Solid Reboot

Rating: 7/10 (2 September 2011)

A reboot of the popular films done over the past 40 years, 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' (2011), follows scientist Will Rodman (James Franco) who works at the medical research company 'Gene Sys'. After testing on a number of chimps, Will believes that he and his team has discovered a cure to Alzheimer's, a disease from which his own father is a sufferer of. After a breakout by one of the testing chimps ruins the company's chance of obtaining investors, Will takes a baby chimp home, and uses it to test the results of this potentially world-changing drug. However, after the chimp develops abnormally high intelligence, Will begins to realise the danger of his experiment.
Having not seen or read any texts from the 'Apes' franchise, I was able to go into the film with little expectation. Whether this was a factor or not, 'Apes' for me, was a lot of fun, for lack of a better word. Franco was solid, and lifted the at-times, cheesy script but I felt Freida Pinto (who shot to fame after 'Slumdog Millionaire' (2008)) was underused as Franco's love interest, and added little to the overall film. The director Rupert Wyatt, was able to create a real sense of humanity among the apes, especially within the main chimp, Caesar, as we became quickly emotionally attached, even if having used cliché methods to force that attachment.
Yes, at times the film dragged slightly, particularly in the middle, but the last 20 minutes of action sequences are perfectly staged, but showed that it could have benefited with 3D technology. But all in all, being an action film, 'Apes' delivered and then some, with a genuine emotional core, lifting it above your average action blockbuster.