Two words: Andy Serkis!

Rating: Null/10 (27 August 2011)

Okay, so this was a good film. It was good as I expected it to be. This is a much better film than Tim Burton's dreadful Planet of the Apes. So the synopsis is basically this. James Franco is a scientist developing a cure for Alzheimer's. Before he can try this cure on humans, he uses monkeys, apes as his test subjects to see how they'll respond to this supposed cure. Enter Caesar, who is the smartest ape out of them all. Quickly Caesar's brain begins to operate at a higher level and this is where problems arise. The smarter he becomes he begins to realise that humans aren't perfect and his faith in them begins to diminish. He then gets locked up in a ape prison for harming someone, is mistreated whilst he is there, then starts and leads an ape revolution, then takes the fight to the humans. When I saw the first two trailers, I definitely wanted to see this film. It's not the surprise movie of the summer but I found it highly enjoyable and thought provoking.
James Franco is comfortable in his role as the scientist looking for a cure. Freida Pinto does well and offers support to Franco as does John Lithgow who puts in a convincing performance as an Alzheimer's sufferer. David Oyelowo is reliable as Franco's money grabbing boss, Draco from Harry Potter does alright as an idiotic zoo keeper and Brian Cox (who I thought was miscast and wasted) does what is required of him and that's it. But he's still one heck of an actor.
I wouldn't have enjoyed this movie as much as I did if it wasn't for Andy Serkis. If you're looking for the ultimate character actor, it's Andy Serkis. He is absolutely brilliant in this as the ape Caesar. Using motion capture technology, Serkis mimics an ape's movements to a tee. I honestly think it's one of the best performances of the year. Obviously as an ape, he hardly has any dialogue, but his actions and mannerisms are bang on! Undoubtedly Caesar is the star of the film and without Serkis' portrayal as Caesar the film would not be as good.
Set pieces are solid and well directed, especially the last action scene at the end on the Golden Gate Bridge. Trying my best not to give spoilers here! Visual effects are mindblowingly good! WETA, the same team behind Avatar really does a great job with the ape interaction and motion capture. At times I had totally forgotten that these weren't real apes.
As I said this is a good film, but it's not perfect. It's about 100 minutes, but it felt longer. Some scenes drag and are unnecessary. Dialogue is not exactly brilliant, but the actors do well with what they're given. Brian Cox being miscast annoyed me somewhat. It almost showed lack of respect for an actor of his calibre. But I guess he's just collecting another cheque. I doubt he was fully invested in this, he sure didn't look it. All in all The Rise of the Planet of the Apes is worth the release and I recommend you see it. Andy Serkis really shines as Caesar in this and it's a performance worth seeing on the big screen.