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How entertaining? ★★★☆☆
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 8 August 2011
This a movie review of RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. |
“I swear, you know everything about the human brain except the way it works,” Steven Jacobs (David Oyelowo)
The adverts suggested this could’ve been like DISTRICT 9, a dialled-back, allegorical sci-fi actioner with brains, style and excitement. Rise seems to be in the ballpark, but right on the edge of it unfortunately. The prequel to the legendary PLANET OF THE APES (1968) is certainly an improvement on Tim Burton’s remake mess, but it is just not sophisticated enough. It feel’s half-baked, like Paul Verhoeven’s HOLLOW MAN – an equally frustrating take on the relationship between science and ethics.
The adverts suggested this could’ve been like DISTRICT 9, a dialled-back, allegorical sci-fi actioner with brains, style and excitement. Rise seems to be in the ballpark, but right on the edge of it unfortunately. The prequel to the legendary PLANET OF THE APES (1968) is certainly an improvement on Tim Burton’s remake mess, but it is just not sophisticated enough. It feel’s half-baked, like Paul Verhoeven’s HOLLOW MAN – an equally frustrating take on the relationship between science and ethics.
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James Franco’s Will Rodman is a scientist working on a cure for Alzheimer’s. And like Saffron Burrows’s rule-breaker in DEEP BLUE SEA, he has a vested interest. Will’s father is suffering from the disease. After a presentation to the board of directors, who are funding the project, goes spectacularly wrong, the plug is pulled. Pulled that is on his experiments injecting apes with a new drug which demonstrably increases their intelligence. These simians are terminated. Except for one. The baby of the prodigal Bright Eyes (for some reason the researchers didn’t realise she was pregnant and had given birth) is saved by Will and taken home. We see Caesar grow up with increasingly human characteristics and a formidable mind, all within the power and agility of an ape. The visual effects are impressive on one level, the facial expressions conveying so much; but the movement of these animals do not always look right, I guess because we have seen nature documentaries, adverts and visited the zoo. Aliens in AVATAR immerse us, but the familiar seems a little out-of-reach still.
A combination of Caesar being abused once taken into captivity, and the project re-starting suddenly when Will reveals that he’s been secretly doing human trials of the drug on his father, sets in motion what we’ve been waiting for. However, his father’s immune system is causing a relapse of the disease. A tougher version is then rushed into ape testing. Just in case the audience was wondering if this would end happily, the sharpest candidate has a vicious scar across his face providing a heavy handed visual cue. Other not-always-logical happenings follow, together with the anticipated mayhem.
In the hands of Neill Blomkamp or Gareth Edwards this could have been powerful stuff. Or had the makers gone BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA, and delivered a metaphorical TV opus, then we also might’ve had something special. However, RISE lacks ambition; and while it was engaging, it was also unsatisfying. Actually it needed the subtlety, pace and erudition of the summer’s boldest blockbuster, SUPER 8.
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