Planet of the Apes, Pierre Boulle’s slim 1963 novel, has now spawned a seventh film, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and it’s the best since the 1968 original. The previous six movies, two television shows, comic books, toys, action figures, lunch boxes and countless other ape products had apparently left Americans longing for more apes. If you’ve never heard of these films, they’re about super-intelligent monkeys who take over the earth. It’s not hard to see why people enjoy this possibility so much–the apes couldn’t do a worse job of running things than we have.
This time around, Will Rodman (James Franco) is a scientist trying to cure Alzheimer’s disease with a new drug he’s testing on primates. Things quickly go awry when an overprotective mama chimp attacks a group of hateful drug company executives during a presentation about the new drug. Sadly, all the apes in Rodman’s lab are immediately put down as a result.
Caesar (Andy Serkis, or as I like to call him, Gollum), the baby chimpanzee whose mother ran wild, is the lone survivor. Will brings him home and Caesar grows into a brilliant young chimp under his tutelage. Will also cures his father (John Lithgow) of his Alzheimer’s symptoms with the now-contraband drug, and courts a lovely young veterinarian, Caroline (Freida Pinto), at Caesar’s urging. Everything is great in apeland.
But Caesar is not a pet, as he’s quick to remind Will, and when he’s eventually captured and put into a primate sanctuary, he becomes an ape freedom fighter. Apes fly through the trees of San Francisco and assault the Golden Gate Bridge. They attack helicopters and cars and cops and drug company executives in their struggle to return to the jungle primeval. The final scenes are a battle worthy of Spartacus, or a Michael Bay movie.
There’s a lot of fun in all this, and Planet of the Apes connoisseurs will not be disappointed. The special effects are mostly convincing, especially with Serkis as Caesar. Look for some clever references to the old movies, including an ape called “bright eyes,” a hilarious cry of “IT’S A MADHOUSE”, and everyone’s favorite Charlton Heston line about dirty apes. (Heston makes a brief appearance too). The real strength of the movie is that it never takes itself too seriously. The exposition is too long, and all the talk about viruses and gene therapy gets tiresome, but it’s worth the payoff. The original film is better still, and if you haven’t seen it, you should. It’s a well-written movie with more going for it than effects or ape costumes. The book is also worth reading–it’s a different story than any of the movies, and has far fewer exploding cars than the latest one.
I should also mention that a nasty side effect of the rapidly spreading virus/drug is that it kills humans. Strange that it creates ape-geniuses at the same time, but it’s best not to consider such paradoxes for too long. Look for Planet of the Apes Rises Again next summer.
(Rise of the Planet of the Apes, 2011, Directed by Rupert Wyatt. PG-13)
Comments