The big surprise movie of 2011!

Rating: 10/10 (23 August 2011)

What District 9 was in 2009 - a sleeper hit in quality - is Rise of the Planet of the Apes in 2011. Especially the key scene of the film was just breathtaking and I have never seen something like that in such a movie. At least not as good as here. The whole theater was silent for those 5 seconds! Then I knew, this film works and is as good as I believed it is in the 60 minutes before.
The movie starts as a laboratory science film, then becomes a family drama, after that it is a prison-break drama and the finale is pure sci-fi action at its best - with a satisfying ending! So I think every viewer will have his / her favorite part.
For me, Rise is on par with the 60s classic. For the young audience, it is even better. Rubber masks are still cool but do not look realistic anymore, at least for apes. Though the original from 1968 has more social criticism and still a strong storyline, the new one catches the audience with great emotional scenes. Serkis' expressions and gestures are outstanding and Caesar wins the battle against Gollum for the best CGI character to date. In every single moment, you can understand why Caesar is behaving like he does.
It surpassed my low expectations by far, after the Tim Burton disappointment in 2001. I would love to see this movie at the Academy Awards 2012. Camera, Caesar, Rupert Wyatt (director), screenplay and CGI at least deserve a nominee. However, it might be too special even if the screenplay and Andy Serkis actually deserve to win awards.
I cannot decide between 9 and 10. Why? Because, in my opinion, Will Rodman (Franco) talks too little to Caesar in the most important scenes. I don't know if the writers did this on purpose. My thoughts on that in the upcoming short spoiler:
!!! SPOILER!!!!
A simple sentence like "I love you" is missing in two scenes: 1. 'Will visits the shelter for the third time, still cannot take Caesar back home and Caesar loses belief in him' 2. Last hug scene.
Plus, he should have explained the situation to Caesar in detail instead of just telling him everything will be fine.
!! SPOILER END!!!
I want to see a sequel - with the new "gene-manipulation / virus-stuff" explanation of how the planet, the humans and the apes change. This might be very interesting. Wyatt and his writers need to continue the strong bond between Will, Caroline and Caesar. Even if the next film might be about war. Those two/three are the entry point to the new time-line of the series. Rupert Wyatt can lift this franchise to old strength or to even become better than it was back in the 60s / 70s. I am glad to see that many of the "new" directors do such more-intelligent movies nowadays. They bring the quality back to Hollywood!
'Rise' is an amazing film if you engage in the scenario and in having CGI instead of rubber masks. It is emotional, it pushes CGI character limits further, it has jaw-dropping moments. Everything a good SciFi movie needs. Go watch it!