Back in 2011 I remember when I saw the teaser for this movie in the theater, I actually got a bit excited, the original Planet of the Apes movie from 1968 was a sci-fi master piece and while the 2001 reboot was disappointing to say the least, the cast and filmmakers behind this project gave me enough confidence to be a bit excited for it. The movie was definitely a pleasant surprise, something this movie did right was going back to the more though provoking ideas that made the franchise famous to begin with, instead of focusing on the action, this movie has a lot of themes of humans using science to play god and the consequences that come with that, and is all handled really well. Andy Serkis delivered an amazing performance, definitely one of the best in his entire career, James Franco and Freida Pinto also did a good job, though I feel the script didn't gave them much to be as memorable as Caesar. Also I feel that Rupert Wyatt's directing in this movie is a bit underrated, true, it isn't as stunning as Reeves' directing in the next two films, but Wyatt did an excellent job giving this movie a slick and beautiful look. The third act, is also just great, that is where the action starts and is done really well and is a good glimpse of what is to come later in the franchise. This is both a reboot and a prequel done right and it has become one of the greatest trilogies of all time and people should always give credit to the one that started it all.

"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is a British/American blockbuster movie from 2011 (6 years ago) that started the "Planet of the Apes" franchise that currently has its third and possibly final installment hitting cinemas. The people who made this and I am referring to the director and two writers really were no big names at all, so this one clearly boosted their careers as it did not just receive a great deal of praise from critics and audiences alike, but also managed lots of awards attention, including an Oscar nomination (lost to Hugo). The film features actor James Franco (fresh after his Oscar nomination) and the stunning, sadly underused Freida Pinto (not too long after Slumdog Millionaire), playing the main roles, especially Franco, plus a strong supporting performance by John Lithgow and a mostly forgettable turn by David Oyelewo slowly turning into the main antagonist. But in the center of it all is probably Andy Serkis' (Gollum) Caesar, the one ape who changed everything for the others thanks to his superb intelligence. This character's story is really the heart and soul of the film, already as a baby when cuteness prevails, but also as an adult ape when he is no longer willing to accept the cruelties and oppression (I think that's more accurate than suppression) of his "people". It's somewhat fitting that with this story the writers were picked to write an upcoming Avatar sequel.Anyway back to this one here. One of the film's biggest strengths is that even in action sequences like the one on the bridge, it never loses its essential focus on the very core of the story. And for a Sci-Fi movie, the story really did feel extremely realistic. This is thanks to the special effects, but also thanks to the fact that it is a 105-minute movie and if you ignore the end credits, it is only slightly longer than 1.5 hours. It is a really essential film, no need to push it past 2 hours or anything. It is also one of the rare movies that does not care about comedy one bit, no funny one-liners or reactions that could have hurt the overall outcome and I think this also helped in taking the movie seriously from the scientific standpoint. Like I wrote in the title of my review, this film is a prime example of competent execution and I give a thumbs-up to everybody who worked on this project. It is pretty close to a ****/*****, so maybe it will get there on rewatch at some point. I am certainly curious about the sequel(s) and I will check them out at some point in the near future I guess. Until then, I give this first installment a big thumbs-up. Highly recommended.

This is a great start to another (and hopefully the last) reboot of a well-known franchise, Planet of the Apes. It's easy to say what definitely stands out: the visual effects. All of the CGI apes are incredibly realistic, especially Caesar (Andy Serkis) who is a terrific masterpiece, not only visually, but as a character as well. He's surprisingly the protagonist of the movie, a decision that I congratulate the director and production team for, because it transformed it into a much more captivating and interesting film.Andy Serkis is the God of motion capture, it's amazing the amount of emotion he's able to transmit as a guy in a spandex suit full of white dots on his face. Caesar is one of the most fantastic and intriguing characters I've ever watched and the fact that there's almost no dialogue throughout the film just proves that you can achieve great things with pure emotion (and some sign language ... ).James Franco is good portraying an also well-developed character, even if he wasn't as great as he could be. The script is very smart and emotional (mainly due to the extremely well-directed no-dialogue scenes) and the action is super awesome, particularly because of its emotional side. The fact that we actually care about the apes (maybe even more than the humans) elevates the action-heavy third act and brings the movie home (no pun intended), with a very strong ending.In spite of all this, it's still not a perfect film. Even if the runtime isn't properly long, the film's pacing (principally the second act) is really slow, which drags the movie into almost a boring state. As I said above, the story is captivating, but only when we're with Caesar and his respective families ... All of the human drama inside the Gen-Sys Laboratories isn't really interesting, but we still get too much of it.Finally, the side characters. Besides Caesar, Will and his father (brilliantly portrayed by John Lithgow), no one else got the chance to shine on the big screen. Most of them are plot devices in order to get the story going and actually have a film: the "bad guys" are just bad because ... Well, they're assholes, I guess they were born that way ... I would have preferred that they spent a little more time with those characters instead of the company's dramas.All in all, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is an excellent start to this reboot that proves we don't need dialogue to transmit a great amount of emotion. The CGI is flawless, Caesar being the huge proof of what a masterpiece looks like, visually and character-wise. A slow pace and some under-developed side characters bring the movie down a bit, but the captivating and emotional story, plus a very well-directed action-heavy third act, elevate the film into one of the best in the whole franchise.MSB Reviews - If you like my reviews, please follow my blog :)

