Review : Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

Film : Rise of The Planet Of The Apes (2011)
Director : Rupert Wyatt
Writers : Pierre Boulle,Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver
Cast : James Franco,Freida Pinto,John Lithgow,Tom Felton,Brian Cox and Andy Serkis
Language : English
Running time : 105 mins
Rating : PG 13
Distributor : 20th Century Fox

Films which revolve around human evolution have always intrigued me since the days i've started watching movies.One of the earliest films i remember watching as a kid(circa late 1980's) which touched on the subject of intellectual development was well,the original Planet Of The Apes(1968) starring Charlton Heston.Something in that film sent the jitters down my spine,i remember actually believing that our planet was actually colonized by those apes in the film !Yes,silly ol' me bought that but when i contemplate now on what exactly led me to believe it(well,i watched Predator as well around the same time but i still went wandering into forests WITHOUT worrying about some ugly mother****er from space jumping on back from an oil-palm tree! ),i realized it was the sheer idea that our existence and position as the reigning inhabitants of Earth is indeed vulnerable and easily overruled by an emergence and uprise of a superior species of beings.Most people tend to overlook this scary scenario,blinded by a believe that their status as the 'most intellectually advanced species' grants them unrivalled invincibility.Nature,on the other hand never fails to prove them wrong.

This is one of those thought-provoking films which explores the 'mostly ignored' scenario brilliantly.Despite the title,which suggests it to be a prequel of the Planet Of The Apes franchise or the rather flaky remake by Tim Burton,it is neither.Instead this is a stand-alone film in its own right.Smartly written and deftly directed by a new director,Rupert Wyatt( pic below),the film starts off with an ambitious scientist,played by Franco who's on the verge of producing a powerful new drug which could be one of the greatest medical discoveries of mankind(as it is with all other discoveries made in Hollywood big-budget sci-fi extravaganzas),this time the cure for Alzheimer's disease.What exactly the drug does is that it helps create new neurotic nerves in the damaged brain,hence rejuvenating the entire memory system,in other words,it sorts of makes an intellectually-challenged person become more intelligent by boostin' up their brain.And like every other drug,we have to test it first on animals before we can test it on humans and what other animal on Earth is our closest cousin both in physical resemblance and mental capacity than a chimpanzee?Enter Caesar,the 'chosen' ape who got the honor of being the test subject.What happens after that is of the course the unexpected !What is a movie without its conflicts right?And the film does present its conflicts really well which i suggest is best left for you to discover at the cinemas.

Besides the fine direction and screenplay,the other high points of this film is the CGI by Weta Works(LOTR,King Kong) which i must say is one of the best 'mass motion capture' effects work ever done in a feature film.Since Gollum,Caesar(also played by Andy Serkis) goes down in film history as the most emotional and expressionistic CGI character ever created.( Arnie and Seagal have lots to learn from them :p).For a US$93 million film,the quality is admirable although its quite apparent how and where the filmakers saved the budget from bloating,they did it by hiring a medium salaried cast and doing away with minimal but cleverly done production design.Special mention goes to the seasoned thespian John Lithgow who delivers a heart-wrenching but brief performance as Franco's father who is suffering from a brain degeneration disease,even after a long absence from the big screen,the man still remains a scene-stealer.Nothing much can be expected from the rest of the cast as Franco and Pinto does a pretty average job although it was nice to see Harry Potter alumni Tom Felton all grown up and nasty,the guy looks like he's on his way to a great future playing cold-blooded villains wearing that evil sneer he displays brilliantly here.What makes the entire experience more compelling is the eclectic score by Patrick Doyle which breaths life into each scene automatically elevating the film from being a mere ape-on-a-vendetta fare to a truly effective film experience.

Coming back to the frightening theory of 'what if an ape gets smart and start busting your ass?',much is to be learned from this film,the loudest message being 'don't play God'.Everything in this world exists for a reason.We humans are created as the dominant species on Earth for a good reason and apes and other animals and beings are created the way they are for a good reason as well.For no reason should we ever attempt to foil the perfect equilibrium that is sustaining the entire system of being.Any form of imbalance applied to the exacting system will always produce destructive results of catasthropic proportions as clearly
depicted in this film.Another significant lesson to be learned here is the sheer power of evolution.(spoiler alert!)Brain-enhancing drugs alone was not responsible for the human-like cognitive thinking and learning abilities which Caesar possessed leading him to stage the greatest revolution of apes against humans,environmental conditioning plays a crucial part as well.Raised by humans in a human home and treated almost like a fellow human,he grew up believing that he's not much different from us,eating the same food,vulnerable to emotions except that he walks with ALL his limbs,has more hair and can't speak the
human language(except the epic word No!).This also means he naturally has the yearning for the ultimate element every human aspires for which is freedom hence the paradigm shift of his attitude as circumstances around him begins to change.

What i've concluded from this film(and others dealing with the same subject) is that the existing current hierarchy of all Earth beings is best left the way it is.We humans have earned our positions as the superior species on Earth by working our way up in the ladder of evolution and instead of messing around playing God in the name of science,we should seek inspiration from finer elements of nature which are just there in abundance waiting to be discovered and utilized for the betterment of mankind.
Go subtle,go deep and unleash the giant inside.Stop 'monkeying' around and go watch this film to un-monkey yourselves ! :-)

Review by
Amreish Siman