After
what was known as a dead franchise due to unappetizing sequels after sequels
after a bad remake, surprisingly, this was a Planet of the Apes movie that was done really well. Before seeing
this movie, I thought that it was going to be predictable, being that the movie
is a prequel to Planet of the Apes.
We all know the twist in the original movie and the prequel is based on that
twists. It all comes down to the question, "How exactly did the apes
conquer the world?"
Will,
played by James Franco, is a scientist who’s trying to find the cure for
Alzheimer’s disease. However, after one of the chimpanzee test subject goes
berserk and shot down, the experiment gets shut down and Will has to take care
of one of the baby chimps after all of them were euthanized. After a couple of
years, the baby chimp grows up into becoming Caesar, the chimpanzee and while
Will’s dad is growing weak from Alzheimer’s, Caesar is getting smarter and
smarter. However, after some altercation with the neighbors, Caesar is sent to
a primate facility where he learns about the truth of what they do to animals.
The
greatest aspect of the movie was Andy Serkis in his performance as Caesar the
chimpanzee. James Franco did a pretty good job as his role in the movie;
however, the star of the show was Caesar. He portrays real emotions through the
use of visual effects. The special effects were used in the right direction,
not as bright lights and fireworks, but as a way to enhance the storytelling
and using the medium to make us relate to something that doesn’t talk. We know
which ape is which and we understand certain ones. Caesar becomes a tragic hero
who later accepts his place as a liberated animal. The greatest moments in the
movie are not the action scene, but the subtle moments where we see Caesar’s
emotions.
Because
the monkeys would eventually take over the world, Evolution plays a big role in
this movie. Like any nature related movie, no matter how much civilization will
make an attempt to triumph over nature, nature will ultimately win through
civilization’s own hubris. In this case, there is an attempt to use monkeys as
test subjects for the cure of Alzheimer’s disease. However, the cure boosts the
monkey’s intelligence and has negative effects on humans.
Caesar
seemed to be in the wild, in the Redwood forest. He sees a dog chained up and
questions the idea of pets. The way the chimps adapt to their surroundings is
through their intelligence. When Caesar was in the animal shelter, he uses his
wits to steal a pocket knife as a tool and later a taser, showing the
evolutionary step of acquiring tools.
The
movie has some snippets of references from the original movie. The Icarus space
shuttle takes off, and there is a newspaper that states that the space shuttle
is lost in space. Later on in the climax, the chimps use spears and at one
point, ride horses during their raid on San Francisco, showing the certain
things the chimps will do in the original movie. There is a moment that exactly
mirrors the scene where Charlton Heston gets captured and says the famous line,
“Get your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape.” In the movie, the Tom Felton
character tries to subdue Caesar and when Caesar grabs his arm, Tom Felton says
the famous line. Also, the movie also has a soundtrack that mirrors the music
from the original movie by emphasizing on percussion.
The
movie has a wonderful sense of utilizing its cinematography and visual effects
to its full potential. Although the ending was a bit farfetched, the Golden
Gate Bridge scene was executed pretty well, especially having the scene foggy
for suspenseful reasons. There is a huge tracking shot that follows Caesar from
the kitchen, all the way up the stairs and into the attic in one shot. There is
a scene of Caesar climbing a Redwood tree and reaching the top to gaze at the
San Francisco cityscape. In terms of visuals, I prefer the chimpanzees this way
rather than making them too human like. The subtle look on their face and their
reactions to certain things make the chimps realistic. The chimps in this movie
remind me of the performance done in 2001:
A Space Odyssey, where the monkeys are all played by human pantomime in
monkey suits. The realism of their performance from both movies made the
animals more likeable and we get to understand them as if they’re human. The
visual attempt to blend with the story is so astonishing that we start to root
for the chimps. We start to feel emotions when one of them dies.
We
root for the apes to win because the apes are humanized, while some of the
humans are incompetent. We have the businessman who doesn't care for the
welfare of human beings, but only money. There is an evil monkey caretaker,
played by Draco Malfoy in his American form, who’s cruel and abusive to the
monkeys. In fact, he is so evil that he seems to do every animal abuse trick
known to monkey, like spraying them with a firemen hose.
Overall,
the first movie showed audiences a ground breaking way of using makeup to
better enhance the characters by giving the apes human like physical qualities.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes does
this exact idea; however, instead of giving the apes human physical qualities,
they are humanized through the motion capture performances of actors like Andy
Serkis. If Planet of the Apes got
honorable mentions for their use of makeup, then Rise of the Planet of the Apes should get special nods in their use
of visual effects.
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