In 2009 a pet chimpanzee went berserk and savagely attacked its owner’s neighbor, literally tearing the woman’s hands and face off. This horrible event was never far from my mind as I watched “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” As reckless genetic engineers ply primates with brain-altering chemicals, then prod them to perform, my foreboding was an 800-pound gorilla in the corner of the movie theater.
Foreboding, of course, is not a bad thing for an action film. “Rise,” a prequel for “Planet of the Apes” (1968 or 2001), is set in modern-day San Francisco, where scientists are studying a retrovirus as a possible cure for Alzheimer’s. They test it on chimps, who develop near-human intelligence with the stuff. Smarter than your average ape, but still fearsomely strong and still on the impulsive side. Have you got that cage locked, sappy veterinarian guy?
The story takes us from the pharmaceutical company Gen Sys, led by unethical Steven Jacobs (David Oyelowo), to a primate “rescue center” patrolled by sadistic guards. The hero of the film is a chimpanzee, Caesar (Andy Serkis), who has inherited genes that render him a genius in human terms. Despite or because of his great brains, poor Caesar is one lonely ape.
Raised (somehow) by naïve scientist Will Rodman (James Franco) and his father (John Lithgow), who has Alzheimer’s, Caesar can’t really play ball with the kids on the block. As an adult ape, banished from his home for getting a little excited, Caesar doesn’t revel in the company of his stunted fellow apes either. Serkis, who made Gollum such a riveting character in “The Lord of the Rings,” gives Caesar real pathos.
It’s a good thing too, because all of the chimp’s ape buddies, in addition to being stupid, aren’t even real. In case you haven’t heard, the CGI in this film is top-notch, rendering a whole army of hooting, knuckle-dragging simians who move too fast, but, unlike the poor actors in the rubber ape costumes from the ’60s-’70s movies, have the right kinds of motion and proportion.
“Rise” exceeded my expectations. Director Rupert Wyatt monkeys around a little bit at the beginning, but does a fine job once the pace picks up. The action-flick formula is presented well enough, with the poor underdog ground down by heartless oppressors until some funky retrovirus and a cunning leader tip the scales.
It looks as though Wyatt has experience with still photography, as he excels with panoramic shots that capture or magnify the magnitude of an ape rebellion. My adrenaline pumped pleasingly during the epic battle for the Golden Gate Bridge.
What would be a weakness for another movie, the opacity of the apes’ perspective, is not much of a drawback for “Rise.” In a way, it mirrors the first and best POTA. With that weird music and barren landscape, the 1968 film was genuinely spooky. Charlton Heston amplified the sense of isolation and desolation with his melodramatic monologues.
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” doesn’t have that much atmosphere, but it also avoids the campiness of those early POTA movies. Is it plausible? Not really. I can’t see a super intelligent chimpanzee growing up outside a cage in a tony San Francisco neighborhood with only the occasional snarl at a barking dog. But who cares? Just beat your chest and have some fun with this one.
– Claude Iosso
http://youtu.be/LaK6khs8aMw
