Review: "Apes" Rises

Rupert Wyatt's Rise of the Planet of the Apes is hands-down the best movie of the summer, and could quite possibly go down as one of the best of the entire year. Not only is it a pulse-pounding action movie (which doesn't come into play until the third act) but also a thought-provoking and incredibly heartfelt science-fiction drama.

The story revolves around Will Rodman (James Franco), a scientist at GEN-SYS who has dedicated his life to finding a cure for his Alzheimer's-afflicted father (played beautifully by John Lithgow) by testing a retrovirus on chimpanzees. The virus affects the chimps' neurological systems, giving them an advanced, humanlike level of intelligence. When one of the super-intelligent chimps is killed, Will is charged with taking care of its child, Caesar (Andy Serkis), who has inherited his mother's intellect and strength but remains a loyal pet to Will and his father. Soon, however, Will is unable to control Caesar, who spearheads a spectacular escape from a holding facility and leads his fellow apes on a rampage through the streets of San Francisco.

This film is so much more than an action movie with monkeys. In fact, the climactic ape invasion doesn't even happen until the third act, as the first two thirds of the film set up the human characters and their relationship with the apes. Wyatt adds a great amount of emotional depth to the story and does the most important thing one can do in a movie: make us actually care about the characters, both human and primate. We care about Will's undying determination to cure his dying father. We care about Caesar wanting to break free from domestication in order to realize his full potential. And most of all, we care about the scientist and his primate friend's special bond and, ultimately, their inevitable separation.

During most of the movie, you find yourself actually rooting for the apes to escape their confines and wreak havoc across the human population, which is no small feat considering the eventual human enslavement that takes place in the original Planet of the Apes film. At the end of the story, as the apes find refuge in a national redwood forest and the seeds are planted for human devastation, we feel a haunting sense of defeat as the humans realize that they are no match for the hyper-intelligent apes. Man has foolishly tried to control nature, and nature has won.

Rupert Wyatt's direction is top-notch. The film goes by fast enough that it isn't a bore but slowly enough that we have time to get a feel for the characters and understand the ethical implications of what is happening. Even more impressive, however, is the film's special effects. Using motion-capture technology, the CGI apes look incredibly realistic. Every tick and facial expression is perfectly captured, adding to the film's sense of disturbing realism. The performances range from bland to one-note to absolutely extraordinary. Freida Pinto plays the totally useless and unnecessary role of Will's love interest, but tries her best to keep us interested nonetheless. Franco does his best "Frankenstein's monster" impression, playing Will as a well-intended but totally misguided idealist who, in the end, comes to realize the devastation he has unwittingly unleashed. John Lithgow's portrayal of Will's Alzheimer's-suffering father is one of the better performances in the film, as Lithgow is able to portray the disease in a beautifully subtle way rather than going the showy, over-the-top route.

But the top prize goes to Andy Serkis. Known best as the motion-capture specialist who played Gollum in the Lord of the Rings series as well as King Kong in the Peter Jackson film, Serkis performs a modern miracle in portraying Caesar. Never have I felt such a strong emotional connection to an animal, and it's to Serkis' credit that Caesar is easily the most engaging and interesting character in the entire film. In a perfect world, Serkis would snag at least an Oscar nomination for depicting a primate with such precision, but sadly it seems that the Academy (as well as fellow actors) has yet to embrace motion-capture performances.

Part action blockbuster, part thought-provoking sci-fi parable, Rise of the Planet of the Apes takes the crown as the best movie of the summer thanks to its spectacular action sequences, profound emotional depth, and an incredible physical performance by Andy Serkis.