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Caesar, a super smart chimpanzee, contemplates stealing a deadly virus in the science-fiction prequel “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” |
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” a thoughtful, action-packed science fiction thriller, works best if you think of it as a prequel to Charlton Heston’s original 1968 “Planet of the Apes,” and not Tim Burton’s disappointing 2001 remake with Mark Wahlberg.
“Rise” not only fits in nicely with the mythology generated by the original series of five “Apes” movies, it does exactly what smart science-fiction features do: reminds us that it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature, and that there can be major repercussions for scientific hubris.
Like wiping out humanity.
“Rise” also represents a major leap for the art and craft of performance-capture technology by WETA, the New Zealand company that has amazed us with its character work on James Cameron’s “Avatar” and Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
Still, performance capture has a way to go. Despite the high quality of the performance-capture animation in several close-ups, many other computer-generated primates have the same problem as the kids from “The Polar Express” — there’s something a little unsettling and creepy about them.
“Rise” gives a virtual starring role to Andy Serkis, who lept to international stardom by portraying the mysterious Gollum in Jackson’s trilogy.
Here, Serkis portrays Caesar, the chimpanzee that develops super intelligence after being exposed to an engineered virus that scientist Will Rodman (James Franco) hopes will become the cure to Alzheimer’s disease. (Read more…)