Synopsis:
Set in modern-day San Francisco, genetic engineering has led to increased intelligence in a chimpanzee named Ceasar.
Like all good films, you get out of them what you put in and everyone can take something different away from them. You can treat Rise of the Planet of the Apes as a blockbuster popcorn movie, you don’t have to think about it, just sit back and enjoy the action. Or you can ponder the numerous ethical questions that the film raises: Should science be medalling with nature?; Is It right to lock up animals?; Should animals have rights?; Is animal testing wrong?; Is humanity causing it’s own downfall?. But whatever the viewer takes away from Rise, Rise is likely to be taking away the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects next year. While it is clear that the chimps are all motion-captured and computer generated, their appearance is surprising lifelike. Such detailed, authentic and believable CGI leads to an audience connection, an empathy with the emotive faces of the primate characters.
The majority of the action is saved for the third act, which builds to a satisfying crescendo. But while the action is somewhat tempered, the first two acts have done so much to successfully set the scene and engage the audience that the 12A violence while restrained, is sufficient enough. And what else is satisfying is that a franchise has been successfully rebooted and delivered as well, if not better, than the original. Christopher Nolan successfully re-launched the Batman franchise but in recent years they have been the exceptions rather than the norm. A fifty million plus dollar opening weekend in the U.S. should secure the sequel that the post-credit extra scene hints at.
