Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Ratings: 7.0/10

Film Class: A

Genre: Action

My biggest displeasure about this movie is how the trailer and title distorts the entire storyline and sets a wrong expectation about the film. Will Rodman (James Franco) is a scientist who have been working on a cure for Alzheimer's disease for the past 5 and a half years. After injecting a test ape with the drug, things got out of hand and the project was abolished. However, the test ape left a baby son behind... who was later named Caesar, the lead ape in this movie.

The drug increased Caesar's intelligence by leaps and bounds, but eventually, his inner nature took over... hence, the title, Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I'm not familiar with the Planet of the Apes franchise, all I know is that there a planet run by intelligent apes wearing sliver body armour. The trailer and the title is sure to veer one off the Eden's path.

Because, one, *major spoilers ahead*, the horde of apes, if that's what you call them, seen charging over a car-filled San Francisco Bridge in the trailer isn't a declaration of war on humans but of seeking freedom. And two, there's really no "rise" of the planet of the apes, the word "rise"as a revolting denotation to it. But no, the apes didn't form a horde to battle humans... all they did was to escape from our clutches.

There's something I'm sitting on the fence about. And that's the realism of the Apes. It appeals, yet somehow disturbs. I wouldn't say I liked it because of the realism and "human" essence seen in Caesar's mannerisms and eyes, and I wouldn't say I hated it because of how human they felt to me, with lotsa hair and almost seemed that an-ape-like face was plastered onto a human face. I thought Tom Felton's (evil teenage dude from Harry Potter) really did a great job in this movie because I started hating him almost immediately once he came on screen. His character was extremely detestable, but was so only because of his commendable portrayal.

John Lithgow did whatever he could with his limited screentime, though wasn't fantastic and the eye candy, Freida Pinto lit up the screen with her appearance. Unfortunately, in summary, there wasn't much screentime set aside for the "human" actors and there was a lot of emphasis on the CG-ed apes.

Was an engaging and heartfelt movie, occasional scares here and there but it lacked the "action-packness". In its place, there were many "cool" ape scenes though. Because of the nature of the apes, there's a part of me that was kept at the edge of my seats throughout the movie because I never know when Caesar or his other ape friends would "strike".

I enjoyed it, was a good watch but not one I would constantly be singing praises about. Sequel or not, I'm not spending sleepless nights thinking about it, if it comes, good, if it doesn't, so be it, wouldn't be too sad about it...