Movie Review -- Rise of the Planet of the Apes
To give some background, from the Planet of the Apes many decades ago we learn that somehow apes became smart and took over the earth, with small pockets of human resistors. However, as far as I know, it was never explained how this happened. This is question that has needed answering for some 40 years. I'm surprised it took this long to think of this concept.
The movie covers a lot of ground, but very briefly a biotech company in San Francisco is working on a cure to Alzheimer's disease. As the movie starts they are testing it on chimps. The scientists are encouraged to find it makes them significantly smarter. It is a long story why, but one of the smart apes is raised in the home of one of the scientists. One thing leads to another and eventually that chimp gives the drug to other apes and they all revolt.
Not only was I not disappointed, but my faith in movies has been restored. This is what a summer movie is supposed to be about, a great science story. Unlike such movies as Transformers 3, it isn't about impressing the audience with special effects. Apes tells a great story, and it doesn't mock the audience by making it too complicated, like such movies as Inception. For those who need an adrenaline shot, you get it in the finale as police and apes fight it out over the streets of San Francisco, leading to a final battle on the Golden Gate Bridge.
Absolutely a great movie. I am no longer bitter about the last two turkeys I saw, because Apes makes up for it. You may remember I also liked Super 8, but Apes is even better. On my 0 to 10 scale, Apes gets a 9. I'm sorry if I gave too much away, but you pretty much learn all this from the trailer.
Quote: WizardI'm old enough to remember the original Planet of the Apes, so the idea of this prequel (note to Bill Gates: add prequel to your spellchecker dictionary) intrigued me.
I remember, too, mostly having watched them on TV on Sunday afternoons, way back chen. Only i never liked them.
Anyway, sorry to burst your bubble, but this isn't the first prequel. That "honor" goes to Escape From the Planet of the Apes way back in 1971.
And it's a ... DOCUMENTARY.
"Senna."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6rvBiYBL-w&feature=fvst
Been in very limited release.
Coming to Las Vegas Sept. 2, at Regal Cinemas Village Square Stadium 18.
This is a movie well worth seeing.
Quote: WizardThe movie covers a lot of ground, but very briefly a biotech company in San Francisco is working on a cure to Alzheimer's disease. As the movie starts they are testing it on chimps. The scientists are encouraged to find it makes them significantly smarter. It is a long story why, but one of the smart apes is raised in the home of one of the scientists. One thing leads to another and eventually that chimp gives the drug to other apes and they all revolt.
I think the idea came from real science and resulting ethical questions. Did someone here post it and that's where I first saw it? I quickly searched for a link and came up with that; scanning it quickly it doesnt seem to mention something I saw in that first different article, which asked a question similar to " what if the hybrid animal you are conducting experiments on was able to learn and speak a certain amount of human language?"
I'll have to see the movie now. Having it as a drug they take is lame but I guess it might be an allowable plot device so the movie can move along.
Quote: odiousgambitI'll have to see the movie now. Having it as a drug they take is lame but I guess it might be an allowable plot device so the movie can move along.
How else would you propagate a large population of smart animals quickly enough to have a revolution?
Quote: rxwineHow else would you propagate a large population of smart animals quickly enough to have a revolution?
By engineering a virus to provide gene therapy. Virus goes into the target cell, modifies the genes and dies, supposedly. Only your macguffin instead is contagious.
The latter doesn't make sense if you read what I wrote, which also makes it perfect for a movie :P
Quote: NareedAnyway, sorry to burst your bubble, but this isn't the first prequel. That "honor" goes to Escape From the Planet of the Apes way back in 1971.
you've got me looking this up. "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" seems to be a prequel, "escape" a sequel to that [but also a sequel to "planet of the apes" I think?]
Quote: odiousgambityou've got me looking this up. "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" seems to be a prequel, "escape" a sequel to that [but also a sequel to "planet of the apes" I think?]
"That's why discussions of time travel give me nose-bleeds." Geordi LaForge as quoted by Data in "Imzadi" :P
Quote: NareedAnyway, sorry to burst your bubble, but this isn't the first prequel. That "honor" goes to Escape From the Planet of the Apes way back in 1971.
I didn't know about that one. I hate to dis movies I've never seen, but I heard all the Ape sequels were mediocre, at best. However, I don't think that should count as a prequel because they traveled to the past from the future. So it is like the past happening in the future. Does that make sense?
Quote: EvenBobThe Ape movies always left me bored, too much makeup on too many well known actors. It was never believable for me.
I don't think will be a problem with Rise. To be honest, I don't know how they got the apes to looks so believable, but it had to be at least partially with computer special effects. They do list actors names for the major ape characters.
