Chernin Entertainment, Ingenious Media, TSG Entertainment,
Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Toby Kebbell, Judy Greer, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Enrique Murciano, Kirk Acevedo, Karin Konoval
In 2011’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”, we learned that humans had developed a virus that could cure Alzheimer’s but it turned out that though it made the test apes amazingly smarter, it was deadly to humans. Now some years have passed and what’s left of the humans are huddled in San Francisco trying to survive. Meanwhile, Caesar (Andy Serkis) has risen to be a mighty leader of the ape colony living in the forest outside the Bay area. Ape has not seen man for a couple years and they assume the humans are gone, but when a small group turn up tension builds quickly as both sides prepare for an all out war. But Malcolm (Jason Clarke) sees intelligence in the eyes of the apes, and they need a big favor from them, so he takes a few people and set off to the ape’s home as they try to form a mutual but fragile peace. But with many people and apes who feel differently, peace is difficult and a great battle will result for the future of the planet if they can’t pull it off.
I was greatly impressed by the original Planet of the Apes series that they ran into the ground by releasing sequel after sequel, each one getting a little cheaper and cornier. The original was a stunning film for 1968. But when they decided to do a reboot with “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” in 2011 I thought to myself, “Oh, not, this is another classic film that doesn’t need to be remade!” They thought, however, that the technology was so advanced that it was time to do it. I was really impressed with the first reboot [Click Here for Ed’s Review of Rise of Planet of the Apes] I gave this film a solid 5 stars and was very impressed. This is now the second of a trilogy of Planet of the Apes films, and this one is far better than the first. I need to break out a sixth star for this one! I wish I had gotten to see this on the big screen, but seeing it on DVD was awesome. Though the scenery, filmography, and sets (including a devastated San Francisco) are spectacular, the character definition of both the Human characters and the Apes is excellently done. If it were not for the spectacular battle scenes that are amazing, just the development of the Ape culture itself would be enough to give this film 5 stars. The acting is fantastic, but the screen writing and directing is wonderful as well. Basically this is the best adventure movie I’ve seen this year bar none. I highly recommend this movie, and though there is a lot of war and fighting that might be frightening for younger children, certainly anyone over the advertised age of 13 should have no trouble with it. This is a wonderfully done film.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
