My initial thoughts when I first heard that they were going to make a prequel series to the classic sci-fi movie “Planet of the Apes” were that we could very well see a terrible idea come to fruition. Before I get into the actual movie I would like to address a question that has plagued me for recent years..... Why are there remakes, reboots, and prequels? I understand that these types of movies are an opportunity for younger and newer audiences to be exposed to a certain series, but I find that Hollywood, in all of its infinite wisdom and power isn’t giving the original materials proper exposure to the masses. I’m not saying that all remakes, reboots, and prequels are bad but rather how they are hit and miss (80% miss 20% hit). With that all out of the way, I can give my honest opinion of the most recent installment of the Planet of the Apes series, Rise of the planet of the Apes.
Let’s talk about the casting for a brief minute. The movie is in fact a prequel (I don’t know, maybe the title of the movie gave it away) any audience can go into this movie with a somewhat fresh perspective. This movie is headlined by James Franco , fresh off his highly successful movie “127 Hours (2010)”, and I find that he give his best possible performance, given that the subject matter is a monkey invasion. His acting is good but he just doesn’t seem like the type of person who ultimately doomed the entire planet by creating a prime ape uprising, resulting in the death of all humans, but I digress. The movie is directed by Rupert Wyatt, who I feel watched a lot of “300” before shooting this because the entire third act of this film is nothing but man versus ape in a bloody battle of epic proportions. So, enough talking about the “behind the scenes” stuff and dive right into the movie!
[THIS IS PREQUEL!!!!!!!!!!]
Let's Get Started:
Our movie begins with an EVIL office room with EVIL business workers attending an EVIL board meeting in which they talk about the vaccine that they created to help cure Alzheimer’s disease, which coincidentally is not so EVIL. We then get introduced to our main hero, who ushers in an age of apocalypse in which all humans are put at the mercy of the apes, Will Rodman (James Franco) who brings in his monkey specimen who he has ejected with the Alzheimer’s cure. For some strange reason the monkey starts flipping out and destroying the conference room and office building. Instead of doing the obvious thing and tranquilizing the ape, a dumb security guard shoots it a couple of times until it falls to its death, no doubt costing the research center millions of dollars and setting back the world of science ten years. Surprisingly the guard goes unpunished and it’s Will who ends up having to shut down the entire research program because he couldn’t handle the monkey properly. While collecting his things he comes across a baby monkey who has been born with all of the positive side effects of the cure. Instead of doing the logical thing and telling his boss that there is still hope for this cure to work, he takes the baby monkey home and names him Caesar. (DUMBEST MOVE EVER!!!)
[THIS Is the guy that causes downfall of the entire human race... WHAT?!]
As Will goes home we see that his father, played by John Lithgow, who has Alzheimer’s disease and is progressively getting worse. Will shows the baby monkey to his father who is overjoyed to have him as a new pet. Still feeling sorry for his dad Will goes back to the labs in the office and takes the remaining cure samples he has left. The next night Will gives the cure to his dad who miraculously is fully cured. While all that is going on Will also notices how smart Caesar is becoming and how advanced he is for a monkey (1st unnoticed sign of a monkey upraising). Will then continues to teach Caesar while constantly spending time with him and having fun, almost like an animal version of “Full House” without John Stamos.... and the Olsen Twins are substituted for a super genius monkey.
[This Could Quite Possibly Be The Equivalent of a John Stamos Ape...]
Will then goes into a relationship with another scientist Caroline, don’t worry she is such a minor character that here mere presence in the film is questionable. So, Will and Caroline go out and bring along Caesar to frolic around while they go on dates. While frolicking Caesar ponders the thought of wanting more out of life (2nd unnoticed sign of a monkey upraising) and wanting to be human, like Will (3rd unnoticed sign of a monkey upraising). While the group packs up and leaves passing people stop and stare at Caesar, probably because of the whole being a super smart ape, which makes him uncomfortable. Months later we see that Will’s dad for some reason is getting progressively worse as the Alzheimer’s is coming back. With that said Will finally gives in and shows the smart monkey to the labs in order to get the updated formula for his father.
[Caesar is NOT AMUSED!]
With Will finding another cure, we see that Will’s dad attempts to get into a car... the only problem with that is he doesn’t own that car. The car belongs to a really loud and annoying character (REMEMBER HIM) who apprehends him in a violent manner, which Caesar thinks is an attack, so ultimately goes crazy and making a big scene. Will does the most logical thing and puts Caesar in an artificial habitat for monkeys...... HE PUT THE SUPER INTELLIGENT APE IN A MONKEY RESERVE?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Whatever, moving on we see a newspaper heading reading that the recent launch of a rocket to mars has mysteriously gone missing.
[Charlton Heston is NOT AMUSED!]
[Monkyous Repelous! hahahaha He Wishes]
So, in the process of Caesar creating a monkey upraising, Will finds that his new updated cure, while making monkeys smarter, is incredibly fatal to humans......... So, ultimately Will’s assistant gets exposed to the new cure. Meanwhile, Caesar continues to cause an upraising which ultimately does come to fruition when he steals the updated cure form the lab and gives it to his new monkey friends as the world is at the super intelligent ape army!!!! THE WORLD OF MAN, WHO DO INFACT HAVE GUNS AND WEAPONS ARE AT THE MERCY OF APES WITH SPEARS.........WHAT?!?
So the EVIL boss of the lab dies, Malfoy (Tom Felton) dies, and the monkeys have finally escaped the city! It now comes down to Caesar and Will coming face to face for the final time. Though Caesar felt betrayed he does leave Will happily and now finally treated as an equal.......... Oh! Also remember that character 235 words ago? Yeah well he gets infected by the updated cure and coincidentally works as a pilot....... LEAVING ROOM FOR SEQUELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Honest Thoughts:
To be honest, I liked the movie. I did have low expectations going into the movie but I can definitely say that it is a well rounded story. The characters are likable enough to care about and at times we do feel for Caesar and see the pain he is going through......... Only now we may have a prequel trilogy on our hands..........
[Was Mr. Lucas involved in ending? We may never know! duhh duhhh duhhhhh!]
FIN.
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