Tag Archive: James Franco

Movie Review – Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

“The Planet Of The Apes” series has always been a wonderful mishmash of promise and failure, of genius and camp, and of fear and fun. The original film is of course, a classic, with a screenplay co-written by Rod Serling, an amazing anti-hero played by Charlton “Get your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!” Heston, and the immortal Roddy McDowell buried under fantastic makeup as Corneileous.

“Beneath The Planet Of The Apes” followed the same formula with mixed results, “Escape From The Planet Of The Apes” brought Cornelius and Zira back through the time warp to present day (well, the bellbottom clad seventies anyway), “Battle For The Planet Of The Apes” saw the beginnings of the intelligent apes and how they would take over, and with “Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes” the series comes full circle as the apes rule the Earth.

Individually these films are full of Saturday afternoon silliness, string them together and you get a surprisingly coherent narrative thread that links them all together. “The Planet Of The Apes” television series was more of the same silly, and the Tim Burton Remake of 2001, while visually impressive, failed to re-ignite the franchise.

Now comes “Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes”, a “Batman Begins”-esq… retelling of the story. Not a remake, sequel or prequel, the film is the first in what Fox hopes will become a new Apes franchise. Enter researcher Will Rodman (James Franco) who is searching for the cure to Alzheimer’s to help his ailing father (John Lithgow), but the experimental drug tested on chimps not only heals neural pathways, but increases intelligence, setting the stage for the apes to ultimately rise.

All the performances are good here, especially Lithgow, Brian Cox and Tom Felton, (and special shout out to David Hewitt, managing to be VERY Dr. McKay from Stargate: Atlantis, while not having a single line of technobabble,) but the star is Andy Serkis, (Gollum from “Lord Of The Rings” and the title character in Peter Jackson’s “King Kong” remake) in the role of Caesar, the chimp responsible for leading the eventual rebellion. Buried under not make up, but visual effects, Andy portrays more depth and emotion as Caesar than some of his human counterparts. If the academy chooses not to honor Serkis with a Oscar nod for best actor, it’s time to boycott.

The visual effects in this movie are amazing and the plot is solid and entertaining. It should appeal to die hard fans of the “hard” science fiction that was the first film, as well as folks who enjoy the goofy fun of the sequels. But what made the film for me were the constant in-jokes and references: At one point, a character is watching another Charlton Heston film, the space mission Icarus is name dropped, other apes are named Corneila, and Bright Eyes, Caesar holds a model of the statue of liberty, and late in the film, steals a mounted police man’s horse. When he emerges out of the fog on the Golden Gate Bridge on horseback, well my friends, THAT is what makes a Planet Of The Apes movie.

And of course, the line. No Apes film would be truly complete with out that line.

* Follow Up: Just re-watched the movie on Blu Ray, and I’m pleased that it holds up just as well on repeated viewings.  An INTELLIGENT science fiction film!

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES – A+