# Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)



## william b (Jun 20, 2011)

This one looks really promising.  I'm not saying it's a sure thing, but compared to Cowboys and Aliens and Transformers, it might be the smart SF blockbuster in the crowd.


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## Member (Jun 20, 2011)

I can't wait for this movie. I get excited every time I see the trailer.
Also, I can't wait for transformers; be it dumb dumb science or not =/


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## william b (Jun 20, 2011)

Member said:


> I can't wait for this movie. I get excited every time I see the trailer.
> Also, I can't wait for transformers; be it dumb dumb science or not =/


Well, everyone likes escapism in the summer.  I'm not too critical of bad science in movies if the story is compelling.  Every SF movies pushes aside reality to some extant.  Still, I feel like there are a few too many comic book and cartoon inspired movies this summer.  Apes looks legitimately scary, exciting, and just believable enough to have me hooked.


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## Moonbat (Jun 20, 2011)

There was a new trailer released last week, it explained alot more and had some of the story of Caesar in. It looks really good, I'm hoping it wont be a typical hollywood remake, with all the focus on big effects and set pieces, but with some interesting aspects to it.
Ooh Ahh Ahh Ah!


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## PTeppic (Jun 20, 2011)

I'm looking forwards to the SFX of the apes, but have to be honest, expect the plot to be pretty flat. "Science experiment (involving intelligence) goes wrong" - sorry, but how often has that been done? "Deep Blue Sea" anyone (for a start)?


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## william b (Jun 21, 2011)

PTeppic said:


> I'm looking forwards to the SFX of the apes, but have to be honest, expect the plot to be pretty flat. "Science experiment (involving intelligence) goes wrong" - sorry, but how often has that been done? "Deep Blue Sea" anyone (for a start)?



I Robot, Frankenstein, Jurassic Park....but it's a great theme.  It's still relevant.  People are always messing with nature and screwing it up.  Five hundred years from now, if we're still here, it will still be relevant and interesting. But how the heck is Thor relevant?  I don't know.


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## paranoid marvin (Jun 21, 2011)

As long as they don't monkey around with the storyline too much...


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## Dave (Jun 21, 2011)

Is this a sequel to the Tim Burton film? The ending of that was confusing but had some possibilities. Otherwise I think there are enough variations on a theme and I'll stick with the original quadrilogy. Incidentally PM, the storyline has been well and truly monkeyed around with from the original French novel. It wasn't even Earth.


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## paranoid marvin (Jun 21, 2011)

Dave said:


> Is this a sequel to the Tim Burton film? The ending of that was confusing but had some possibilities. Otherwise I think there are enough variations on a theme and I'll stick with the original quadrilogy. Incidentally PM, the storyline has been well and truly monkeyed around with from the original French novel. It wasn't even Earth.


 

Earth!? It was Earth!? Then we did it , we finally did it.... You maniacs!


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## william b (Jun 24, 2011)

Dave said:


> Is this a sequel to the Tim Burton film? The ending of that was confusing but had some possibilities. ...


   No. It is a reboot of Planet of the Apes separate from Tim Burton's movie.  The Tim Burton film was kind of interesting.  
   It's one of those odd movies that actually seems to have made money but was considered a failure.  
   I have to admit, I don't understand how that works.  Two hundred million gross seems to be the cut-off point for big effects movies.  If they don't reach that then they are considered a failure.  Tim Burton's Ape movie reached 180 million. 
   And these days if they make just a little more than 200 million they are saying a movie fails.  And then sometimes the fans tear apart films after the fact.  For the life of me, I don't get it anymore.  I'm still wondering why Green Hornet wasn't a hit.


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## No One (Jun 28, 2011)

I was very "meh" about the idea of another Ape-film (usually a fan of Tim Burton but I recall _nothing _of his rendition), but I have to say after seeing the trailer this looks very promising. Of course, trailers are not to be trusted, but just the steady, intelligent stare of that chimp has me pretty excited over this. Looks incredible.

As Moonbat says, let's just hope it doesn't turn into your sub-standard Hollywood fare.


