Review #14 – Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Please, please, please go see this movie. I know it is unusual for me to put a personal appeal in the headline of a review, but I think it is necessary. Even if you don’t like any other Planet of the Apes films. Even if you are tired of sequels and prequels. Even if you laughed at how stupid you thought the trailer looked. Go. See. This. Movie. You’ll thank me afterwards.
-Andrew Saunders
Beware the SPOILERS of the Planet of the Apes!
20:29
so, Planet of the Apes
20:30
It was Earth all along. Who knew?
Oh, wait, should have put a spoiler alert on that.
Oh well.
20:30
They blew it up!
those damn stinking apes!
20:31
Ok, I’ll get it out of the way right from the beginning…so glad they Malfoy that line.
Right before he died the death he probably deserved in the Harry Potter movies.
20:31
That kid is going to play villians his whole career
alright, let me propose something here
20:31
Just like his father before him.
His father, of course, being Jason Issacs.
20:32
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, best movie we’ve seen this year?
20:32
Did you forget about Super 8?
Second best of the summer.
20:33
Ok, see I’m on the fence
20:33
I’m as shocked as you are for admitting it…but this was a really really good movie.
20:33
I was blown away
20:33
I walked out of the theater thinking “Is this the same movie that all the people in the theater laughed at when they saw the trailer during Harry Potter?”
20:34
I cant believe Planet of the Apes turned out to be the most original franchise movie in ages
20:35
I know, right? They managed to make one of the biggest, most laughable franchises of the past few decades and make it contemporary, original, and, above all, innovative in its use of the medium of film.
20:36
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind it being nominated for best picture
thats how much I liked it
20:36
Wow…I wouldn’t go that far.
20:36
I would, at least until i see 10 better films this year
20:36
I can’t think of another movie I’d rather see win best visual effects, but besides that, I’ll just wait until the Christmas movie season.
20:37
so far, I’ve only seen 1 that is possibly better
and there very well may be 10 better ones that show up by then
20:37
Well, I enjoyed Super 8 and Beginners more, but this is in the top 5 of the summer for sure.
I’m sure it will stay up there for me.
20:37
best visual effects, maybe an acting nod for Serkis
that will never happen, but it probably should
20:38
I actually thought about that walking out of the theater…I wouldn’t mind him getting a best supporting nomination one bit.
It won’t happen though, if he didn’t get one for LOTR.
20:38
well, he wasn’t really supporting
he was the lead of the film
20:38
Yeah, but there’s no way they have any chance if they put him in the lead race.
Their best shot is to submit him for the supporting race.
Not to mention he didn’t get top billing for the movie, which I know means nothing as far as the movie goes, but it means the studio won’t support him if he wants to go for a Lead nod.
20:40
well, thats all politics
I’m just saying he deserves it
20:40
If they wanted to be ballsy and say, “Hey, this guy’s performance is worth looking at, Academy voters”, they would have given him a top bill.
20:40
I think there is actually no chance of getting a nom
20:40
Well, we all know the Oscars have nothing to do with actual merit.
20:40
wait… what!?
are you telling me its about campaigning and who likes you the most?
blasphemy
anyway, back to the review
20:42
Besides Sebastian Shaw’s death by coin, I’m going to call Malfoy’s death by irony the best death of the summer season.
Any other takers?
20:42
It was satisfying
umm… the alien in cowboys and aliens who gets gold plated
20:43
Haven’t seen it yet.
We’ll get there…eventually.
20:43
spoiler alert
20:43
Possibly.
20:43
well, honestly I wouldnt rush to the theater
but again, back to apes
I thought they did a great job of implimenting things from the series without it feeling shoehorned in
20:46
I honestly don’t think 75% of the audience has seen the original series at all, so they really shouldn’t have thrown it in our faces.
However, it was fun to see the little easter eggs throughout.
I particularly liked the touch of the spears being made from the monkey cages.
20:46
well people know the famous line
and they have the astronaut thing on the tv
and bright eyes
all little bits for the fans to pick up on
20:47
I don’t think most people, if any, in my theater got any of those references besides the first.
20:47
thats fine, but I did
20:47
I liked the stuff about Icarus, which will be fun if they decide to make this into a franchise.
20:47
so I think it was very well done
20:47
I mean, a separate franchise.
20:48
yea, i think this wipes the slate from the older movies
im not a Planet of the Apes expert, but i do believe they’ve messed with some stuff
20:49
Well, I could be really nerdy and tell the audience here how they handled it in the original series, but instead I’ll just direct them to the wiki pages for Escape from the Planet of the Apes and Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.
They tell a very different story.
