I have only seen the very first Planet of the Apes; it was years ago and outside of the main moments of that film, the rest has faded from my memory. So essentially, I felt like I was going in blind with this film. All I had in my head was that the apes I were about to see would be the ones that begin to turn the wheels on the revolution in the apes eventually taking over the world, hence its title Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The hype was incredible high, but I took my doubt into the theater. What I saw seemed revolutionary on one side, and completely ordinary on the other to come together to balance each other out to make a good enough film.
The story of the film seems broken down into three segments of the film, and most of it feels to go by a bit too fast. When Caesar is first brought onto the screen, he is so damn cute and extraordinary to see interact with the world around him. Seeing everyday objectives done by a chimp make them seem better than they actually are. This learning process seemed a bit quick though, jumping years ahead when we’ve only just met him. It was disappointing because it was where the film had the most potential to be great. The film wanted you to understand that Caesar and Will have a bond, but we never get to see that bond fully developed. When the film throws Caesar into a facility filled with other chimps is where the WEAT comes into play. It’s not necessarily ground breaking material here, but the way they accomplished this is where the entire buzz for the film comes from. They take time with developing the relationships between Caesar and other apes to a level they never reached with Will. Ironically, the film starts to fizzle off when it gets to the Rise part of the film and they “riot” around San Francisco. Things just became ordinary. It was material I didn’t want to see nor cared to see. A lot of hard work ended up being left off on a sour note.
The buzz around the film is all starts and begins with Andy Serkis and his motion capture performance. It is great no doubt, but when it comes down to it, it’s simply because an “ape” is doing all of this rather than an actual man. It makes it seem so special because it’s something you don’t often see. That’s exactly why it’s worth a watch; nothing in the plot is great, but the special effects were good enough to make you feel like these were a bunch of actual apes beginning to take over. Switching over to the human performance, everybody else seems to phone it in. They feel it’s good enough to deliver lines and let the audience gawk at the apes on screen. Very disappointing from everyone involved. On a special spotlight, Draco Malfoy was just an awful actor, I know the script was just as terrible for him, but the way he delivers everything is just plain laughable. The dude is going to fade and die into nothingness.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a surprise hit that gets a lot of much deserved buzz but isn’t the ground breaking film a lot of bloggers seem to be posting. When you think a film will blow and are surprised it’s not, it doesn’t mean it’s great, it means it exceeded your expectations. It is a well-made film that has a bit of everything for every type of person, but its shortcomings prevent it from becoming the film it could have bee. It’s a prequel that wasn’t necessary needed, but good enough to watch. Film fans should all go and give it a go around, there will at least be something that grabs your attention.
Overall Score: 7.5/10
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