Movie – Rise of the planet of the Apes

Movie – Rise of the planet of the Apes

Score : 8/10
Year : 2011
Director : Rupert Wyatt
Country : USA
Language : English 
Duration : 1h45

French author Pierre Boule’s Planet of the apes book from 1963 has been adapted several times before this one. 

Rise of the planet of the Apes starts the newest film adaptations and could be viewed as a prequel, somewhat. Its premise is only suggested in the book.

It starts in a modern day American biotechnology company testing a viral-based drug on chimpanzees to find a cure for brain ailments, such as Alzheimer’s. 

In the course of testing, the drug doesn’t just repair the brain, but greatly enhances the chimps’ intelligence, which sparks into a rebellion lead by Ceasar.

There is a short scene with a chimp who's been shot and is bleeding, but the view is from above and doesn't remain on it. It's not graphically gross.  

Don’t worry, fellow animal rights activists, this is actually a movie you can and should watch, because it has an animal rights message, just like the original book, and doesn’t use even a single live chimpanzee. Instead, this movie casts human actors, playing not only human characters, but also the chimpanzees, by using motion capture technology, and fully computer-generated models for Chimpanzees, just like Gollum was made for The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and the main actor is the same: Caesar and Gollum are both played by Andy Serkis, who’s genius motion-acting is astounding in both roles. I shall talk about Gollum in the appropriate blog entry (another time), and for the moment concentrate on Rise of the planet of the Apes. 

The acting is amazing, especially from Serkis and the other fellow motion actors portraying chimps, gorilla, and an orangutan, each having observed real animal’s movements and attitudes, act in a very realistic way, rendered by magnificent digitalized versions on-screen. 

The male human characters are played very well, too, and one cannot stop from hating the many  evil- doers in the movie, one of whom is a guest from the Harry Potter movies… 
Several scenes are disturbing, depicting horrible human cruelty, but believe me, it's far less than the book...  

One character’s dialogue showcases a usual compartmentalization, inherent to too many people, both real and fictional, which is a bit of a shame, because she doesn’t change her job to be a coherent person after she finds out certain truths… hello, she dates a man whose job is also theoretically incoherent with her opinions. 
She is a bit too much of a bimbo and one rare female character in the movie, and written too much as a stereotypical woman = the heroe's partner, and her job is taking care of others (here, she's a vet).

During a certain scene, both she, a vet, and her boyfriend should've inspected a location, and it's highly unrealisic that they didn't... 

The few other women were also badly written, unsympathetic and behind desks...


Both ''Rise'' and its direct sequel ''Dawn'' had female characters, both giving birth and dying... this is an unacceptable situation.

I wish the writters had included more female characters, both humans and apes, and given them more depth and variety ; more jobs, not the typical female jobs, and also include kick-ass yet feminine characters... there weren't, any! 

These issues greatly deminish the overall appreciation for these movies, in spite of their qualities and potential.

Special effects are stunning, the movie never lags and one takes an immediate side in the ensuing rebellion. 

The movie’s score is immersive, signed Patrick Doyle, and cinematography by Andrew Lesnie, another man who also worked on the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings – great job here once more in this department. 

Character names in this adaptation are sometimes inspired from previous planet of the apes movies, which might be characters, or part of the production team, and several other geeky winks are made throughout this newest presentation. 

The cast is quite big and includes James Franco, John Lithgow, Frieda Pinto, Brian Cox, Tom Felton, David Oyelowo, Tyler Labine, David Hewlett, Chelah Horsdal, as the humans, and in the apes : Andy Serkis, Karin Konoval (she actually also plays a human role), Terry Notary, Richard Ridings, Devyn Dalton, Jay Caputo, Christopher Gordon.

Of note, the movie isn’t really over at the beginning of the end credits… stay put!

Rise of the planet of the apes sequels into Dawn of the planet of the apes, from 2014.