The summer movie run is almost finished, and I've found my favorite by far out of this year's stock. Sorry Cap, Thor and Harry. The Apes have done it.
I'll admit I'm a little biased, being a fan of the original Apes series of the 70s/80s (while the Tim Burton remake looked nice, the only thing it really had going for it was Tim Roth). Going into this prequel I'd hoped only for some decent respect paid to the originals. Well I got that, and much much more.
The gist of it is so; James Franco's character Will creates a drug destined to cure Alzheimer's. Of course this drug is tested on apes, and this brings us to the chimp Ceasar, which as a result of said drug, becomes an intelligent simian with a destiny he is fully aware of.
The reason this film works is because an absurd idea (apes overthrowing mankind) is played totally straight and serious, with only the occasional hint or nudge to remind you of the FICTION in this science-fiction awesomeness. And I find myself enjoying films in this vein (ie. Jurrasic Park) that point out the stupidity of mankind and sometimes it's good to root for the animals, put us in our place a little.
Of course the star in this movie is Ceasar, played to perfection by motion capture master Andy Serkis (Gollum in Lord of the Rings). The effects are incredible, managing to bring this army of apes to life that will both impress and unnerve you. The character of Ceasar is filled with heart and conviction that inspired me far beyond I thought would.
The only part i found lacking, funnily enough, was the performances of the human actors. Some were great (John Lithgow as the ailing father, Franco as the obsessed Geneticist and Brian Cox as the abusive ape handler), but others kind of lacked. While I like Freida Pinto, her character as Franco's love interest was kind of pointless as the really important relationship is that between Franco's Will, and Ceasar. And Tom 'Draco Malfoy' Felton as the douchebag was a little too tongue-in-cheek to be taken seriously.
Other parts I loved were the occasional nod to the original. Newscasts of the Icarus shuttle mission to Mars (Charlton Heston's crash landing in the future) and beginnings of the plague that would wipeout mankind left me with glee and hope this will indeed become a franchise.
This was by far the best of the summer movies of 2011. See it.
Def Kudos to Franco & Lithgow & Directing style of the film. Where it started to fall flat was in the last quarter of the film. I think this was mostly due to the fact that the bad guy wasn't really that bad, didn't present much of an opposition and there was so little payoff when he fell to his death. Still my fave film of the summer!
ReplyDelete