Rise of the planet of the apes review series#

But the most effective simian interchanges are physical rather than verbal, so it will be a tricky tightrope to walk - if the series continues, which it likely will - to move the apes into full speech in a credible way. When Caesar at last utters his first word, itвЂ™s undeniably a big moment. Pinto looks more beautiful than ever but is playing the most boringly decorous tag-along girlfriend seen onscreen in years.ДЄnother questionable element is the extent of the apesвЂ™ conversational abilities. Franco has some nice moments with Lithgow, himself just fine, but otherwise is mostly in fierce register as he contends with adversaries both at work and at the detention center. Will is a scientist and his sweetheart Caroline ( Freida Pinto) is a vet, so why not make them brainy, opinionated, somewhat eccentric individuals with interesting takes on the extraordinary events their work triggers? Let them argue, debate and be inspired and/or appalled by it all, rather than just ride on their looks. Unsurprisingly, the final shot duly foreshadows a sequel, which could be considerably hairier than this first installment falls flat is with the human element. The story arc hammered out by writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver is solid, and director Rupert Wyatt ( The Escapist) propels it at an accelerating but unmanic pace, leading to an action climax on, above and under the Golden Gate Bridge that proves perfectly satisfying. Things get nasty enough to spark a prison riot, which soon turns into an outright rebellion seemingly joined by the entire ape population of the San Francisco Bay Area. Eventually, Caesar must leave home for a simian detention facility staffed by a bunch of sadists led by Draco Malfoy himself (or at least the actor who played him in the Harry Potter films, Tom Felton). And then the chimp, named Caesar, grows into a rough, rebellious, malcontented adolescent, very strong and hard to control more than any other chimp in history, this one truly has a mind of its own. From the point of view of WillвЂ™s greedy boss ( David Oyelowo), this is a potential goldmine.Д«ut DadвЂ™s AlzheimerвЂ™s regresses.

This cocktail not only pushes one young chimp to incredible new thresholds of smarts and ability, it also has the side effect of reversing the dementia of WillвЂ™s out-of-it father ( John Lithgow).

The man who makes everything possible is genetic scientist Will Rodman ( James Franco), who after more than five years of research experiences a breakthrough with a gene therapy drug called AOZ-112. Of course, it helps tip the balance when the humans on display are as thoroughly dull and/or venal as they are here.