STARRING JAMES FRANCO, FREIDA PINTO, JOHN LITHGOW, BRIAN COX
TOM FELTON AND ANDY SERKIS AS “CAESAR”.
For those of you who are as old as I am and remember the original “Planet of the Apes” (1968; screenplay by Michael Wilson and the Immortal Rod Serling, based on Pierre Boulle’s ingenious and inventive novel and directed by Franklin J. Schaffner who also directed “Patton”), then “Rise” is the perfect prequel.
James Franco’s “Will Rodman” is a scientist attempting to develop a cure for Alzheimer’s from which his father, played by John Lithgow, suffers. His base structure for the cure is a man-made virus which they are experimenting on chimpanzees with.
The effect it has on the primates, however, increases their intelligence levels by literally growing new brain cells which replace the damaged ones, forming bridges in the brain. Franco wants to move on to human trials and Jacobs (played by David Oyelowo) at first refuses until Franco tells him he has given the drug to his father who recovered over night. Jacobs agrees to set up a meeting with investors and demonstrate the drug.
When the female primate is chosen for the demonstration it gets loose from its handlers and attacks them, the CEO of the company falsely believes all the primates are infected and orders their extermination. What Franco discovers is that the female primate chosen to demonstrate the new drug to investors was, in reality, trying to protect its infant chimpanzee.
Franco secretly sneaks the baby chimpanzee home and raises it, his father; quoting Shakespeare; naming him Caesar. Franco realizes that the healing and intelligence raising attributes of the drug were genetically passed on to Caesar causing him to develop intellectually. Also, to his dismay, he discovers the drugs effects on his father are temporary, his immune system creating antibodies that fight off the virus and his decline increases, ultimately bringing on his demise faster.
Franco, still determined to "fix" the cure convinces his boss he needs to develop a stronger virus strain. He is given the green light for the new experimentation. The new drug however still makes the primates more intelligent in its aerosol form and, unknowingly, fatal to humans.
The writers, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, have woven images from the original film expertly into the screenplay so there are a number of visuals that set up the original film, making “Rise” dovetail neatly into the POTA mythos. A number of the classic elements are subtly, almost subliminally, explained.
The two highlights of the film are what I call “The Battle of the Golden Gate Bridge” which nicely sets up Caesar as the “leader of the pack”. The other is actor Andy Serkis’ Performance Capture portrayal of Caesar trapped between the human and primate worlds.
Performance (or motion) Capture is the brilliant special effects technology which allows an actor to physically perform and create his character, which is them “captured” in a computer and whatever creature is required for the film is created around the actor’s nuanced performance.
Serkis is no stranger to this process. Look at his portrayals of “Gollum” (which he is reprising in “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) and especially his portrayal of “King Kong” in director Peter Jackson’s brilliant remake. And, of course James Cameron’s ground breaking use of PerfCap in “Avatar”, as well as the PerfCap work done by director Robert Zemekis.
The controversy with the Motion Picture Academy seems to be that these computer enhanced performances are not actual acting. Personally, I disagree. The actor’s performance is literally captured; each body movement and, through the technology developed by Cameron, facial nuance is downloaded into the computer and the character built around the actor’s performance. This allows an actor like Serkis (wearing PerfCap suits and cameras to capture their facial expressions) to interact with other actors like he did with Franco in “Rise” or Zoe Saladana and Sam Worthington in “Avatar” . What the audience sees on the screen is the actor’s true, actual performance that isn’t manipulated by computer.
I predict that within the next couple of years there will be a “Best Performance By An Actor-Motion Capture” category at a not too distant future Academy Awards show. Hell, there should be on this year.
Back to “Rise”. Serkis’s portrayal is the heart and soul of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”. You feel his conflict, anger, love and understand his ultimate decision. So props to Andy Serkis.
I recommend “Rise” if you missed it in theaters and since we mere humans prefer a “scale” to go by
I give “Rise” a solid 5 out of 5 on the Fozzi Film Scale.
Michael “Fozzi” Stewart
1/15/12
Los Angeles
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