Rise of the Planet of the Apes isn't an allegorical powerhouse like the 1968 classic, though it's still substantially more realized than 2001's abomination. What impresses me about this film however (and makes up for its comparative allegorical thinness), is its remarkable complexity as a character study. Spectacular action aside. . . . this film blew me away.Rise is directed by Rupert Wyatt, and despite his relative lack of experience yielded spectacular results. This film has an unprecedented sense of momentum: everything from the montages to the tension to the seamless action leaves me utterly breathless, and paired with its relatively short runtime, flies by and boasts an extraordinarily high rewatchability factor. There are a few dubious edits here and there, sometimes in the cinematography, sometimes in the music, but is otherwise a very tightly shot and edited feature.The director of photography is award-winning cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, who is more than worthy of mention here. The cinematography throughout is breathtaking, with majestic wide shots of the forest, the ape compound, and the city in general. It's also rather intelligent in its usage of visual motifs, juxtaposing cages and windows throughout in a reversal on expected themes. Here, the windows represent false hope/freedom, and the cages represent incitement for revolution. My only issue in regards to cinematography is the "face falling on the camera" motif, which though interesting, is a little dubious. Thankfully, it's not obnoxious in context. Lesnie was actually DOP for the Lord of the Rings trilogy (which explains a lot), though he isn't the only carry-over from Middle Earth.The special effects by WETA Digital are magnificent, and are some of the best out there. Though if you've acquired an eye for CG then you'll still notice it here in select instances. One potential mistake I caught is that the size of Caesar's eyes sometimes appear inconsistent, though that could be a misperception. It gets better in the follow-ups, but this film still boasts some of the best-looking apes in cinematic history. The screenplay is by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, and despite its simple plot, features compelling concepts throughout. Though not an allegorical heavyweight, the revolution on the bridge appears to be modeled after civil rights movement race riots and even contemporary police brutality, though it's not anything as profoundly realized and intricate as 1968's masterwork. Commentary on animal rights/testing ethics are also present, though it's the obvious choice and hence isn't particularly impressive. To the film's credit, the ape revolution is now more believable than it was in the original movies, with a sci-fi premise that bends reality no more than it has to.The film still has its fair share of fun with delightful easter eggs for fans of the original, but more importantly presents us with a character worthy of study. Caesar is an exploration of duality and isolation. For one, Caesar is set up with a dilemma in which he has seen the good and bad of both apes and humans, inciting an inherent internal conflict which he does not yet understand. On the other hand, he is the only one of his kind. As the only ape born with the enhanced intelligence, he feels a certain kind of isolation. He's a character of two worlds, doomed not to feel at home in either of them. This kind of intelligent, complex character writing creates various avenues for subsequent films, and makes the film for me. One flaw worthy of noting is the dialogue, which at times is a little clichéd, and could have benefited from another read-through or two. The best characters in the film didn't actually need much dialogue though, so it's not as detrimental as it could have been.The characters/performances are a little mixed in quality, but overall positive. The apes across the board emote spectacularly, enabling the audience to understand and sympathise with their characters without the need for dialogue. Andy Serkis in particular (another Lord of the Rings carry-over) is phenomenal as Caesar. His performance is the the epitome of physicality and expression, synchronously nuanced, powerful, and heart-wrenching. He nearly had me in tears at several moments throughout the film, masterfully unveiling the complex internal tragedy of his character.First thing about the humans: James Franco is not the main character--apparently there's been some confusion there. He serves but as a transitionary lead, since the story is clearly about Caesar. That being said, Franco is fine in this film. I don't know if I've seen him better, but he's competent. Many of the other human characters (though good in their roles), are simply fulfilling archetypes. I quite enjoyed Brian Cox, Tom Felton, and David Oyelowo, yet they weren't any different than what I expected them to be. John Lithgow however is fantastic, and Tyler Labine as Franklin was very likable. Freida Pinto is fine, albeit kind of unnecessary and highlighting a lack of female characters with comparable depth to the male ones. That being said, the supporting characters we did get were sufficient, and it's better not to force in characters for the sake of a quota.The musical score by Patrick Doyle succeeds brilliantly on a melodic level and proves to be quite memorable, despite bearing an almost-formulaic epic-inspirational style. It doesn't compare on the avant-garde spectrum established by Jerry Goldsmith, but provides propulsive percussion nonetheless, and serves the emotional, character- driven narrative excellently, better than most films of its decade I dare say.Rise of the Planet of the Apes is one of my very favorite action movies, but like most of my favorite action movies, it's actually far more than that. There are layers in this film from the intricate focal character to the intelligent, motivic cinematography, and it sustains the kind of intelligence that made Planet of the Apes great in the first place. Score: 9/10