In the summer of sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots, rehashes, revivals, reappraise, and redo, I was afraid “X-Men: First Class” was a fluke. Instead, lightening hath struck twice!
Without contradicting or insulting previous installments, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” manages to create its own identity as not only a great stand alone, film, but also one that sets the stage for a brand new trilogy for those damn dirty apes.
A prequel to the 1968 original, James Franco stars as Scientist, Will Rodman, a young scientist seeking a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and Andy Serkis as Caesar, the chimpanzee borne of that research. John Lithgow is Franco’s father, the first human subject who responds well to the new drug at first, but soon his immune system fights off the cure and succumbs to the disease. Ceasar, however, gains super intelligence and becomes restless, first wanting to play with children outside. He then gets in trouble with the law for injuring an ill-tempered neighbor. For his punishment he sent a “sanctuary” where the administrator, John Landon played by the creepy Brian Cox, promises he will have a good life, abuses the animals along with his sadistic cohort and son, Dodge Landon, played by Tom Felton, (Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter’s nemesis). It is here when Ceasar thrives and begins to show signs of true intelligence. He becomes angry, disillusioned, focused, determined to escape from his human oppressors.
Andy Serkis, lauded and over-praised for his performance as the irritating Gollum in the over-rated annoying “Lord of the Rings” flicks, shows off his stuff here as Ceasar, it’s an amazing performance and proves how magical modern movie effects can be when applied in creative and clever ways. This is Serkis’s best work since “King Kong,” it is phenomenal as he gets the chimps gate, its personality, it’s demeanor down eerily perfect. He won’t, but come Oscar season, he should be acknowledged, because it is a performance where technology and art merge flawlessly. It surpasses Kong in many ways as none of us has seen a 50 feet ape in action, but here, the Chimp’s movements are uncanny. The facial close-ups especially are quite unsettling in their conviction.
We know from the giddy-up that the chimps are fake, but it fools us many times, as to how convincing it all is. Computer generated humans and animals still have that “Fake” look, sure, it’s all fake, but there are some things done now that can be photorealistic, but humans and animals can not at this point come off totally convincing, but in a strange way it works for the film and the character of Ceasar as he’s not your typical chimp. He becomes a real character we can feel for, when he is being abused we hope he bites their faces off and give a good cheer when he gets his revenge on Landon. Inside the sanctuary are the films best moments as Ceasar befriends the other apes, chimps, and the one orangutan and uses his smarts to organize and prepare for an uprising.
Even though I was compelled to sing the Troy McClure song from the stage musical of The Simpson’s’ satire, “Stop the Planet of the Apes, I Want to get Off!”, “…from Chim-pan A to Chim-pan Zeee, NO! They’ll never make a monkey out of me…!” I refrained, as I was blown away.
I was impressed with the tightly wound thriller copping the vibe from the glory days of movie sci-fi that goes all allegory on our collective asses. It is moralizing with animal testing and humanities quest to be its own God by dictating its own destiny. Perfect.
I love the film not just for the obvious reasons, but because it fits in nicely with the rest of the series, make for a great starting point. Unlike Star Trek, Star Wars, or even X-men, the filmmakers had tons of wiggle room to work. Other than cryptic lines in the original film by Taylor and a few more in “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes”, by Roddy McDowall’s Ceasar about his ancestor Ceasar, the filmmakers could do whatever they want with that tiny bit of information. There is roughly 3,000 years separating this (potential) trilogy from the original flick so the sky is the limit. I hope that in the next pair of sequels, we will learn how the Apes evolve; how do they defeat humanity with no guns, establish a society with laws and ultimately enslave humans.
The original series of movies created a goofy circular timeline that allows RISE to be a prequel to the original and BENEATH and ESCAPE are its sequels. Cornelius and Zira’s kid, Ceasar from ESCAPE, creates the new timeline in which the ape revolt unfolds in CONQUEST. BATTLE is that film’s sequel with the brand new history intact. That film ends with human and apes getting along leaving the story with nowhere else to go, but backwards!
Tim Burton’s version could fit in anywhere as it is not a direct remake, nor does it contradict anything we know, but an alternate view of Earth ruled by apes, in either the past or future, at this point no cares about those events.
The one thing missing is a great score; Jerry Goldsmith’s genius is missing at the crucial times with his demented, weirdo music.
I remember Franco from a great television series from a decade ago called “Freaks & Geeks!” He played a high school rebel stoner dude who was always in two modes; high or ready to burst into tears and over the years had not done much to shed that image. “Super Bad”, “Spider-Man” and even his stint hosting last years Oscar show, (where many claimed he was high) perpetuated that image until he became a non-entity for me. Whatever his glitch was, he has fixed it, as his performance here is focused and convincing as an egghead research Scientist.
All of the performances are good; Cox is oily, Felton is nasty but Serkis owns the show, his performance, his physicality he brings to Ceasar is nothing short of amazing.
The film also has fun with its storied history, as there are tons of references to the previous films. It seems these kids did their homework and actually watched the original five films.

•  During Ceasar’s escape from the sanctuary, the line, “its madhouse….a madhouse” is uttered as is, “Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape,” both spoken by the vile Dodge.
• Ceasar’s mother is nicknamed, “Bright Eyes,” the same nickname given to Taylor (Heston) by Zira in the original film.
• Caesar’s horseback ride on the bridge and the police officer’s reaction to it is akin to the first film’s signature moment when Heston is shocked at the sight of an ape wearing clothes and riding on horseback.
• Caesar’s pronouncement of NO is a major event in the film as it was in “Escape from the Planet of the Apes” when Cornelius explains the ascent and revolt by his species when Ape first uttered the word NO to protest the human mistreatment of his kind. In addition, it ties in with BATTLE when the human teacher is told to never say the word NO to an ape.
• Even the late Heston is allowed a cameo as the television in the Sanctuary is plays one of his movies, “The Agony and the Ecstasy.
• One of the best and most linking is the television newscast of the launching of the rocket ship, Icarus that is headed to Mars. Fans will know this is the name of the ship in the original with Heston and his crew. It is later shown on a newspaper headline that the rocket has been lost, but not totally, as it returns 2,000 years later.

My initial reaction to this was skeptical of course as it felt like another irrelevant remake, but I was completely surprised that the film was this good. Not only telling a smart, compelling story, but also giving life once again to one of my all time favorite movie franchises.

Rock me, Dr. Zaius!

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