Quote: WizardI didn't know about that one. I hate to dis movies I've never seen, but I heard all the Ape sequels were mediocre, at best.
I find the whole idea mediocre at best. I mean, in the original movie we're supposed to think the astronauts reached a distant, new planet and find it controlled by apes. So we're supposed to be very surprised at the end when Charlton Heston finds the Statue of Liberty and realizes he's on Earth in the distant future. But the whole thing fails when there are humans all over the place.
Frankly I liked a minor parody on the Simpsons a lot better. It was a musical play on the movie, starring Troy McLure :)
Quote:However, I don't think should count as a prequel because they traveled to the past from the future. So it is like the past happening in the future. Does that make sense?
See what I said about time travel and bleeding noses...
Seriously, every time travel idea I've ever had ultimately crashes in a paradox or inconsistency, as does every time travel story I've ever seen, heard, watched or read. Such things make plot holes large enough to throw an aircraft carrier through.
Quote: Wizard
I didn't know about that one. I hate to dis movies I've never seen, but I heard all the Ape sequels were mediocre, at best. However, I don't think that should count as a prequel because they traveled to the past from the future. So it is like the past happening in the future. Does that make sense?
The new movie pretty much ignores the mediocre Ape movies #3, #4, and#5 along with the mediocre television series. Although it covers some of the same time period it is not a remake. A big change from the 1970's is that the Apes do not conquer mankind as much as inherit the world.
Quote: Wizard
I don't think will be a problem with Rise. To be honest, I don't know how they got the apes to looks so believable, but it had to be at least partially with computer special effects. They do list actors names for the major ape characters.
The apes are almost entirely CGI. I don't think they used any rubber suits at all. However, the motion is still based on real people like Andy Serkis who are mimicking apes. They have those special suits with sensors so that they can graft the CGI ape onto real human movement. Andy Serkis did Gollum in the Lord of the Rings. I think he is qualified for an acting nomination in awards shows. Although his dialogue is not extensive, it is genuine acting. It takes a bit of a genius to move like that.
I agree with the Wizard's review. This movie was probably the best of the summer movies and was better than I expected. I honestly thought that everything about the movie was in the promos. While the promos do reveal the core plot, they fail to reveal the solid emotion in the movie.
There was a small documentary released at the same time about a chimpanzee in the 1970's that was raised as a human and who developed a significant use of sign language. Sadly, he was abandoned by the people who raised him and spent his last decades in a zoo living with other chimpanzees. The documentary is supposed to be a real tearjerker.
Quote: NareedSeriously, every time travel idea I've ever had ultimately crashes in a paradox or inconsistency, as does every time travel story I've ever seen, heard, watched or read. Such things make plot holes large enough to throw an aircraft carrier through.
I agree, time travel gets abused as a deus ex machina device far too often. The only thing worse is using the "it was just a dream" device at the end. That's more likely to be used in TV, but it never fails to send me to the moon.
As far as the various Planet of the Apes inconsistencies, that the Apes and Heston spoke the same language was awful. You might excuse the filmmakers for asking us to generally give license for this, as often happens with movies, but in PoA they go to great lengths to make it clear this isnt just a convenient bypassing of how language problems would have to be handled, but that they are actually all speaking and understanding the same language!
Maybe the new movie is partly to explain this, eh?
MrV, is that YouTube link a link to "Senna"? I'm currently at work and can't access it, but I'm very interested.
Spoilers are contained in the below. To see this including the spoilers, you can highlight the text by swiping with a mouse. Or hit the Quote function icon.
Quote:"Beneath the Planet of the Apes" is a story about astronauts sent in search of the original missing astronauts. They also wind up in the same future Earth and get involved with the remnants of human society, who are horribly mutated by the nuclear war that ending human society. The apes have discovered them and are about to exterminate what is left of them. The mutated remnant humans are in possession of a doomsday nuclear device and the movie ends with their use of it, ending all life on Earth.
"Escape from the Planet of the Apes" is a movie about 3 intelligent chimps avoiding the destruction of "Beneath" and escaping back to 20th century Earth by using one of the spaceships that crashed. That's plausible, eh?
"Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" I quote wikipedia entry, "In 1983 (several years after the end of Escape from the Planet of the Apes), a disease kills the world's cats and dogs, leaving humans with no pets. To replace them, humans began keeping monkeys and apes as household pets." You may not remember that from 1983. Something terrible happens no doubt but I read no further.
"Battle for the Planet of the Apes" is some kind of sequel to "Conquest"
Thanks to ThatDonGuy for the hide-the-spoiler technique.