20:49
ahh, see again I’m not a loser.. I mean expert
20:50
I liked this one much better, because it seemed more natural and less science-fictiony, believe it or not.
The original series used time travel and stuff like that.
Not nearly as cool as Apes actually becoming intelligent.
20:50
I thought the science of it was very believable
and to steal someone else’s phrasing, every step seemed logical
20:51
I know…I could actually see something like this happen. It makes sense that the thing that makes Apes intelligent would also be harmful to humans.
20:51
and the virus thing solved a problem I had heard raised about the whole movie
the apes don’t have guns, how did they ever take over the world?
and then that solves it, humans were too busy dying from the virus
20:53
Plus, for once, I actually was rooting for the Apes…they did a really good job of making those particular humans seem like complete jerks.
20:53
the ape house humans yea
i liked how Caesar just wanted to be free, not to kill
other than helicopter dude, he had it coming
20:55
Well, even some of the humans from the Science place deserved to die…I’m sorry, but if you start bleeding out of your year, you don’t run to someone else’s house. You get a Hazmat team.
ear*
20:55
yea, that guy caused the near extinction of humanity
I really enjoyed how they showed Caesar become a leader
I can totally see how years from then, there would be a sort of cult of Caesar
they’d look at him like we look at Washington
20:57
Well, it was a movie about a revolution rather than a conquest, right? I think that’s why this film one upped the original series. It’s just more understandable and relatable to humans.
20:57
for sure
I don’t normally do this, but I really like what you just said there
good job
revolution vs conquest
20:58
Haha, thank you sir.
Came up with it all on my own.
I deserve a cookie.
20:58
don’t get cocky
20:59
Watch your language.
Now, before I get into what I disliked about the film, I have to give one more shout out…can John Lithgow be anything but amazing in anything he does?
Even in the movies of his I disliked, I’ve always enjoyed his performances.
20:59
yea, he was by far the best human character in the film
21:00
Which segues into my major criticism…James Franco. The poor kid has just had a rough year.
21:00
when Caesar flips his fork around, I felt so sad
21:00
He wasn’t horrible at all.
He was just…so utterly bland to me.
His girlfriend? Could have cared less if they would have brought in the chick from Transformers 3.
21:01
yea, the humans were just ok
they didn’t hurt the film for me, but they didn’t do anything to help either
why get Brian Cox? what did that character really do?
21:02
Be a jerk. Isn’t that his M.O. in every movie he does?
Besides the 25th Hour.
Which I’ll bet all of 8 people reading this will have seen.
21:02
thats a high bet
wanna take an over under on that?
21:03
I don’t gamble.
21:03
lame
you just know I’d win
but here’s the deal, Caesar was so engaging that the human characters were just in the background for me
21:05
I will agree…but they spent too much time with the humans, in my opinion. After they killed Lithgow, they should have just focused on the monkeys. I didn’t care at all about the humans after that.
Now, I’ve been looking at this one of two ways.
1) The filmmakers did this on purpose so the audience would root for the Apes to win and actually be happy the humans were going to die.
2) They focused so much on the Apes, they forgot there were humans, so they just threw that stuff together as fast as they could.
I honestly can’t decide which it was.
21:07
now see I don’t feel like I was happy the humans were going to die
I was happy that the apes made it to the forest, but their intention was not to take over the planet so it was easy to root for them
and most of humanity was unawares, so its easy to feel sympathy for them
the only people I was happy watch die were the ape handlers and the scientists
21:09
I was happy the humans died. Meant more screen time for Andy.
Who, after King Kong, has solidified himself as the best monkey actor in the business.
21:10
well I was happy when Caesar showed restraint
when he stopped them from killing that nicer handler guy, I really grew to like him more
Caesar wasn’t just angry, he was way more complex and was fighting for his “people”, not for revenge
21:11
Oh, before we give our final impressions, I do have to mention one more thing about Malfoy…
I think he got confused with the tazer and thought it was a wand. Otherwise he might not have killed himself.
21:12
really reaching for that joke huh
21:13
I had to insert it somewhere.
I wasn’t the only one who was thinking it.
21:13
thats what he said
ok, final impression, go
21:15
Rise of the Planet of the Apes in amongst the best popcorn movies of the year and will hopefully be regarded as the film that showed motion capture performances are as legit of an acting trade as any other. 3 1/2 Chips Ahoy cookies out of 4.
21:19
Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a genre film that manages to reach the top of its potential, with an amazing motion capture performance by Andy Serkis. 3 1/2 deadly virus canisters out of 4
21:20
Well, I’m glad to hear you went bananas about this movie too.
21:20
I hate you so much
