Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Blaine: I’m a big fan of the “Planet of the Apes” trilogy (1968 to 1973). After the “Planet of the Apes” TV series was canceled in 1974, it was uncertain for the future of the apes. Three decades later Richard D. Zanuck, the former Studio executive of 20th Century Fox who gave the first original “Planet of the Apes” film the green light, revisited it by producing a 2001 version directed by Tim Burton. Ten years later, 20th Century Fox re-introduced the beginning of how the apes ruled the planet with enhanced effects.

Plot (Spoiler Alert)

Scientists study a new drug that can cure Alzheimer’s disease and test it on apes which increases their intelligence. One of apes goes berserk and wounds up getting killed. Scientists Robert Franklin and Will Rodman later find out she gave birth to a little chimpanzee and passed on her intelligence to him. Will takes in the chimp and names him Caesar. As years pass, Caesar grows more smarter. Will’s father Charles, who has dementia, tries to drive his neighbor’s car, but gets caught and yelled at by the neighbor. Caesar believes Charles is being attacked, so he looses control and jumps the neighbor. Because of his actions, Caesar is sentenced to a primate shelter where he is treated miserably. He manages to make friends with a Bornean orangutan named Maurice, then a gorilla named Buck and another chimpanzee named Rocket.

Caesar manages to sneak out to Will’s house to take the ALZ-113 drug that can enhance the apes’ to become smarter. He releases it through the apes’ cages and the next morning they notice somethings different. Caesar is building up an army. The apes escape one night and release all the apes in San Francisco from laboratories and zoos. The ape army goes across the Golden Gate Bridge in order to escape to the redwood forest on the other side. Police are blocking the exit to stop them. Caesar has a plan. He has apes attack from on top and the bottom of the bridge. The apes have won the fight and head to redwood. Will goes to Caesar offering him protection, but Caesar, using words, tells him that he is home with his own kind. They say their goodbyes and the apes begin a new life in the forest. The human race is unaware that a virus will be spreading.

Concept drawing

Blaine: “Rise” I would say is based off of “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes”, the fourth “Planet of the Apes” film. That one shows apes as pets, but they are more treated like slaves. There is one ape who is smarter than them and he is the son of Cornelius and Zira. He calls himself Caesar and after the death of his human friend, Caesar has the apes stand up and leads them to victory against the humans. “Conquest” was the first film the character Caesar was introduced and he became one of the popular characters of those movies. The audience would root for the apes in “Conquest” because a lot of the humans are cruel and the apes are fighting for their freedom. That’s what “Rise” is about is apes wanting to be free and you’re rooting for them just like what audiences did back in 1972 for “Conquest”. I can feel the spirit of “Planet of the Apes” in “Rise”. And when you have great actors like James Franco, John Lithgow and Andy Serkis that makes it even better.

I love the relationship between Caesar and the humans, Will, Caroline and Charles. Another thing I love is the apes. Playing an ape looks like it can be fun. Robert Wyatt wanted Andy Serkis to play Caesar. Andy is an actor well known for playing CGI characters like Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. He gives great physical performances and he is someone who has helped embraced that technology because he understands the potential of what it can achieve according to director Rupert Wyatt. He puts himself 100% into character.

There is a couple of lines from the first original “Planet of the Apes" that are in “Rise” like “It’s a madhouse! A madhouse!” and “Get your stinking paw off me you damn dirty ape.” In “Escape from the Planet of the Apes”, Cornelius and Zira talk about an ape who was their leader, who rose up and said “No" to the humans. That’s what Caesar says the first time you hear him speak. “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” has a couple other easter eggs from the original “Planet of the Apes” movies. There’s paper saying “Lost in Space?” which must be like Taylor and his crew somewhere deep in space like in the original “Planet of the Apes”. Caesar’s mother, the scientists named Bright Eyes, the same name Zira called Charlton Heston’s character before he informed her his real name is Taylor.

The screenwriter, Rick Jaffa, was putting together different ideas for a script. Genetic research and several chimps attacking their owners. He found out that there is a huge number of people in the United States that are raising all kinds of primates. He knew there had to be a story in there somewhere. Then he thought this could be “Planet of the Apes”. Rick and his co-writter, Amanda Silver, knew what the general idea was once the idea came together that they were going to re-invent “Planet of the Apes”. They did some research by watching all the old films. The two things that really got their attention was the first leader of the apes who is Caesar and the first word that was spoken was “No”. So they built their movie around that. They also wanted to leave a lot of Easter Eggs from the original “Planet of the Apes” films. They respect the original films and I would say they did a great job at it.

My rating on “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is five out of five stars.