Rise of the Planet of the ApesBy Wilson Morales
After so many takes on ‘The Planet of the Apes’ franchise with its many sequels, prequels, and reboot, here’s comes a film that offers a new perspective, using today’s technology to gives the audience a plausible reason how apes became intelligent enough to rule the world.
In Rupert Wyatt’s ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes,’
James Franco and Andy Serkis give in tremendous performances as human/ ape that gives new meaning to the term ‘Man’s Best Friend.’
With WETA’s work, ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ is one of the most thrilling films of the year.
Franco plays Will Rodman, a scientist hell bent on creating a formula that will hopefully be a cure for the Alzheimer’s disease his ailing father (played by John Lithgow) is plagued with. Using chimps as his test subjects, he’s almost close to getting it right and being granted more funds for his research until a chaos in front of the board members shuts down his project.
When he reluctantly takes home a newborn chimpanzee named Caesar, the offspring of one of the test subjects, he slowly starts to see the results of his experiments. Somehow, Caesar inherited his dead mom’s serum and became cognizant and intelligent.
Over the years, through the caring and guidance of Will, his father (whose disease faded away with the same serum), and Will’s girlfriend (played by Frieda Pinto), Caesar has grown into a mature ape. Confined to his room in the attic, Caesar is able to interact with humans until a violent incident leads him to be locked up at a private facility with other apes. The apes don’t seem too fond of his special relationship with humans.
Not only is Caesar abused by the other apes and by the guards, including the owner’s son (played by ‘Harry Potter’s Tom Felton), but Caesar feels betrayed by Will for abandoning him.
As his intelligence grows, Caesar plots his escapes and uses his mental skills to control the apes and wreak havoc on those who mistreated him.
With clever references to the original ‘Planet of the Apes,’ Wyatt’s film offers plenty of action scenes along with heartfelt moments. Franco, who seems to be in a new film every three months, is more resigned here than his other films but that’s okay because the star of the film is Andy Serkis. Known for his incredible role as Gollum in ‘Lord of the Rings’ and as King Kong in Peter Jackson’s remake, Serkis is the master of motion-capture performances. From his eyes to his body movements, he’s never needed dialogue to make his presence known.
Although San Francisco’s Golden Gate bridge serves as a third character to the film. the CGI and action scenes are thrilling and not overdone, and it plays well with we have known about the apes if you are a fan of the series.
Overall. ‘Rise’ plays a nice homage to the original film while bringing in a fresh approach to long-standing franchise.
