Rise of the Planet of the Apes
(2011) directed by Rupert Wyatt and starring James Franco, John Lithgow and Andy Serkis
Spoiler Alert! This review of Rise of the Planet of the Apes includes references to specific scenes and plot points.
This is a brilliant story idea with just enough "I almost believe that could happen" mixed in to make you really ponder the future and wonder about what's going on behind closed laboratory doors.
And before I go any further I have to say that Andy Serkis as Caesar the chimpanzee is absolutely amazing. Andy deserved an Oscar nomination for his work. When will the Oscars catch up with technology and modern film making techniques and recognize performances like Andy's, or maybe Ed Asner for perfectly voicing Carl Fredricksen in Up? Maybe there should be a category for "Best Performance During Which You Didn't Actually See The Actor"...
Second best performance in the film goes to John Lithgow for his portrayal of the father of lead character Will (James Franco), and suffers Alzheimer's disease, which is the reason for Will's research at Gen-Sys. So, in a way I guess we can blame the near-complete destruction of the human race on John Lithgow. I always suspected he'd be the one. James Franco is weak as the leading man, often seen with a bit of a scowl or in a huff when he thinks someone is messing with his research or Caesar. In fact, in many scenes a cardboard cutout of Franco would have sufficed.
There are several flawed plot points. Are we really to believe that a high tech lab with a professional primate handler wouldn't detect that a test chimp was pregnant when she entered the lab? And what about Jamie Harris's teeth? He plays a slightly slow handler at the primate sanctuary and his teeth are a blinding Hollywood white.
In a closing scene the cops are positioned at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge armed to the teeth with automatic weapons prepared to fire south on the approaching apes. But behind the apes, fleeing in the opposite direction, are the people from the vehicles abandoned on the bridge. Are the cops going to open fire on the apes and risk shooting the humans behind them? Yes, they are. Speaking of the bridge scene, the gorilla leaping from the deck of the GGB into the helicopter that's hovering nearby was fabulously over the top.
The most terrifying part of the entire film is the closing credits and here's why - it makes clear just how vulnerable our technology has made us. One person infected with a fatal virus flies from San Francisco to Paris, along the way infecting other travelers bound for other parts of the world. It's frightening to see right in front of you how easily a virus could be spread creating a global pandemic that could decimate the human race.
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