review by Mr. DuLac Pro
Rise of the Planet of the Apes 2011
Rewatched Jul 21, 2012
Mr. DuLac’s review:
Oh, he's a smart one, isn't he?
-Charles Rodman
Now this is how you reboot a franchise. I didn't care much for Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes for various reasons, the main one being I didn't think it was a very good film. It's the third film in a week from Burton that I mention not liking, I'd just like to say that I actually like the rest of his filmography quite a bit.
First of all the reason I love this movie so much is because of the genius in the simplicity of the story they chose to tell. The problem with remaking the original film is that everyone knows the twist at the end, even if they've never seen the movie people have heard how it ends. If you remake the original story you end up with a film built upon a twist ending that the audience is already in on no matter what the filmmakers intentions are. The only way around it is to change the ending which would piss off fans and change the entire dynamic of the film. It's a no win situation.
The reason I said genius in the simplicity of the story they chose is because it was a stroke of genius to go the simple root. Someone realized that it was almost impossible to do a good film with a remake and actually put some thought into it and choose to tell a story that six prior films and two tv series skipped over. It was the simplest solution of all, tell the story of how it all happened.
The script itself I think is just great really. They made me care about a CGI ape named Caesar. His character arc is what really makes this film so good. It's also the biggest surprise of the film, because you just expect Hollywood studios to make a big action movie out of something like this. You don't expect them to give you a thoughtful film that takes it's time to give character development to an ape. I'm also happy that Andy Serkis received a lot of attention when this film came out. Considering how many films he's worked on and what little name recognition he receives for it, needless to say it was well deserved. It was one of the most pleasant surprises at the theater in 2011.
I love this movie. Huge surprise on how good it was.
Agreed. Loved this movie and it was a damn near perfect way to reboot one of my favorite franchises (even if a majority of the films in it are sub par).
I agree some of them are sub par (and that's being kind), but there still a lot of fun to watch regardless lol. I'm happy Rupert Wyatt is directing the sequel. Looking forward to seeing what their gonna do in "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes". I think that's the title anyways.
Do you know if the same screenwriters are attached to the follow-up (I could look at imdb, but lazy)? I was so surprised by this film; I was expecting something terrible, and instead got something awesome. I just got this on blu and haven't watched it yet, I hope it holds up the second time around. I think it will though, because the script is so strong. Looking forward to listening to the commentary with the screenwriters, although I listened to this interview with them and it was super enlightening; not sure what else the commentary will add. But I mention it because they also talk about finding the root of a good story.
Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver wrote the screenplay for Rise and they're writing the screenplay for Dawn :-)
How awesome is that? Returning director and screenwriters. We're not always that lucky.
Wow that's awesome! thanks =)
Should be interesting! I love how they came up with the story that basically starts it all, should be interesting to see what they come up with for Dawn.