A few weeks ago I was sitting in the theater with my son when I saw a trailer for an interesting movie about apes. I told my son "I really would like to see that". Yes the name, for me, was a bit weird but the plot seemed interesting and I really thought that this movie could be one of the best movies of the summer. Well it finally came out yesterday and I was not disappointed.
Before I review the movie I would like to share something about me. I'm a movie nerd. I LOVE going to the movies and analyzing every aspect of the movie. I'm the type of person who will go to the movies and spend the rest of the night reading about every part of the movie and talking about it too. I enjoying debating and hearing other people's views on that particular movie. I also am a softy. I hate seeing anyone mistreated and am known to root for the underdog. For example, in District 9 I rooted for the aliens and I damn near cried about how the humans treated them. All of this put together made Rise of the Planet of the Apes the perfect movie for a person like me.
The movie starts off in what I can presume to be Africa showing hunters capturing primates. This scene in my opinion sets you up to feel some sort of compassion for the primates. Imagine being in your home, running free and in the blink of the eye being forced into a cage to be experimented on. It tugged at my heart and made me Pro Primates from the start. The movie then moves onto a scientist who is trying to find a cure for Alzheimer's which his father suffers from. I found it weird that this is the second movie in a row(first was friends with benefits) that has dealt with this disease...a disease that I am familiar with :/ The scientist finds a cure in AZ112. He has been testing it on the captured primates. When it is time to show his findings to a pharmaceutical company that could pick it up, his main primate goes crazy and is shot. It turns out the primate is not crazy and has NOT had a reaction to the drug .... she was simply trying to protect her baby that she had recently given birth to. It doesnt matter. The company, who is only interested in making money not helping sick people, is no longer interested in the drug and the scientist is told to start over. He takes the baby primate(who is so freakin adorable) home and discovers that the drug was passed from the mother to the child and the baby is extremely intelligent. He names the baby Caesar and this is where the story begins.
The movie spends the first hour allowing the audience to get to know Caesar. We basically fall in love with him which also leads to us rooting for him in the end. Caesar is smart, caring and funny. The audience finds themselves awww'ing when Caesar does something cute and gasping when something gruel is done to him....like when the next door neighbor attempts to beat him with a bat for trying to ride his daughter's bicycle. I doubt many of us have ever owned a primate but somehow someway you tend to forget that Caesar is that. After his father gets worse and worse, the scientist decides to give his father the experimental AZ112. It works. His father improves and we see the scientist(I forgot his name), his girlfriend, his father and Caesar living happily ever after.
This is where the movie takes a turn. The father's immune system creates antibodies and fights against the drugs. Therefore his Alzheimer's returns and he gets sick all over again. This is a major plot development point for the movie. One day the father goes outside and steals his neighbor's car. He hits the car in front and the car behind him before the neighbor comes out(the same neighbor who attempted to beat Caesar with a bat) and drags him out of the car. He yells at the old man and calls the police. Caesar is watching all of this from a window. All he sees is the man hitting the old man .... the man who has helped to raise him and he is furious. He goes outside and attacks the man, attempting to protect his owner. Of course he takes it too far ... he chases the man down the street and bites his finger off. This sets us up for what we knew would always happen(or at least I did) ... Caesar is taken into custody and sent to a primate shelter.
The shelter looks like a good place for primates ... on the inside ... but once Caesar's owners leave the audience is shown what really happens to the primates. They are kept in small cages, they are fed slop, they are wild animals who beat each other. You cant help but feel sorry for Caesar. He has never been around other primates before and he stands out. He is the only primate wearing clothes. He appears to be the only primate who can communicate(we later find out an orangatan can also sign). He is the only primate who is not "wild". The owners dislike him because he is smart and abuse him. The apes dislike him because he is not like them. He is jumped on and I cant lie ... I was about to cry. I felt so sorry for him but I was also puzzled as to why Caesar did not tell his owner what was happening to him when the owner visited him.
In the real world the scientist creates a new drug...this drug is AZ113. He begins testing it on other primates in hopes of finding something that will cure his dad. While testing it on one primate that I will call Blue Eyes, something goes wrong and one staff member is exposed to the drug. We find out two things in this scene...1. the drug is now a spray and 2. it is fatal to humans. So when the scientist steals it to give it to his ailing father, the audience cant help but to scream "noooooo" We already know his fate. Meanwhile Caesar has stolen a knife from a human and he goes and releases a silverback ape by the name of Buck. Doing this not only gives Caesar(who is very smart) the ability to release his counterparts but it also provides him with a powerful ally. Caesar attacks the primate who has been harassing him but he refuses to kill him. All of the other primates witness this and now Caesar is in charge. He steals cookies for the primates and is seen as their leader. When his owner come to pick him up for good(because his father has died) Caesar refuses to go. He breaks out of the facility and steals the AZ113 releasing it into the facility. It works. When the primates wake up the next morning all have green eyes like Caesar. This is a characteristic of the drug. Caesar begins training them and they eventually escape. They rescue all of the other primates in the city, fight the police and head to the woods where they set us up for a sequel.
There were a few things that I was puzzled about. I understood the captured primates being smart because they were exposed to the drug but how did the zoo primates become intelligent? How did the other primates become intelligent too? Did Caesar give them the drug as well? That's the one thing that I needed explained to me and maybe it will be explained in the sequel. Overall the movie was really good. You couldnt help but to cheer for the primates. Yes some parts were a little predictable. I was not surprised when Caesar spoke. I have seen the other Planet of the Apes movies and was surprised that it took so long for him to speak. I was also not surprised when old Blue Eyes killed Jacobs. I knew that was coming. Old Blue Eyes was a scary looking primate but I loved him. To me his character represented so much. The scientist thought he was a "good" primate because he never caused any problems. He had been experimented on sooooo much and it showed. He had scars on his face, different colored eyes and you could tell that on the inside he was an angry and hurt chimpanzee. I knew that given the opportunity he would kill the people responsible for him looking and feeling that way. I was a little surprised when Buck sacrificed his life so that Caesar could live and continue to be the leader. It made me question whether or not animals have feelings...do they have souls?
The movie is one that could spark several debates. How ethical is it to test on animals? Do animals have souls? Are humans often "playing God"? What are the consequences of such actions? I even found underlying themes of the judicial system and educational system in there. I still have not found anyone who has watched the movie that is willing to debate such subjects with me. My date kept saying "its just a movie" Ughhh how boring is that. Overall I give Rise of the Planet of the Apes an A. I really enjoyed it. Its one of the best movies that I've seen all summer after Captain America. My advice...go and see it. You wont be disappointed. :)
Rise of the Plant of the Apes - A
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