Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Loads of Apes!

So I'm going to write this assuming that you know what happens at the end of the original planet of the Apes film. In fact, the premise of this film kind of gives away the 'big reveal' at the end of the original, so there's no point even trying to hide it as a spoiler. Which is a bit of a shame, although anyone who doesn't know that the Planet of the Apes is in fact Earth probably doesn't watch films, so probably isn't reading this.

'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' is a prequel to the classic Science Fiction movie 'Planet of the Apes'. The plot is that while developing a drug to cure mental illness, James Franco as an obsessed scientist tests his drug on some apes and ends up creating a super-intelligent baby ape. He takes the ape (Cesar - played by Andy Serkis) home and brings it up as part pet / part child. Cesar then gets sent to a kind of ape detention centre after attacking a neighbour in defence of James Franco's dad. There he turns against humanity and manages to get the apes to rebel...

The film is a triumph of CGI. The main character is a CGI ape, with whom the audience experiences the horrors of scientific experimentation on primates and the mistreatment by those who claim to 'care' for such animals. This is the central theme of the film, that unfettered scientific progress motivated by profit can only end in tragedy. Top marks for all this. 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' is an enjoyable flick with a good message at its core and a few well-placed references to the original. There are a couple of reservations I'd like to raise though.

Why does absolutely everything have to be explained in nauseating detail? If the original Planet of the Apes ending had been done by these guys Charlton Heston would have sat there explaining what the statue of Liberty meant. See how in the clip Heston explicitly doesn't say he's been on earth all along - making you think about what's happening hugely increases the power of the final lingering shot of the statue. In 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' there's a totally unnecessary post-credits scene that shines a huge spotlight on WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. Give the audience something to argue about in the pub afterwards!

The film is laughable in its abuse of the scientific method. This is hardly new for Holywood; some of the worst abuses here are a miracle cure for Alzheimers working overnight, a gas giving apes self-awareness in minutes, the usual array of 3D displays and over-engineered graphical interfaces plus - best of all - James Franco's interaction with his lab. The opening scene has Franco complete an experiment, jump with joy and immediately run off to his boss to proclaim eureka! In real life you'd have to retest, check your data, publish, be peer-reviewed, run out of funding, get more funding - et cetera until you get crushed by a mountain of paperwork. Obviously his boss is British (=EVIL). I do wish that Holywood would stop doing this, especially when the director's English!

But this is Holywood though, and you come to expect this sort of thing. It's just sad that many a member of the general population will have their view of science formed by watching films like this. I got over my reservations very quickly and was able to enjoy an absorbing tale in which humanity as a whole is painted as the bad guy. Even the usual array of gaping plot holes (expanded upon ably by my colleague Jonathan Sharpe) didn't bother me.

One last point - is the dude that played Malfoy in Harry Potter now destined to play dickheads for the rest of his life? Cos he's pretty good at it.