In my mind, there's no worse review
you can give a movie than to say it's “alright.” Damning with
faint praise is no fun; I'd much rather pan a movie or celebrate it.
Sometimes, though, a movie is adequate to its task, and no more, and
that's how I felt about “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.”
James Franco plays scientist Will
Rodman. Will has developed a gene therapy for Alzheimer's.
Introduced into a chimpanzee's brain using a virus, the gene makes
them smarter. Unfortunately, one of the female chimps becomes
inexplicably aggressive, and the project is scrapped. After all the
chimps have been put down, the reason for the female's aggression
become clear – she was hiding a baby in her cage. Will takes the
baby home, names him Caesar, and raises him into a remarkably smart
ape, one who we know is destined to lead a planet of apes.
It's a good-enough origin story,
dragged down by lazy writing. James Franco does the best he can with
the material, and Freida Pinto, as a veterinarian and love-interest,
at least looks really good. John Lithgow chews some scenery as
Will's father, who has Alzheimer's. (You didn't think they would
have Will study Alzheimer's without having a completely obvious,
personal motivation, did you?) The mustache-twirling villains are
paper thin, doing whatever ridiculous action is required to advance
the plot.
The brightest spot in the film is
actor Andy Serkis, who did the physical acting and facial expressions
on which the CGI character of Caesar was built. Serkis, who played
Gollum in “Lord of the Rings,” owns this niche, and he's in top
form here. With body language and facial expressions, he gives
Caesar more subtlety and depth than all the human characters in this
film, combined. If you have nothing better to do, it's worth
watching the film just for him. Still, I can't help thinking that an
infinite number of apes, typing on an infinite number of keyboards,
could, given some time, write a better movie than this.
2.5 stars out of 5
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