"When the human underestimated the ape"

Title: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Year: 2011
Genre: Accion, Drama C. Fiction
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Writer: Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Pierre Boulle (suggested by novel “La planète des singes”) 

Runtime: 105min
Cast: James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, Tom Felton, David Oyelowo, Tyler Labine, David Hewlett
Produc.: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Chernin Entertainment, Dune Entertainment
Budget: $93 million approx.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes tells the story of Will Rodman (James Franco), a scientist dedicated to finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease, who ends up having to take care of a baby chimpanzee whose brain structure has been chemically altered, and that would end up being the one leading an offensive against men.

Last year I had the privilege of seeing at home the original 1968 "Planet of the Apes", starring famous Charlton Heston. At first I had my doubts about what would I find, considering that it was a production well before my time. Therefore, I was intrigued by everything related to the special effects of the time, or even to see how they resolved the makeup of the Apes, obviously primitive, if compared with the advances of today.

Soon Charlton Heston and his two mission companions were captured, and that is how I saw the apes, and not fell at all disappointed by their makeup. But mostly, it pleasantly called my attention to see an incredibly good script and where each of the sequences was itself compelling. And above all, that after a film so good, the ending involved a surprise twist in the story.

The reason why I do this review is my goal to make a brief comparison between the first movie and its prequel, curiously filmed many years later. It seems to me, the best way to know how to evaluate properly the last of the two. What happens is that if one has already seen the first film then the second is sure to be a mere entertainment. I'm not saying that's bad, but yes, Rise of the Planet of the Apes lacks the excellent level of its predecessor. Nor would it be correct to say that Rupert Wyatt´s movie has not been well thought out, since the way the ape escape is sorted out very convincingly. However, the main shortcoming of this new script is on the exaggerated importance given to the special effects. Wyatt doesn´t forgets to dedicate it´s time to both, animal reasoning and behavior, as much as to the relationship established between Will and his ape Caesar, but then also devotes several minutes to display digital animals driving a city in chaos. This is where the story loses its most interesting component to become a simple battle between oppressed and oppressors. Being also a product created to fill seats, he has done everything possible to make scenes involving action were extremely breathtaking. Hence, the apes were able to cross a bridge even in places where real life ones wouldn´t be able to do it, or showing an orangutan jumping from a bridge into a helicopter.

Finally, I would like to devote a brief comment on the final resolution of the film, from which I can say two things. On the one hand, stress that unlike the 1969th movie, here it becomes very predictable how it will end. Ever since Caesar looks into the distance from the top of a tree to see the bridge, we know what we are contemplating is his escape route. The second aspect is mostly mentioning a weakness in the script, as it is explained that the monkeys escape from the city to reach a forest, which will then be the strategic place where they continue to develop, organize and eventually dominate the humans. However, this place is not even remotely far away from the enemy ground. Being things this way, it would be ridiculous to think that these animals have a chance of starting there his ascent to power, as it would be only a matter of hours for Americans to send their army and finish up these rebel apes who are newly moving towards finding yet their greatest strength together. This means that it becomes more likely that the human race will extinguish because of a virus transmitted by primates (as is known at the end), to believe that the very reason that these primates will grow as an autonomous group for self-government rests, not only on its independence, but also in their new re location, attached to the society of his hunter, a man with weapons already developed.

Anyway, overall this film is very well told, and each of the special effects, either at the scene of the bridge as in the apes added by computer from minute one, have been impeccably designed, thanks to the best in digital technology. Needless to say, you won’t have time to get bored.

My rating: 6/10

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