With a bad taste still in my mouth from the crapfest that was Tim Burton’s reimagining of Planet of the Apes, I begrudgingly went and saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes (hereafter referred to as “Rise” because, come on) after my friends more or less dragged me in. When I first heard about this movie I was not interested in it at all. Even after seeing a couple trailers and learning that James Franco was the lead my interest became only mildly piqued; nowhere near enough to actively want to see it, though.
After viewing it, my opinion has not changed.
Let me get this out of the way, Rise is not a bad movie by any means. The CGI monkeys are leaps and bounds better than those hideous monsters in Burton’s movie, and as always James Franco delivers a top-notch performance. The problem that I had most with this movie is that I was mislead by just about everything I had seen about it. That, and the ending, which I will get into later.
Before going any further, I’d like to give props to Tom Felton for breaking out of his Harry Potter bubble in order to play a role that is basically an American Malfoy. I was honestly expecting him to say “My father will hear about this one, Caesar!” at one point and was more than a little disappointed when he didn’t. Not to say he didn't do a good job, it's just too bad he's stuck in the same role. Here’s to many more years of typecasting, Tom. Cheers
For those of you who don’t know, Rise follows Will Rodman (James Franco) who is a scientist in the Genisys facility, located in San Francisco, where they use monkeys to test experimental drugs. The new drug that Will is testing is one that repairs the brain and improves brain functions; in other words, the cure for Alzheimer's. After the project gets shut down, Will sneaks home a baby monkey that is the offspring of one of the monkeys injected with the drug. Before long it is obvious that this is no ordinary monkey as its intelligence increases rapidly. Will names it Caesar and treats it as though it were his own kid. Before long shenanigans take place and Caesar is taken to a humane society for monkeys and apes. It is here that he begins planning his escape.
Watching the trailers I was promised a Summer blockbuster about apes and various other species of monkey trying to take over the planet by attacking the humans who have been mistreating them using makeshift weapons, and...... is that the Golden Gate Bridge they’re attacking? Sure is.
The movie itself, however, tells quite a different story. The best way I can describe it is that the movie is sort of split into two acts: Act I is Will and Ceasar’s Happy Funtime Adventures while the much darker Act II could be called The Ape Escape. As implied by the title, not a whole lot of rising happens in Act I. In fact, it takes an entire 30 minutes for something involving monkeys attacking humans to happen (after the intro, that is). At this point I was still sympathetic because the movie was veering away from its mindless action movie counterparts in that it was giving reasons to care about the characters. It was avoiding the age-old mistake that dooms so many other movies. However, after another 30 minutes of no rising, my patience was being tried. It isn't until Act II gets into full gear that things start to pick up.
The point I’m trying to make here is that there is way too much buildup into a very short climatic battle. There is probably a maximum of about 15 minutes in which the apes actually attack the city. However, the trailers promised that this would be a major part of the movie, which is what it should have been. Those 15 minutes are probably the best of the movie. While there is a lot of nit-picky stuff I could get into about the battle, I won’t because it was that awesome.
From here on is where I complain about the ending, so skip to the end unless you like spoilers!
The high I felt coming off of the battle was soon squashed, though, since it turns out that this movie isn’t even about the planet being taken over. That’s right, the movie titled Rise of the Planet of the Apes does not show the planet being taken over by apes. In fact, it doesn’t even show San Francisco being taken over by apes. It shows the freaking Redwood Forest being taken over by apes. I really hope you can understand where I’m coming from at this point. The only indication we get that the planet will eventually get taken over is DURING THE CREDITS when it shows the spread of a virus that kills humans and makes monkeys and apes smarter. Again, quite a few nit-picky things I could mention, but won’t, although for different reasons.
Now, this could all be a setup for a sequel, which I really, truly, honestly hope it is. Much like the eventual I Am Number 4 sequel, it wouldn’t have to worry about backstory and lengthy exposition and simply focus on the more exciting aspects. In the event that this is a standalone, though, it is a movie called Rise of the Planet of the Apes in which a bunch of apes take over the Redwood Forest and then call it good. Just thought I’d reiterate that.
End Spoilers!
My final thought is this: see the movie for yourself, just don’t expect to see the movie that the previews portray. As I said, it is by no means a bad movie, it just wasn’t the movie it could have or should have been.
3/5
