A substance designed to help the brain repair is capable of transporting genetic material into the DNA of chimpanzees giving them super intelligence that will eventually threaten the human world.
The action scenes (particularly a battle between humans and apes on the Golden Gate Bridge) are inventively spectacular, and the story at the movie's core is evocative and engaging.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes has some life to it as an action film, but every time anyone opens their mouth, man or beast, you'll feel like someone figured out a way to sneak in groundbreaking CGI into your middle schooler's class play.
You can tell me all day that this is great, Avatar-like use of animation. I'll even grant the point. But though I was engaged in the first half of the film, this action section left me looking at my watch.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes is spectacle with a kick: the transcendence of the normal in creatures so like ourselves is both an entertainment and a needling rebuke to human vanity.
Save Christopher Nolan's "Batman," no film so brilliantly reinvigorated a franchise more than this, a thrilling opening act that's equally captivating and leaves you anxiously awaiting the next installment.
Distinguishes itself from other ill-conceived reboots in general, and from Tim Burton's disastrous 2001 remake in particular, by looking with fresh, simian eyes at its core conflict between human and primates.
If this film is remembered, it won't be for its storyline, which reverts to cliché a bit too often as it approaches its climax, but for its eye-popping integration of live-action and movie magic. Just as the geniuses...
We Got This Covered
February 28, 2013
Overall, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is intermittently entertaining with a few nice nods to the original series.
With little dialogue but a world of emotion in his face, eyes and body, [Andy Serkis] not only keeps us on our toes but also has us rooting for the apes to trounce humanity.