Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Director – Rupert Wyatt
Stars – James Franco, Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto.
Wyatt’s attempts to delve deeper into the roots of the ‘Apes’ franchise from Planet of the Apes 1968 to the reboot made in 2001, as he opts against a remake commodity he chooses to elaborate on the birth of the ‘Apes’ franchise using the team behind Avatar’s motion capture CGI technology, a scientific explanation of the increase in intellect of the Ape with the acting talent of Andy Serkis, Brian Cox and lead James Franco.
We learn that Franco’s character Will Rodman is a somewhat benevolent scientist working in a lab run by a merciless business man (David Oyelowo), the immediate realisation of this dichotomy is painfully clichéd and has been used countlessly, and serves only as a warning to the mediocrity of the film. Wyatt’s poorly written protagonist attempts to create a cure for the Alzheimer’s disease chiefly to help his suffering father (John Lithgow), he does so in means such as testing on Apes however his results aren’t perfect as an exasperated ape escapes causing costly damage consequentially causing the labs’ apes to be put down. Wyatt articulates the growth of an orphaned prolific ape raised from birth in hiding by Will Rodman.
This film cascades on a few ambient reasons, however initially it is greatly damaged by its trailer. The studio, chose all the best shots, scenes and events of the film and created an exciting and decorative trailer. The rest of the film however appears only as dull bridges between different parts of the trailer. Everything significant is shown in the trailer, and most importantly the ending! This leaves the viewer expecting more, however the film slowly builds up to something you’ve already seen.
The tedium is the root of badly written characters and stroppy dialogue. It is simply as slow as it takes to enunciate its title. Franco is amongst a crop of shining actors of the last decade, one of his better contributions was his performance in Boyle’s ‘127 Hours’. Although an irresolute vein of film choices after ‘Your Highness’ is surprising. He attempts to create a real distressed scientist struggling with both is father and his closest partner (see Jennifer Connelly’s Betty Ross in Ang Lee’s Hulk), however he fails due to a poorly paced film, packed with choppy dialogue. The supporting cast are generally fitting however Freida Pinto’s Caroline Aranha was hugely disappointing. A major miscast, but for various deeper underlying reasons which are also crippling the acting schooled talent, as casts are continually plucked of the runways at fashion shows.
However Andy Serkis and the work of W.E.T.A are truly inspiring, the ape Caesar is even more layered and more complex than any of the cast members, W.E.T.A laid down the foundations and aesthetics and Serkis poignantly brought Caesar to life. The star of the film confined yet sovereign, a truly magnetic performance.
The film ticks all the boxes as to what the studio wants, it lures you in with a promising trailer, performs well at the box office and creates a bridge for another film to squeeze into the prevalent franchise. If anything, avoid the trailer and expect a CGI-filled drama B movie. Even if you’re a fan of the ‘Apes’ franchise, you would still feel uncomfortable as some of the older lines of previous films dialogues regurgitated in Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Icarus Conran is a freelance journalist with experience in writing and editing. To get in touch please contact via
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