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## alchemist (Aug 13, 2011)

I saw this today. In a word, stunning. Some other words: Intelligent, emotional, rivetting. The obligatory nod to the original film was also present. I'd urge anyone to go and see it. It's ripe for a sequel, but I'd prefer to see them leave it alone and unsullied.


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## PTeppic (Aug 14, 2011)

alchemist said:


> I saw this today. In a word, stunning. Some other words: Intelligent, emotional, rivetting. The obligatory nod to the original film was also present. I'd urge anyone to go and see it. It's ripe for a sequel, but I'd prefer to see them leave it alone and unsullied.



Agree entirely. John Lithgow is superb in a key role that required subtlety. The apes are outstanding, for 99% of the time (



Spoiler



marginal drop off in CGI quality on their paws as they climbed up the Golden Gate suspension cables


) and the characterisation impressive. A couple of points where incredulity was stretched but largely very reasonable plotting. The bar has definitely been raised.

I think I spotted about five or six tie-backs to the original but probably missed some. 

Oh, and the director has already said he'd like to do a sequel...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-14441778


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## Moonbat (Aug 14, 2011)

Saw this today, brilliant. Really enjoyed it, I thought it was very well done, not too much action, plenty of story, great characterisation of the apes, loved almost all of it.
Has to be one of the best films I've seen at the cinema this year. To tell the truth I have now watched 6 Planet of the apes films in two weeks, and this was the best. I do think that CGI apes make it so much better, they have physicality and agilty over the men dressed as apes that we saw in the other 6 films. 
Parts of Tim Burton's POTA had some cgi apes, and gave them more strength and agilty, but nothing compared to this. 
I really felt for Ceasar, and a couple of the other apes too.


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## j d worthington (Aug 14, 2011)

Dave said:


> Is this a sequel to the Tim Burton film? The ending of that was confusing but had some possibilities. Otherwise I think there are enough variations on a theme and I'll stick with the original quadrilogy. Incidentally PM, the storyline has been well and truly monkeyed around with from the original French novel. It wasn't even Earth.


 
"Quadrilogy"? The original set wasn't a tetralogy, but a pentalogy, no?

*Planet of the Apes* (1968)
*Beneath the Planet of the Apes* (1970)
*Escape from the Planet of the Apes* (1971)
*Conquest of the Planet of the Apes* (1972)
*Battle for the Planet of the Apes* (1973)

And the story of Caesar and the rise of the apes as the dominant species was addressed (or at least begun) with *Conquest*, where we see the first stages of that....


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## Metryq (Aug 17, 2011)

It wasn't some "Flowers for Algernon" injection, it was the *iPads*.


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## J Riff (Aug 19, 2011)

well, saw it, but too much noise in the room to follow the plot. The CGI is noticeable but pretty good. Great scenes of monkeys beating up on humans.


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## Starbeast (Aug 21, 2011)

This movie was far better then I thought it would be. An excellent sci-fi story! I like this movie much more than the remake of _The Planet of the Apes._


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## Dave (Aug 21, 2011)

j. d. worthington said:


> "Quadrilogy"? The original set wasn't a tetralogy, but a pentalogy, no?


Yes, there were five; my mistake. And I do have the boxed set too 

But "Quadrilogy" is how Hollywood describes a tetralogy, not me. 



j. d. worthington said:


> And the story of Caesar and the rise of the apes as the dominant species was addressed (or at least begun) with *Conquest*, where we see the first stages of that....


IIRC a world-wide pandemic disease wiped out all cats and dogs and lead humans to begin keeping chimps as pets. That seemed a less than suitable explanation to me, so no doubt they have come up with something far more feasible involving genetic engineering. (Not to mention the paradox of taking the pregnant Zira back in time.)

Anyway, I have to agree that the trailers and reviews of this do look better than I would have expected. Not sure I will get to see it though as I haven't been to the cinema in ages and have a lengthening list of things to see.


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## Metryq (Aug 21, 2011)

Dave said:


> IIRC a world-wide pandemic disease wiped out all cats and dogs and lead humans to begin keeping chimps as pets.



