Tom Felton brings aboard his nasty persona from the Harry Potter franchise and his character gets what he deserves, in what I thought is an inside joke featuring a not-so-magic wand. On the other hand, Lithgow is heart wrenching as an Alzheimer’s patient and you feel for his character. Yes, there are a few British-American accented words here and there as compared to her non-existent dialogue in Slumdog Millionaire, but that’s about it. On that note, I really don’t see what Pinto has contributed to this film except a pretty smile. Good thing then because I really doubt James Franco is receiving an Oscar for this film and you can be absolutely sure, neither is Freida Pinto. Having said that, this is one of those rare films where the story outdoes almost every other aspect of the production. As the new director, Rupert Wyatt brings together a full bodied story in such a manner, he has obliterated all preceding films, including the 1968 original. When Planet of the Apes was re-made in 2001, director Tim Burton’s saving grace was the head-reeling twist in the end. Then comes a powerful turning point in the story – Caesar must decide if he wants to remain a lab subject or free himself from captivity. As it turns out, Caesar is no ordinary chimp, having inherited human-like intelligence from his mother.
Discovering the offspring of his ill-fated test subject, Rodman takes the baby chimp home where his father Charles (John Lithgow) names him Caesar. Having successfully tested a genetically engineered retrovirus in chimpanzees, Rodman is all set to go public when a test subject goes berserk and is consequently put down. As a scientist at a pharmaceutical company, Will Rodman (James Franco) believes he has developed a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Scripted by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, and loosely based on Pierre Boulle’s novel, the concept here is mind blowing to say the least. Let’s forget for a moment what we have seen and learnt in previous films of the same name.
The most powerful aspect of this film is its totally engaging story. As this year’s summer movie mania draws to an end, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is the ground-breaking vehicle that will stay with us for a long time. How do you explain half the audience glued to their seats even as the end credits roll up? At the end of the film, one word I heard myself say was “Awesome!”.
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