Half and half.

Rating: Null/10 (15 August 2011)

Between Thor and Captain America, the usual superhero staples to receive the perfunctory origin story, somewhat bewilderingly stands yet another attempted revival of cult fiction in the form of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a movie that for all intents and purposes is exactly that—an origin movie, made after a handful of sequels and a hackneyed remake a decade prior. Of course, ten years is a long time, and enough to forget the mistakes made by Hollywood from those years, but questions nevertheless remain. It's curious to me that any movie producer would even see a further venture into the ten-year deceased series as a potential money maker, but even more perplexing that someone actually sat down and decided that fleshing out the mysterious events prior to the 1968 classic would be somehow necessary or even entertaining to a modern audience who more than likely don't even know who Charlton Heston is.
Thankfully however, this isn't 2001 all over again—Rise of the Planet of Apes is an apt exposition of a now infamous story that does well to provide a somewhat humble and in-depth look at two of the central characters involved in the eventual downfall of humankind. The same cannot be said, however, of the entirely of the movie's narrative which is almost devoid of a third act. Sure, it's a story all about origin, but didn't The Green Goblin take his leave in 2002? I think so. Unfortunately then, what Rise of the Planet of the Apes succumbs to is the word-for-word definition of anti-climax. We know how it will all end (or at least, I thought I did), and for the most part the majority of the movie and its advertising campaign will lead you to believe that it's building, building, building up to—you know, a rising of a planet filled with apes, but
Yeah, it just doesn't happen. There are hints post-credits, sure, but aside from the potentiality of a sequel in the books, Rupert Wyatt's crash-landing in ape-land ends up being something of another huge let- down in comparison to the story that he is presumably giving life support to. And in a way, it's ironic because both the screenwriters and Wyatt himself do their jobs so well in developing some elements of the story that conflicts of interest begin to the enter the playing field. Jaffa and Silver acknowledge the central struggle between good and evil (human and ape, presumably) in their story and attempt to rectify it by playing on the fence with an alternate mythos involving a virus instead of all-out warfare, but such moments at footnotes next to the overwhelming character study of gifted ape Caesar and his "father", Will Rodman.
At its core, and on its own merits, the central device used here as a means to provide some emotional tangents to the otherwise stoic backstory of Planet of the Apes is more than convincing to say the least. Brought to life by a terrific motion-capture performance by Andy Serkis, the somewhat tragic tale of the world's first truly intelligent ape is captivating and hugely engaging. It's a shame then that much of this is sent to the shredder when the movie suddenly and begrudgingly decides to simply stop. It's not like the drama, or the characters, or the plot stops for a moment just to let other elements breathe—the whole thing just decides to end, just as Luke Skywalker decides he's going take down the Deathstar. Roll credits.
One can see why the film-makers opted to leave the story hanging where it does—it avoids the obvious conflictions between human and ape to the point where Caeser (who the movie builds up to be obviously without his own faults) is never turned into a monster that wants to destroy all mankind and his master with him. Nope, instead we're offered a hint that things turn sour for us humans in a different way and that our ancestors form a society of their own through their own peaceful accord. It's not a bad fix-around by any means, but it's not the movie that the two acts of setup would have you believe; it's a movie of two halves—one a captivating and cathartic look at inter-species intolerance and segregation; the other a wink and a nod to a non-existent plot somewhat dubiously hinting at another sequel or dare I say, reboot.