the theory propounded in that video, BTW. The 2001 ending: ALTERNATE EARTH. (Repeat 1,000 times, as that video does.)
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True. But I think Serkis was also better in this film. King Kong is a great, iconic ape, to be sure, but he's not got anything close to the kind of character arc Caesar gets in this movie, and there's none of the toying ambiguity between ape and man - Caesar's convincing as not a human with ape features (which is what the apes of the previous movies have essentially been) but an unusually smart ape.
Maurice kicked ass!
Oh he did. The apes across the board were good in this movie - Bright Eyes, Buck, Koba.
Yeah, every ape was good in this film.
Agreed about Serkis, his work here is much better than with King Kong.
I don't think this is a prequel to the 2001 Apes movie. That film is better forgotten. When compared to the original and Rise, it's a mindless, pointless action film.
True. But I think Serkis was also better in this film. King Kong is a great, iconic ape, to be sure, but he's not got anything close to the kind of character arc Caesar gets in this movie, and there's none of the toying ambiguity between ape and man - Caesar's convincing as not a human with ape features (which is what the apes of the previous movies have essentially been) but an unusually smart ape.
Oh he did. The apes across the board were good in this movie - Bright Eyes, Buck, Koba.Maurice kicked ass!
Damn, I'm still pissed Buck died, he was awesome.
Don't forget Rocket!