RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES DVD (2011)
SYNOPSIS: Our greatest discovery will become the world's greatest threat when a scientist on the verge of a medical breakthrough begins testing on a young chimpanzee named Caesar. But when the chimp develops human-like intelligence and emotions, an epic battle ensues to determine the dominant species on the planet!
MOVIE REVIEW:
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is no monkey business though the sole star of the movie is none other than a digital simian realised by means of motion capture by Andy Serkis (Gollum, King Kong, Tintin etc).
Just when you are expecting another cheesy prequel, remake or reboot whatever Hollywood calls them. “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” turns out to be an unexpected piece of popcorn movie that entertains as well as being an excellent cautionary tale. Director Rupert Wyatt and his writers brilliantly crafted the story that links way back to the original 1968 classic, “Planet of the Apes” yet at the same time strangely distance itself from the old franchise establishing characters that will eventually tug at your heartstrings.
The movie opens with a scientist, Will Rodman (James Franco) who is on the verge of developing a new drug for Alzheimer. But when a female chimp went on a rampage and with the chimps being ordered to be put down and the experiment subsequently closed down by Will’s boss, Will secretly brought home a baby chimpanzee, Caesar and raises him on his own. Years passed and Caesar grown up to be exceptionally intelligent as compared to normal chimps and a series of incidents with humans forces Caesar to achieve things way beyond humans can imagined.
Much is emphasized on the character of Caesar since he will eventually lead his species to dominate over human beings. And indeed, Andy Serkins ‘plays’ Caesar with much class and aplomb giving the digital artistes at Weta plenty of material to work on. The relationship between Will and his Alzheimer-suffering father, Charles (John Lithgow) is emotionally wrenching to say the least and both Franco and Lithgow flexes enough muscle to their characters to leave an impression. Every movie needs a villain of sorts and Harry Potter alumni Tom Felton appears as a sicko ape-keeper, Dodge, probably a typecast character that Felton needs no effort to succeed given his decade long acting experience as the evil-scheming Draco Malfoy. Other notable names include Freida Pinto who plays the forgettable love interest and Brain Cox as Dodge’s dad.
As a late summer blockbuster release, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” delivers heart-pounding action sequences in the last act with the apes out in full force on a rampage and the subsequent face-off at the Golden Gate Bridge is smartly executed. Wyatt is also adept in creating tensions and thrills without relying too much on fancy CGI or major action sets, just a simple close up of Caesar’s eyes probably send a chill down your spine.
With clever storytelling, lavish CG effects and Andy Serkis’ thoughtful performance for this “Planet of the Apes” prequel, we are hyped up for the journey of how Caesar becomes an intelligent and talking simian provided Fox is smart enough to continually rest the material on capable hands.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Not all of the Deleted Scenes are included on this DVD except two brief ones.
The writers, director and James Franco talk about the links between the original series and the prequel in Mythology of the Apes.
A behind-the-scenes feature that showcases the motion-capture technology in The Genius of Andy Serkis.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Images are detailed and colour is rich, natural for the visual. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is loud and aggressive. Chimps’ roars are thunderous and the action-packed finale is filled to the brim with explosions and bullets effect while dialogue remains clear throughout.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