PS: I haven't seen "Rise" but have to wonder if the bit about nuclear weapons plays a role.
Quote: FaceSorry for off topic, but...
MrV, is that YouTube link a link to "Senna"? I'm currently at work and can't access it, but I'm very interested.
Yes, it is a link to the trailer.
My post was not off-topic, as the topic is about whether there are any good movies out there.
Too bad the only movie this group can get excited about stars anthropomorphic chimps.
There are top-flite movies out there, but you have to look.
Or, kick back and absorb mind candy like "Rise of the Planet of the Apes."
Quality is no accident.
Quote: MrVMy post was not off-topic, as the topic is about whether there are any good movies out there.
I wasn't accusing you, I was just apologizing for my own interuption of the current discussion. (it is a review thread about a specific movie, not movies in general)
Thanks for the "Senna" heads up. I've seen a lot detailing his life, career and details of his passing. I'm sure to enjoy a doc about him.
Quote: WizardGetting back to Rise, the audience can see as the story was taking place that a manned US spacecraft had entered the orbit of Mars and was ready to make a landing. That certainly ties into the first Apes movie, and would make for a good segue for a sequel.
This movie was obviously written hoping they could turn it into a franchise.
La Planète des singes was the original novel written in French by Pierre Boulle (February 20th, 1912 - January 30th, 1994). Read the synopsis (in English). the plot differs in significant ways from the 1968 movie.
Cornelius, Dr. Zira, Dr Zaïus and Nora are the character names kept from the original novel.
The hero of the novel is Ulysse Mérou, a journalist, who was replaced with Colonel George Taylor.
The nuclear war and the Statue of Liberty scene were not in the novel and were added by Rod Serling who wrote the original screen play.
Here is the suit that Andy Serkis wears with the sensors. They use CGI to superimpose the ape Caesar over his body. Andy uses his "Gollum" voice on his children, for fun and/or when they misbehave.
Boxoffice of the original movies
$32,589,624 Planet of the Apes 1968
$18,999,718 Beneath the Planet of the Apes 1970
$12,348,905 Escape from the Planet of the Apes 1971
$ 9,043,472 Conquest of the Planet of the Apes 1972
$ 8,844,595 Battle for the Planet of the Apes 1973
The boxoffice gives you an idea of how unsuccessful sequals were in those days.
Quote: odiousgambitI took the time to check it all out, and have concluded that the only prequel to "Planet of the Apes" is this new "Rise" movie.
Yeah, loops in time suck.
Logically speaking, every movie in a series involving a time loop is a sequel and a prequel of all the other movies!
Quote: s2dbakerIn Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Caesar leads a revolt against humans. But pretty much everything else is different.
Even the word revolt is not appropriate. I don't want to spoil the movie so I won't say more.
Both the new movie and the 1972 movie (the final one in the series) have an ape named Ceasar. Ceasar leads the other apes in both movies, and there are confrontations. But other than those simple plot points, everything else is different.
Watch the Trailer for Conquest of the Planet of the Apes with Roddy Macdowell playing Ceasar. Roddy MacDowell also played Cornelius in the earlier films.
The movie is a major topic of discussion at the coffee pot at work this morning. Seems like everyone who saw it, liked it. One guy said "Even my wife liked it," as if to suggest that he didn't expect that.
The original movie won an Oscar for makeup. One of the movies they were up against was 2001.
After losing, the 2001 makeup team commented that the voters probably didn't even realize that the apes in 2001 were actually men in costume. Hell, there was one shot of a monkey clinging to a man in an ape costume. So if the monkey believed them to be real apes, maybe the judges did too!
The original Planet Of The Apes book did not have the astronauts landing on Earth. There was none of the time travel stuff. Still, it was a great book - with an ending that had it's own shocking twist.
On the bridge, the main Ape, Caesar, makes it very clear that killing people is not their goal. He yells "No!" to stop other apes from killing helpless policemen. However, after the helicopter crash, Caesar looks into the dangling cockpit to see the head of the lab struggling to climb up but refuses to help him. Instead, he steps aside, and allows another ape to pick up the helicopter skid, letting the chopper fall over the side of the bridge.
Why? I didn't note any point in the story where Caesar would have a beef with the man, or know that he was the head of lab. If he was killing him for shooting at them from the helicopter, why would he stop the other apes from killing the cops who were shooting at them from the bridge? The way the scene played, it was as if the ape that threw the chopper off the bridge was given permission to exact revenge, but for what? What am I missing?
Never let the plot get in the way of a good movie moment.Quote: AyecarumbaWhat am I missing?
