Rise to the Occasion

I had seen the trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes a few times before other movies this year, and had almost immediately dismissed it. No interest in seeing that, I thought. But then a funny thing happened. Several of my friends told me it was pretty high on their must-see lists. And the critics had their say, and widely praised the movie. Next thing I knew, I was heading to the theater last night to check it out.

It's true! It's actually a rather good movie! It pulled me in during the first half with a surprisingly heartfelt story. James Franco's lead character is a researcher trying to find a cure for Alzheimer's Disease, and the scenes between him and his father, played by John Lithgow, really provide a strong emotional anchor for the film. At the same time, both father and son form a bond with ape Caesar, a brilliant motion-capture performance by Andy Serkis. The visual effects for the animation aren't always 100%, but they're usually more than convincing enough to make you forget about the technical wizardry and invest in the character. I could imagine that some of the audience were starting to get impatient with all the sloppy sentiment, wondering when the ape rampage would begin, but I myself was surprisingly pulled in by what was just a good drama.

But of course, the rampage does eventually begin. And that delivers too. Again, the effects aren't always 100%, but they're always good enough that whenever I'd "catch myself looking," I'd forget again just a moment later. Personally, I found the first half to be a better drama movie than the second half was an action movie, but that's not by much. There's a great extended sequence set on the Golden Gate Bridge that delivers pretty much everything you want in the climactic scene of an action movie.

Things do get bogged down just a bit in the middle, as the movie tries to bridge from drama to action; it does feel like we spend a bit too long with the "imprisoned Caesar" storyline. Still, I got more than I was expecting from the film -- worlds more than I'd have ever thought from that trailer I saw a few months back. I rate the movie a B+.