Rise of the Planet of the Apes, is the 21st century entry into the series of simian cult films depicting a world gone ape. While better than the last Planet of the Apes film about a decade ago, this one tackles the question of how the apes gain intelligence and take over the world. This movie has a strong surface connection with the 1975 film, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, but also contains many parallels with the original 1968 Planet of the Apes film, which starred the legendary Charlton Heston.
Before discussing the connections with the original movies, first, we need to take a look at Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The film stars John Franco as a scientist working for a genetics research lab which apparently ignores PETA, since much of their research is done on live primates. Franco’s character is attempting to develop a cure for Alzheimer’s, a disease which afflicts his father, played very skillfully by John Lithgow. While testing his attempted cure, Franco injects the experimental drug into a chimpanzee he calls “Bright Eyes.” She develops advanced intelligence as a result of the drug, and Franco is encouraged enough to (illegally) inject his father with the drug, with initial positive results. One highlight of this film is the tenderness shown in the relationship between the son and the father. Both Franco and Lithgow do a very good job conveying how the pain and suffering incurred by Alzheimer’s afflicts the victim’s relatives as well as the person falling into dementia.
Long synopsis made short, a problem back at the lab causes Franco to (again, against the rules) bring home a baby chimp that was the offspring of the super-intelligent Bright Eyes. As it turns out, this chimp child, named Caesar, inherits the drug-enhanced intelligence of his mother grows into a simian with the intelligence of a very smart human. One thing leads to another, and Caesar gets into trouble with the law, and is locked up in a primate sanctuary that is basically a jail where dozens of unwanted apes are kept in captivity and treated with sadistic cruelty by one of the employees, played by Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy of the Potter movies). Felton plays a character who exhibits far less humanity than Caesar, and he does it with a casual sinister sneer that will get him well-deserved typecasting as a bad guy. Even Malfoy did not act this cruel.
Caesar grows up to be a very smart monkey - a little too smart. As a result, he is sent to a "primate shelter" or, as I call it, ape prison. Angered by his incarceration, Caesar uses his brain to rally the other apes. Eventually the apes break out and terrorize San Francisco.
This is the seventh Planet of the Apes movie and the best by far since the 1968 original with Charlton Heston. In fact, this is the prequel to that movie. The great Andy Serkis, best known as Gollum from the "Lord of the Rings" films, provides yet another wonderful performance-capture acting role as the CGI-ed Caesar. This is his movie.
Breaking it down, the ape uprising due to the evil prison guards seemed a bit cliche but the monkey mayhem afterwards was enjoyable. The flick-o-meter gives Rise of the Planet of the Apes four out of five. This prequel to the 1968 sci-fi classic explains exactly how Earth came to be overrun by apes while the human population died out. The film's central morals of human arrogance and corporate greed were a bit heavy-handed, but it wasn't a big enough monkey wrench to mess with the movie.
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Showtimes for "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" can be found in our South Cobb Patch at Regal Cinemas 22 on East-West Connector in Austell. And there's plenty of opportunities to see it as the film is playing on three screens with daily afternoon and evening sceenings showtimes at noon and 12:25 p.m., 1:35 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 2:55 p.m., 5 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 7 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 8 p.m., 10:05 p.m., 10:35 p.m.
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