Rise of the Planet of the Apes: A Simian Triumph

Rating: 9/10 (24 July 2017)

Rise of the Planet of the Apes has become for me an ideal example of fresh, thrilling, spellbinding, emotive, overall perfect cinema. I love this movie, because it is all these things and more. The trailblazing motion- capture, used to artfully capture Andy Serkis' Oscar-worthy performance, laughs (I apologize in advance to the fans of the original franchise) Charlton Heston's 1960's series to shame; Patrick Doyle's score is simple, yet delightful; the pacing is perfect, and the actors well-chosen and talented. This review could well prove painful to me, owing not to any fault of the film in question, but rather to the possibly necessary restraint from droning on interminably to its deserved credit.
In most motion pictures, I would judge any which run below, let's say, 100 minutes, as likely lacking the material needed to produce a fully matured movie, and most of the time I would be correct in so doing. Here is evidenced an exception to the rule. At only 104 minutes of running time, that which I would tend to view as a fault is indeed a virtue in this case. The reason for the shorter-than-average blockbuster length is because the story pleading telling requires only that amount of time. Packed jam-full into those 104 minutes is a fantastic adventure, complete with thrills, sorrows, and everything in between. The pacing is beautiful - the film constantly moving along its well-planned trajectory, never feeling either hurried or stalled. It maintains continual interest as every event unfolds. I digress momentarily to add that, without becoming merely a "rung in the ladder", the story, begun so praise worthily in this first installment, maintains its flow as the franchise progresses. In an age in which ideas are forever recycled and served up as sequels with a slightly new flavour to audiences again and again, original series that manage to tell authentic stories should be warmly welcomed. But to return to the topic at hand. The plot is largely believable and convincing, although admittedly the climax pushes credibility, somewhat.
Despite a slightly obscure cast, the characters are well-formed and well-played, presenting convincing and realistic performances. Motion capture master Andy Serkis is naturally the champion that holds up the entire premise. Here, in ape realm, Serkis is king. His unmatched emotive talent seems to be perfectly at home as Caesar, and though he has delivered an array of indisputably singular performances as Gollum, Captain Haddock, King Kong and more, Caesar remains my personal favourite and, in my mind, his most organically, authentically, self- made trademark personality. As mentioned, the characters are developed nicely, and I appreciate the practicality the writers employed when they wove the players into the story, not as absolute centrepieces, but well-ordered parts of a whole - clever appendages to the events that shaped the lives of many. One of the beautiful aspects to these movies is the way in which characters and the plot are balanced - so that you really feel for the heroes on an intimate level, while never abandoning the continuous course of history.
Visual effects are obviously crucial to the movie's success, and here they used brilliantly. Unlike most blockbusters, which routinely follow formulas that involve a load of explosions and similar eye-candy, to Weta's credit (and to the credit of VFX in general) Rise of the Planet of the Apes uses them to provide a unique medium - one that replaces humans with apes, and, ridiculous as it will sound to someone new to the concept, it works really, really well. Since 2011, mo-cap has improved noticeably, and supposedly it will continue to do so. Still, visually it is very pleasing, and story-wise it excels. I think animation is a praise-worthy mode of story- telling, and the method by which it is here blended so it meshes perfectly with live-action is a joy to behold.
When Rise of the Planet of the Apes hit cinemas in 2011, nobody was expecting the successful reboot that followed, and though it received strong critical reviews, audiences never showed the support I believe it deserved. Over the years, it has risen in true-ape style to enter the highest ranks of my all-time favourite films. The serious pitch and good continuity are maintained as the trilogy progresses. It has many great moments; I can hardly recommend it enough. If you have yet to see this movie, don't waste any more time - see it right away!