An incredibly deep and emotional summer blockbuster

Rating: 10/10 (21 August 2011)

Let me just start by saying this is by far the best movie I have seen this year. At the moment of writing this review, I've already watched the film 3 times (I've liked it more each time), and cannot wait to watch it again and own it. Now on to my review.
I'm not going to get into the story too much (which is absolutely fantastic by the way), many any other reviewers have already talked about it. I want to talk about how exceptional Andy Serkis (Caesar) is in his role.
Unlike all the previous Planet of the Ape's films, the apes here don't start out as talking chimps, which leads Caesar to express himself only through facial expressions and body language. There's also some sign language involved, but you don't really need it to understand how Caesar feels at all times. Serkis manages to find the perfect balance between simian behavior and an incredibly deep emotional performance. This could have only been achieved through motion capture technology, the same seen in Avatar. The only difference is Avatar's natives, the Na'vi, are essentially human. Sure, they're an alien species, but they're very much human-like in the emotional way. In Rise of the Apes, the main character is an animal, granted chimps can also be very human-like but they're essentially animals, and we have never seen a performance of this type (the closest thing being Serkis' previous role as King Kong, but still hugely different). Serkis's ability to flawlessly play an animal, both physically and emotionally, is what gives us something never-before-seen in film. I can't express how much I want the Academy to recognize his performance and award him the Oscar he deserves.
A little more on the film itself, as most of you know, it's a prequel/reboot. Unlike other reboots lately, this one actually serves as a prequel as well, given that it sets up the story we'll find in the original 68' movie. But it is undoubtedly a reboot as Fox will obviously continue the story from here on, eventually leading into the 68' premise and possibly taking it further.
((>>>>SPOILERS COMING NOW, DO NOT CONTINUE READING IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM)) . . . . While it welcomes newcomers to the franchise (you don't need to see any previous films to understand this), it also has little easter eggs for the original fans, Caesar playing with a Statue of Liberty toy, names like "Bright Eyes", the Icarus launching to Mars, the iconic catchphrases and a few more.
And while I'm mentioning catchphrases, I'll talk about my new all-time favorite film scene, it just gave me the chills the 3 times I've seen it: The moment where Felton says "Get your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!" and Caesar replies "No!" What a moment! It isn't the fact that Caesar speaks, it's what he says that keeps giving me goosebumps just thinking of it: that the very first time an animal speaks to a human is to say "No!" is just truly fascinating. To me, it's the exact moment where the revolution begins: an animal telling us that he's done obeying us. The way all the other apes look at him (especially Buck the gorilla) as if they've been both shocked and inspired. It's truly an incredibly powerful scene and I love hearing the absolute silence and shock of the entire audience (with the occasional "Holy ****." whisper)!
One thing that caught my eye though, was an apparently deleted scene or subplot from the movie. If you've seen the international trailers (I don't think this appeared in the American trailers), you'll see a moment where Caesar is holding another chimp in the lab escape, in a very romantic looking way. In the film (when Felton brings his friends to the shelter) one of the girls mentions a cute ape which Felton says "It's a she, her name is Cornelia". Later on, after the apes take over the shelter, Caesar looks at Cornelia's empty cage where he sees the GenSys tag. I'm assuming there was a bit of a love story going on with the two of them, then she was taken for testing at the lab and Caesar's main motivation to go back to GenSys (besides freeing other apes) is to free Cornelia, and the scene from the trailer must be their re-union. I don't know why it was cut out, but I hope it finds it way on to the Extended Cut of the film when they release it on BD and DVD. . . . . . ((>>>>>>SPOILERS ENDED))
In the end I'll warn you, this is not a typical summer action blockbuster as most of the American trailers have marketed it. Yes, it has very clever, thrilling and amazing action scenes, but not throughout the entire movie. You're rewarded this action towards the movies 3rd act. This a very dramatic, character-driven story which builds up the tension throughout the film. It has some very strong emotional scenes which will undoubtedly make a few viewers drop a tear or two. Nevertheless, it's a great film for any age and any gender. You're kids will love it, your parents will love it, your girlfriend will love it, grandma will love it. Very smartly directed with a great cast and an Oscar-worthy performance by Serkis, I highly recommend this movie to everyone.