Review

Rise of the .

Here’s a film that is part of a series that goes back far enough that you may worry that if you haven’t seen all of them before, you are going to be lost.  Lucky for you, you won’t, as this is the story of how it all began.  Fans of the series have been waiting for a proper origin story for a very long time and they finally got one.  This movie works on quite literally every level and that’s the good news.  The bad news is that it is all over far too quickly and leaves you definitely begging for more.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

As always the case with motion capture films that require precision and Oscar worthy performances, Andy Sarkis is at his best here.  His portrayal of Caesar is among the best motion capture performances of all time, most of which were performed by him, and this is very possibly his greatest yet.  The emotion in Caesar’s eyes is at a level that we have only seen offered in Cameron’s Avatar…and that’s saying something.

The film itself rely’s heavily on the audience understand what it feels like to be Caesar through all of this, and because of that, this needs to be told from his point of view, because really this is his story.  It’s very fortunate then that the filmmakers realized this as well as around %90 of the story is told from the ape’s point of view.  We see how they feel and operate when they are amongst eachother, how they feel and operate amongst us, how terrifying we sometimes are for other species, and they don’t hold back on showing how brutal and ugly we can be, which is a good thing.  We often find ourselves very much cheering for the apes, and that feels great.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Lastly, I want to talk about the human performances.  All humans in the film did what they could, but the truth is, the human characters (outside of James Franco’s) are only here to move the story of the apes along.  They are very flat characters who serve their purpose and carry on.  James’ character however, has the weight of this whole thing on his shoulders and therefore as far as human performance is concerned, we get to see him turn in some truly quality work at times.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

If you only have time for one movie this weekend, and you haven’t yet seen this awesome film, go ahead and knock it out, you will not regret it.

 



About the Author

maikerukun
Very little is actually known about either the origin of Maikerukun, or his true age, but there are myths and stories that have been passed down. According to legend, he was born somewhere around the turn of the 18th century, 1902 has been a widespread guess, as government photographs place him on the front lines in both World Wars I and II, the battle of Bunker Hill, Vietnam, and most recently, Dessert Storm. However, all accounts have him dressed in assassin garments dating back to the 1400's, thus bringing most to believe he was born more closely to the turn of the 13th century. It is widely accepted that he may possibly be an immortal, and his age can be anywhere between 109 years old to 709 years old. These ideas are strongly supported by his ridiculously large skill set and his surgeon like precision with everything from woodsmanship to computer technology. He is the definitive sage, so to speak, and he's ours and ours alone :) If you would like to contact him, we strongly urge you not to, as again, rumor is he eats souls to survive. Of course, this is your choice...you've been warned.
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