Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes - Cinema Review

'becoming the seventh instalment of a franchise which last got an entry in 2001 (and, before that, last appeared on screens in 1973) is not normally considered a great honour'

Part remake, part retelling of The Planet Of The Apes mythology, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes must have been a difficult film to pitch. Becoming the seventh instalment of a franchise which last got an entry in 2001 (and, before that, last appeared on screens in 1973) is not normally considered a great honour, nor a 'must make'. When you add in the fact that, at the very least, the last three films (Conquest Of..., Battle For... and the Tim Burton remake) are poor imitations of a first film which bubbled with social comment and you start to see the lowly position from which Rupert Wyatt's film had to start.

Once the film starts expressing its own social values you can also start to see some problems creeping in. The message here seems to be once again about living in harmony with the world; embracing nature and not seeking to stem its course or advance its flow. This has been dangerous territory for Hollywood in recent times. Avatar (Fern Gully with a bigger budget) and The Happening (Fern Gully with psychopathic tendencies) have both erred towards this mantra and erred towards it in ways that some audiences found difficult to swallow.

Here though, Wyatt delivers his message within the confines of a film which is so fun and so well managed it can comfortably inhabit the background without becoming overbearing in its earnestness. Caesar's (Andy Serkis) character arc is so well managed that it gives a strong backbone on which to base the rest of the wider narrative, as those 'damn dirty apes' start to become self-aware, over-throwing the humans who, in this franchise effort at least, are oppressing their simian colleagues through all manner of drug testing and degrading sub-par sanctuaries. The rise of the underclass message is largely eschewed in favour of a story which more resembles a Gladiator-style wronged-hero progression: from shame and danger to self-worth and nobility.

Wyatt (whose previous film The Escapist is similarly a triumphant example of not falling into the regular problems of a fairly tired genre) rubber stamps the film's success with three or four tremendously well managed script payoffs and a couple of nicely judged nods to, in the first place, the previous films of the series and, in the second case, the potential sequels to the rebooted franchise. One scene in particular, with Caesar facing down sanctuary tormentor Dodge Landon (Tom Felton) has not one but two 'hairs on the back of your neck' moments, one coming in very quick succession to the other. Considering also that the trailer managed to mishandle so much of what is good about the film, the healthy box office is also worth mentioning, signalling Wyatt out not just as a creative force to be reckoned with but also as a director who can make money for studios off properties which are hardly guaranteed bankers. Success has been achieved.

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'The second best Planet of the Apes film ever made; disregard for a minute that it is not really saying much and take a gamble on the best popcorn of the summer' - Clothes On Film