Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Review

Rating: 8/10 (22 August 2017)

Back in 2011 I remember when I saw the teaser for this movie in the theater, I actually got a bit excited, the original Planet of the Apes movie from 1968 was a sci-fi master piece and while the 2001 reboot was disappointing to say the least, the cast and filmmakers behind this project gave me enough confidence to be a bit excited for it. The movie was definitely a pleasant surprise, something this movie did right was going back to the more though provoking ideas that made the franchise famous to begin with, instead of focusing on the action, this movie has a lot of themes of humans using science to play god and the consequences that come with that, and is all handled really well. Andy Serkis delivered an amazing performance, definitely one of the best in his entire career, James Franco and Freida Pinto also did a good job, though I feel the script didn't gave them much to be as memorable as Caesar. Also I feel that Rupert Wyatt's directing in this movie is a bit underrated, true, it isn't as stunning as Reeves' directing in the next two films, but Wyatt did an excellent job giving this movie a slick and beautiful look. The third act, is also just great, that is where the action starts and is done really well and is a good glimpse of what is to come later in the franchise. This is both a reboot and a prequel done right and it has become one of the greatest trilogies of all time and people should always give credit to the one that started it all.