Rise of the Planet of the Apes! MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!!!

[thalaw2]

Managed to check this out on a matinee with a friend.  Brief review below:










I didn't even know there was a remake/reboot/original or what ever genre this would fall under since I live out of the country and browse the net using Adblock (shameless plug).  That said the movie was not at all what I had expected from the trailers I did manage to see before going to the theater and from my own expectations given the history of the title.  This was disappointing for me because throughout the entire movie I was expecting to see the planet of the apes rise.  Not a story about some genetically enhanced monkeys...I mean apes.  Furthermore, the end result makes this movie no more than a rehash of the same theme that's been going on in movies for the past few years (disease kills all humans or turns them into zombies).  Something that didn't come out until the end and made me sigh, because I'm sick of this plot.  Also, some characters seemed to do things out of their established roles or even out of common sense (ie Caeser stealing drugs from the fridge and the guy not noticing until he finds the empty canisters)

However, Apes has a great story that kept me very interested and routing for the apes to start a revolution.  It looked like it might get Nat Turner like.  Visual effects were amazing even when you could clearly tell some actions were CG.  Overall, I really liked the movie and I would probably watch it again...just not in the theater.  7/10

[B A D]

Having that disease as a precursor to wipe out humanity is the only thing that makes any sort of sense to have the apes gain ascendance.  Regardless if the virus made them smarter, and they were already stronger and faster than humans, there are stillsix billion of us, and not so many as them. And we have guns.  And planes. And bombs. and  poison gas. And tanks. and ..you get the picture. Having the population decimated by a super bug evens (if not tips) the odds in Magilla Gorilla's favor and there you have it.

[thalaw2]

You're right, brother B.A.D., but I was just tired of seeing the super bug as a plot device. 

[stumpy]

I just saw this movie last night and I generally liked it.

Spoiler

The plot device of "a virus goes pandemic" theme is a little overused, but it fits the story well enough. FWIW, in the previews, I think there were two other "OMG! A virus is killing everyone!" movies.

Though nothing major, there were a couple of silly plot holes. The one that caught my attention most right during the movie was the pregnant Bright Eyes issue. There is no way that chimpanzee is going to be pregnant for months and then actually go through labor and none of the lab technicians who are monitoring her vitals every day notices it. Nor is she likely to "protect her baby" by abandoning it and running wild through the building when she felt threatened.

I thought the acting was solid all around. I almost fell out of my seat when I realized the punk kid at the chimp rescue shelter was Draco Malfoy. 

But I liked it overall. Lithgow's role had sort of a Flowers for Algernon feel to it. And, though the company boss' character was a trite caricature in many ways, there is an interesting ethical question in what to do if a lab animal shows signs of human-like intelligence but is also potentially very dangerous.

I agree that the graphics were outstanding. It's weird to think we have come so far in that technology that a movie like this can convincingly portray so many chimps when there were so few scenes shot with real chimps in them.

I guess it will be interesting to see if it does well enough for the sequel to be made. With the pandemic and the Mars mission, they've certainly set up the storyline so that a Planet of the Apes could follow and start with a very similar premise to the original.