Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Let me start by saying that I have not joined the droves of newly minted James Franco fans (I mean, really...am I the only one that remembers the very angst-y job he did in Spider-Man or that he STARRED in such cinematic 'gems' as "Annapolis"???) nor was I a fan of Tim Burton's Ape movie (better known as the 2 hours I will never get back with a cast of stars that looked great on paper but made me weep because they were wasted on screen).   I was NOT enthused to see this movie but was invited on a hetero-man-date that I had been putting off for far too long.  While I went in with no expectations I was VERY happy with what I saw.


The movie was great; not because of the special effects or even because of the rehashed concept, but because of the fact that it actually had a PLOT and a realistic timeline associated with it.  It didnt say; here are monkeys and here is a drug and 24 hours later all hell was breaking loose.  The movie actually defied recent Hollywood logic by allowing the writers to write a GOOD story and by allowing the director to DO HIS JOB and make it come to life.

John Lithgow was masterful as always and Freida Pinto was typecast as the intelligent girlfriend and thus didnt add or take away from the movie.  I want to focus on Franco and the plot, the two real stars of the movie.  As I mentioned earlier, Franco actually had a script to work with and didnt mess it up.  He was excellent as a well-meaning animal conscious scientist looking for a cure for Alzheimer's.  He didnt behave as though his research was the end-all-be-all for the world nor did he act like the monkeys were there for his amusement and well intentioned torture sessions (those thoughts and intentions were left to the villain who was well played by David Oyelowo<---hats off to you for being the CEO I loved to hate).  He cared about whether or not the primates were treated humanely and was driven by a very personal reason to pursue his scientific theories; his father, played by John Lithgow, was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease.  When watching the movie you could feel his hope increase while he watched his ape learn and his father improved.  You could feel his contempt for his boss when things didnt go as planned, and you could see the pain and pride in his eyes at the end when he realized what he had to do.  It is the first time I have ever seen Franco actually ACT and I find myself going on IMDB to see what he has coming next. 

The plot was astounding.  As a professional movie watcher (I have seen at least 100 movies over 100 times each and can quote more than a few movies from opening to closing credits) I take pride is destroying movies with bad plots.  I sit quietly watching a movie; taking mental notes of every gaffe, every botched edit, every mistimed speaking part and use them to go on ad-nausea to whoever will listen about why the movie was CRAP.  Imagine my surprise when I was watching 'Apes', waiting for it to reveal itself as a typical summer movie sham, only to realize that the writers and director actually took the time to give back story to each character and to show the lapse of time between scenes so that the audience wouldnt think that the entire movie takes place within a week but over SEVERAL years.  This movie proves that even a summer blockbuster can fit plot, characters, and a great story into 1 hr 45 min without movie-file feeling like something has been left out.

I give Rise of the Planet of the Apes my full 'go to the theater AND buy it on Blu-Ray' seal of approval.