Was that the original series of movies? I'm not a big "POTA" fan, and the only movie I've seen recently is the first. Anyway, only Hollywood could come up with a notion like that. Keeping bonobos would be a lot safer, but even then, I can't see them as common pets. Chimps certainly wouldn't need any injections to make them vicious. 

(The chimps one sees in the movies are still "children." You wouldn't want to mess with the adults.)


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## j d worthington (Aug 21, 2011)

It wasn't just as pets, though... it was in various capacities, where they became, eventually, a form of slave labor. They were also highly mistrusted because of the fear that the humans hadn't got Cornelius' and Zira's baby, and that the future which they had wormed out of Zira would, as a result occur... and, fittingly, their maltreatment of their fellow simians (the humans' to the other apes), led to the very scenario they feared....


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## lorien89 (Aug 30, 2011)

I really enjoyed it - was a lot better than I thought it would be and really hope they carry on with the series! Was quite hard to watch the first half though cos felt so bad for Caesar but I guess that just means they got it right!


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## jonathanx (Sep 26, 2011)

I think part of me was expecting more from this movie. CGI was outstanding though


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## Quokka (Dec 28, 2011)

**Spoilers**

I liked this and thought that it was a decent start for a series of movies and bonus points for being relatively short. Everyone seems to think that you need two and a half hours plus to tell a story now days.

There's a good bit of suspension of disbelief needed in parts, like keeping a chimp at home for years undetected while his lab partner just forgets about Caeser or the veterinary girlfriend who's suprised years later to find out Caeser's intelligence isn't natural but I was always enjoying it enough to play along (with maybe the exception of how relaxed everyone was around what are fairly dangerous animals). 

I didn't really like James Franco's character but I like that I didn't,  rather than make the main human character infallible Caeser didn't get the owner or friend he deserved and that helps to set up the film well.

This is one of the very few times I can think of where a film (imo) would have benefited from more violence. The humans were suprisingly restrained with not firing on the apes and like I said above, afaik normal apes and chimps can be vicious add in super intelligence, mistreatment and abuse?

It would have changed the tone of the movie and I suppose isn't appropriate for a summer blockbuster (but you can kill people and aliens by the bucket load) but as the first battle in a war I think it could been done well and been more believable.

Last comment and maybe it's a convenient plot device but I think they needed the extra explanation for how humans could be superseded by our cousins .


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## rune (Dec 29, 2011)

I got to see this last week and really enjoyed it. Im hoping the remake all the Planet of the Apes movies now 
I thought Ceasar was a believable character, great special affects and I noticed the actor that played him did Golum in LOTR's


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## Steve S (Feb 10, 2012)

I was really impressed it, much, much better than I had expected. I hope this relaunches the series as there is so much potential within this story.


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## Sorceress (Mar 5, 2012)

Didn't care for it that much as it lacked character at least where the apes were concerned. Prett much just another special FX show with bad acting and average script at best.


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## Kamosis (Apr 3, 2012)

I really hated this movie! It's so dumb and boring, the monkeys are irritating and the plot is pure nonsense.

You are really not using a mask during the trial of the super powerfull virus? The humanity is doomed because one idiot can't follow the most basic laboratory rules!


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## Namari (Apr 4, 2012)

Have to be honest folks, I'm a big fan of the originals and was a little worried when I heard about this movie. Only saw it recently and thought it was really good. Really liked the way Caesar's character was developed and his interaction with the other apes was excellent. Went in thinking that they should have left it alone, came out thinking that I wouldn't mind seeing that again please!


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## comickaze89 (Apr 5, 2012)

Namari said:


> Have to be honest folks, I'm a big fan of the originals and was a little worried when I heard about this movie. Only saw it recently and thought it was really good. Really liked the way Caesar's character was developed and his interaction with the other apes was excellent. Went in thinking that they should have left it alone, came out thinking that I wouldn't mind seeing that again please!


 
  I have to agree I didnt think the film was to bad. I actually liked it as well


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## Dave (Jun 10, 2012)

Finally saw this, and not expecting much from it, it was surprisingly good. Don't have much to add from what has already been said, but it would be impossible to make if not for all the advances in cgi.



Metryq said:


> It wasn't some "Flowers for Algernon" injection, it was the *iPads*.


And now I get that joke!


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