Starring: James Franco, Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Tom Felton and Brian Cox
Directed By: Rupert Wyatt
Screenplay By: Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, “suggested by” Pierre Boulle’s novel
Produced By: Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: Approximately 105 minutes
Website: apeswillrise.com
Budget: $93 million
Genre: Action, Science Fiction
Release Date: August 5, 2011
It turns out the world will not end in fire, or in ice, but because of an ape wearing blue jeans.
Or, at least, that’s the idea posited by of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the latest attempt to revive the famous franchise. Part prequel, part reboot, part remake of 1972’s third (!) sequel, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Rise takes place in the present day and adjusts the science, the timeline, and the special effects to the modern era. Ages before Charlton Heston raged at a broken Statue of Libetrty languishing in the sand – that’s a 30-year-old spoiler, by the way – the ascent of race of apes evolved from man can be traced back to more innocent origins.
James Franco (127 Hours) stars as Will Rodman, a San Francisco-based genetic researcher looking for a miracle cure for Alzheimer’s disease. He has a personal stake in its development, as his own father, Charles (John Lithgow), is afflicted with the disease and deteriorating by the day. Will begins experimenting on apes before a transition to human trials, but a lab accident deprives the project of funding and dashes Will’s dreams of developing his cure.
All hope is not lost: in the chaos, a young ape is born to one of the test subjects. Will recognizes that not only has the newborn been genetically altered by the experimental drug, the medication is expanding its brain beyond that of any normal ape. Through the years, Will clings to the baby ape – named “Caesar” by the Shakespeare-quoting Charles – as the best chance of continuing his research and saving his father’s life. Caesar, meanwhile, grows more and more intelligent and begins to realize that he’s not like other apes and certainly not human, a fact not lost on Will, who has grown to regard the ape as more a son than a pet or an experiment. The title alone should tell you what happens next. As they note in Conquest, Caesar is the name of a king, and an extended stay in a simian wildlife refuge run by John Landon (Brian Cox) and his abusive son, Dodge (Tom Felton, Harry Potter’s Draco Malfoy), serve as the catalyst for Caesar’s rise as a leader and revolutionary.
The heavy-handed racial and political allegory of the original film series of the ‘60s and ‘70s is left as subtext here and largely unexplored, though the series’ basic message of unity and the right to personal freedom of all thinking peoples remains intact. There’s little doubt, at this stage, that an Apes sequel/prequel/reimagining/buzzword of your choice is just a movie studio looking to get a little more juice from a franchise decades past its prime. At worst it’s shameless and crass; at best it’s just deeply unnecessary. Director Rupert Wyatt, a virtual unknown with a handful of off-the-radar screen credits, seems to know that yet another Apes revival would be met with cynicism and runs the opposite direction, playing everything with earnestness. Even mush-mouthed James Franco plays Will and his struggling family loyalties with utter sincerity; when you get a restrained performance out of John Lithgow, of all people, you know there is a director in charge who knows what he wants.
As strong as the human performers generally are – Slumdog Millionaire’s Freida Pinto plays the world’s prettiest zoologist and Will’s superfluous love interest – it’s those damn dirty apes that will attract the most talk and interest. Andy Serkis – you might remember him as Gollum and King Kong – performed his role as Caesar, which was then digitally mapped over with an ape appearance keyed to his performance. It’s hardly a flawless rendition, as digital effects simply aren’t there yet, but it’s an impressive step in the evolution of performance-enhancing special effects: you buy that Caesar is an emotive, sensitive ape.
Like all modern summer blockbusters, the film eventually breaks down into a long, otherwise impressive action sequence, but Rise’s road to getting there is handled with a surprising sensitivity and deftness. The film practically bursts with references to the earlier films – Tim Burton’s 2001 remake is justly ignored – in an attempt to appease fans of the original five-film series, but Rise feels so divorced from those movies and that universe that the nods hardly matter. Again: deeply unnecessary? Yes. A well-made, worthy attempt at franchise revival? Shockingly, also yes. The 1968 film is a modern classic, and Burton’s remake went wrong in trying to recapture the original’s famous twist as if that’s all there was to the story. Rise forges its own path, and against all odds plausibly brings the hoary concepts of Planet of the Apes new life.
3 Stars
