The Sunday Leader By Sumaya SamarasingheThe Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes is probably one of the most tongue twisting film titles of the year; but thankfully it has not put off any spectators since the movie is a well deserved box office smash.
This is not a re-make nor a prequel of the original Planet Of The Apes series starring Charlton Heston which were based on French author Pierre Boulle’s 1963 novel La planète des singes. Between 1968 and 1973, Heston starred in five “Ape” movies which ended up having quite a following. In a nutshell, the original story is about a crew of astronauts which crash land in a very distant future, only to find out much to their horror that apes have become the dominant species on earth. The film was a novelty with its fantastic prosthetic makeup (no digital creations as yet) and the story itself which attracted a huge following. Tim Burton did attempt a rather sad remake starring the wonderfully built but ever so expressionless Mark Walhberg in 2001, but the film was simply boring and no “Ape” series fans would ever consider it worthy of discussion.
The Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes is very brightly a reboot of the series, meaning it takes the original idea and just makes it into something new, more current but just as fascinating.
The story begins with Will Rodman, a scientist working for a pharmaceutical giant Gen –Sys who is trying to find a cure for Alzheimer’s by testing the retro virus on chimpanzees. True it may be for the love of science but his research is mainly geared at saving his own father, a once brilliant pianist suffering now from the disease. The father- son relationship depicted by James Franco and John Lightow is completely convincing and Franco is turning out to be one of the most interesting actors of his generation. In a way, he is a little like a modern day Frankenstein who will attempt to play around with nature and control the inevitable to save a person he loves, haven’t we all desired that once in our lifetime?
One day, Will’s generally docile “star” chimpanzee named Bright Eyes becomes violent and her timing is really disastrous because it is just when Will’s boss is presenting the potential cure to future investors. A bullet brings down Bright Eyes and Will’s future funding. All the other chimpanzees are put to death because Steven Jacobs, the Gen-Sys boss thinks they could have been contaminated like Bright Eyes
But, it is only once all the animals are unnecessarily killed that they discover that Bright Eyes had given birth to a little baby chimpanzee and was being violent because she was protective over him. Will takes the little one home, names him Caesar and the bond between Charles, Will and the baby chimpanzee grows stronger everyday. The once workaholic scientist finds love with Caroline (played by the beautiful Frieda Pinto) a vet who takes care of Caesar and for a brief few years Will’s little made up family seems blissfully happy. Time passes with Caesar becoming smarter and Charles’s condition worsening. Will is unable to watch his father suffer and injects him with a sample of his cure which works at first until the dementia returns, stronger and incurable this time. Meanwhile a sick Charles accidentally damages the vehicle of their neighbour who for some strange reason does not seem to know that Charles is ill and begins to verbally abuse him and push him around. This angers Caesar who is watching the scene from his bedroom and he rushes to Charles’s rescue and attacks the neighbour.
This leads to Caesar been locked up in a primate facility and any animal lover watching this scene will find it very hard to deal with. All the apes are treated cruelly by the staff, but little do they know about Caesar’s superior intelligence.
To reveal more, would be a shame as it would take away the suspense of some exciting and wonderfully well shot sequences.
Don’t be surprised if you find yourself cheering for the apes who will do their very best to conduct somewhat of a peaceful revolt. Most of the humans are pitiful, violent and ruthless, absolute “animals” with no conscience.
The Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes really has very few flaws; the script is tight, the actors well directed, the cinematography great and for the fans of the initial story,key moments have remained, so be ready to hear a round of applause when Caesar for the first time shouts “NO”!
Great entertainment, not to be missed.
