The Revolution Has Begun....

Rating: 9/10 (2 June 2014)

"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was almost doomed to fail from the start. Few reboots/remakes have ever offered anything new to a franchise, especially a well-loved classic, it had a reasonably new and un-heard director behind the wheel and was known to have a heavy use of CGI before release. But this film pulled it off. ROTPOTA offers a more realistic take on the original, portraying the start of the ape uprising that lead to the events in "Planet of the Apes". It mostly follows the story of Caesar, a domesticated chimpanzee who inherits a gene from his mother who was injected with a drug said to cure alzheimers by James Franco (a brilliant scientist who cares for Caesar at home) which improves his brain functions and effectively makes him smarter. As humanity treats him wrong, Caesar seeks revenge with the help of his fellow primates. Andy Serkis does a fantastic job of playing Caesar, imitating the stance and actions of apes perfectly. The rest of the cast do a fine job too, with John Lithgow providing a stand-out performance as James Franco's father who suffers from the disease his son is trying to fix. What ROTPOTA does well is not to show either side (the apes or the humans) as a side worth rooting for. By the time the final sequence approaches most audiences will struggle which side to support. However this works to the movie's advantage, allowing the viewer to empathize with both parties. The film is not overly- violent, but is still extremely brutal and hard-hitting, creating a sense of realism in a usually unbelievable world and story.