The "Planet of the Apes" franchise was extremely prominent in the late 60's and early 70's, spanning five films and two television shows. Tim Burton did a remake in the early 2000's, but it has since been universally panned. It appears that the franchise about intelligent primates was becoming dated rather fast. So, it seems shocking that a modernized reboot would have managed to not only resurrect said franchise, but evolve it far more than it ever was. The first installment in the reboot trilogy follows Will Rodman, a scientist who hopes to find the cure for Alzheimer's Disease by experimenting on chimpanzees. When one of the experimented apes is killed and leaves behind a infant baby, Will takes him in and names it Caesar, marvelling at how the experimental drug has managed to vastly improve the intelligence of the aging chimp. Years later, a mature Caesar is taken away to a primate sanctuary following an incident. Will fails to get him back while working on a stronger version of the cure that is unknowingly fatal to humans. As Caesar witnesses the injustice towards his kind and their lack of intelligence, the ape plans to begin a revolution that will impact the rest of the world. Compared to its sequels and previous films of the franchise, the story manages to focus very well on the drama with Will and Caesar. While the climax becomes action-packed, the majority of the film is set up as a medical/boy-and-his-dog drama which really works at giving this film identity compared to other films of the franchise. However, the issue with the story is that it carries a huge plot hole. Will, in the first third of the film, gives his father the experimental cure in order to test the effects. The cure manages to work as his father acts perfectly normal for five years. However, after said five years, the effects of the cure begin to wear off, so Will goes to his superiors to help make a stronger version of the drug. Here's the problem. Will is only telling his boss NOW?! He has kept the results of his cure secret for five years and only when the drug is wearing off does he NOW bring this up? Worst yet, it's the fact that they think that making the cure stronger is the next stop of approach, which would of course cause the Simian Flu. I know that five years isn't life-long results, but that's actually very good and would actually make more money in a business perspective. But no, the forced nature of creating the Simian Flu has to make Will stupid as a result.
James Franco as Will does a good job in playing this sincere scientist who wants to help people, especially the ones he cares for. Aside from the aforementioned plot hole and questionable common sense, he actually manages to be the most likeable human character of the franchise because the film makes the chemistry between him, Caesar, and his father so grounded and wholesome. Andy Serkis as Caesar is brilliant to say the least, especially in this film. Caesar, for the most part, only communicates in sign language and only utters four words in the entire film, so a lot of the character and drama has to be captured by the facial and body movements. It's also perhaps the film where the character has the most range of emotions in the trilogy. Jon Lithgow as Charles, Will's father, almost outperforms Serkis in this film. The scenes of him burdened by Alzheimer's and the bond he holds Will and Caesar can be powerful at times, which is just thanks to Lithgow's determination to the role. While you got the main three actors that hold the movie, the rest of the side characters kind of fit generic or forgettable roles. Freida Pinto as Caroline Aranha, Will's girlfriend, is really pointless despite his affiliation with primates. David Oyelowo as Steven Jacobs, Will's boss, is good, but plays the typical evil capitalist who doesn't care for the safety of the apes. Brian Cox plays John Landon, the owner of the primate sanctuary and who's clearly a poor supervisor of taking care of the primates. Lastly, there's Tom Felton's Dodge Landon, the son of John and a caretaker of the apes who constantly abuses them out of enjoyment. There are other minor characters such as Will's douchebag neighbour, the other caretaker of the apes who hates Dodge, and the guy who will become Patient Zero, but their roles don't really add much to the story or conflict. I could talk about the other primate characters, but I will only touch upon them in the effects as their personalities haven't truly developed in this first outing. The cast is fairly good and there wasn't an awful performance whatsoever, but because the characters of Will, Caesar, and Charles were well-acted and compelling, it makes the side characters suffer as they don't feel like fleshed-out people, but rather pawns in order for the story and ending to happen.
This was the only film in the reboot-trilogy to be made by Rupert Wyatt as he believed that he needed more time to make the sequel rather than his replacement director, Matt Reeves. It's unfortunate as this was not only Wyatt's best film in his career, but it begs the question of what if he handled the entire trilogy. Rather than the more epic or western approach that Reeves uses in the sequels, Wyatt instead makes every act feel like a different type of genre. The first act is a wholesome drama, the second act is a prison-break film, and the third act becomes a riot-esque standoff with the police. While the other sequels make the racial prejudice element more explicit, I love how the tone and mood changes as the film progresses, making it an effective, emotional roller-coaster. The cinematography by Andrew Lesnie adds to the genre progression as the camerawork becomes more and more ambitious and sweeping the more the film progresses. The score by Patrick Doyle is decent, but not particularly powerful compared to tracks heard in the sequels. It's akin to family-adventure or fantasy and while there are some nice musical moments, it tends to fall below in the generic side of things, especially compared to Micheal Giacchino's contributions in the sequels. The visual effects are outstanding to say the least. Sure, it does depend on the quantity of how many apes are onscreen in order for them to be life-like, but the motion-capture effects are still really good regardless of the polish. The other chimps, gorillas, and Maurice the orangutan all have defined personalities by their body language and faces and it's fascinating that the CG monkeys can feel and act more human than the majority of the human characters in the trilogy. The last thing to mention will be the climatic action sequence on the Golden Gate Bridge. While there are some silly or over-the-top elements such as policemen on horses with batons and a giant gorilla taking enough bullets to leap onto a helicopter, it's just so satisfying to watch and the use of the bridge is very clever to showcase the advantages of the fog and the agility of the primates. Overall, Wyatt did the best job he could on the film and made his only entry into the franchise perhaps the most unique out of the franchise.
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is a great starting point to a fantastic reboot trilogy, despite having some glaring issues. The plot hole regarding Will not bringing up or just using the same formula for the drug is head-pounding inducing and the majority of the human side characters are either generic or cliche bad guys to motivate the narrative. Aside from these two issues and the fact that this is generally considered as the weakest of the trilogy, that doesn't mean that the film itself is bad. The story is greatly executed, the tone is unique to said trilogy, the trio of Will, Caesar, and Francis offer some of the best characters in the franchise, the acting across the board is really good regardless of the cliched roles, the cinematography by Lesnie is characteristic, the score by Doyle has its highlights, the visual effects deserved to have won the Oscar that year, the action at the end is awesome to watch and is the second-best set-piece of the trilogy, and Wyatt's directing manages to offer plenty of genre-bending that allows the film to be timeless in its identity. If the writing was tighter, it could have been the best of the trilogy. As it is though, it's a fun and important building block for the franchise.
Verdict: 7.5/10. Very good, but has its fair share of problems. Still an entertaining and fascinating watch for both fans and newcomers.
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