First Take: Rise of the Planet of the Apes- evolution becomes revolution

To celebrate the UK release of War for the Planet of the Apes this weekend, here’s a classic review from the archive.

SYPNOSIS: A substance designed to help the brain repair itself gives rise to a super-intelligent chimpanzee who leads an ape uprising.

When this film came out back in 2011, noone would have expected this to become one of Hollywood’s biggest franchises. But with Andy Serkis lending his unique motion capture talents, Rupert Wyatt’s origin story sets up what would eventually become a dawn (and later a war) for a franchise that’s had a varied history over the years.

It’s a really packed 1 hour 45 minute film, with Wyatt doing a good job to keep both the human and CG characters believable, however, the pace is good at points, but could have been improved for some key sequences. The script is the real key to where the strengths of this film are, and with the tried and tested pair of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver creating this universe, it all comes together nicely. It’s shot really well by Andrew Lesnie, and Patrick Doyle’s score adds to the subtle touches within the film.

Performance wise, it’s obvious that Andy Serkis dominates the film, as he is just too damn good with the motion capture technology he popularised with the Lord of the Rings films- however, working alongside fellow mo-cap performers like Terry Notary, the apes feel more realistic than ever. In the traditional sense, the performances from James Franco, Frieda Pinto, John Lithgow and especially Tom Felton are excellent, with no issues to report.

THE VERDICT

At a very tight 1 hour 45 minutes, the reboot of the Planet of the Apes franchise got off to a strong start with this film- making an incredible showcase of what motion capture can do. It has heart, emotion, and the qualities of a good film, but the general pacing could have been better.

Rating: 4/5