Planet of the Apes (2001)

An Air Force astronaut crash lands on a mysterious planet where evolved, talking apes dominant a race of primitive humans.

Director:

Tim Burton

Writers:

Pierre Boulle (novel), William Broyles Jr. (screenplay),

Stars:

Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 9 wins & 20 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mark Wahlberg	...	Captain Leo Davidson
Tim Roth	...	Thade
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Ari
Michael Clarke Duncan	...	Attar
Paul Giamatti	...	Limbo
Estella Warren	...	Daena
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa	...	Krull
David Warner	...	Sandar
Kris Kristofferson	...	Karubi
Erick Avari	...	Tival
Luke Eberl	...	Birn
Evan Parke	...	Gunnar (as Evan Dexter Parke)
Glenn Shadix	...	Senator Nado
Freda Foh Shen	...	Bon
Chris Ellis	...	Commander Karl Vasich

Storyline

It is the year 2029: Astronaut Leo Davidson boards a pod cruiser on a Space Station for a "routine" reconnaissance mission. But an abrupt detour through a space time wormhole lands him on a strange planet where talking apes rule over the human race. With the help of a sympathetic chimpanzee activist named Ari and a small band of human rebels, Leo leads the effort to evade the advancing Gorilla Army led by General Thade and his most trusted warrior Attar. Now the race is on to reach a sacred temple within the planet's Forbidden Zone to discover the shocking secrets of mankind's past - and the key to its future.

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Plot Keywords:

planet | astronaut | chimpanzee | wormhole | cage | 

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Taglines:

On July 27th, take back the planet.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sequences of action/violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 July 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Return of the Apes

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$1,753,679 (Italy) (14 September 2001)

Gross:

$180,011,740 (USA) (25 January 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Zanuck Company, The, Tim Burton Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS (uncredited)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the things Rick Baker enjoyed doing was making himself up as an ape and scaring people at a drive-in theater showing the original Planet of the Apes

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Goofs

We first see Captain Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) training a chimpanzee in astronautics. Its inconceivable that an officer with such responsibility would be unaware of the taxonomic and cladistic difference between apes (including chimpanzees and humans) and monkeys (the New World and Old World monkeys). Yet he twice refers to his student as a "monkey".

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Quotes

[Leo notices the human mark on Ari's hand]
Ari: I can't go home either now. So, maybe we're not so different.
Captain Leo Davidson: No, we're very different.
[Ari looks at him sadly]
Captain Leo Davidson: You care about everybody, but yourself.

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Crazy Credits

Uncredited Stuntman Precious Othell Garrett ( credited on screen credits as Othell Garrett)

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Connections

Referenced in Miss Castaway and the Island Girls (2004)

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Soundtracks

"Rule The Planet Remix"
A Paul Oakenfold Mix
Additional Production by: Paul Oakenfold and Povi
Additional Guitars: Emerson Swinford

User Reviews

Biggest disappointment of 2001!

Awhile back, I commented on the original 'Planet of the Apes' film prior to seeing this remake at the cinemas. When I saw the original, I was fully expecting the remake to kick some serious butt, and be far superior to the 1960s version. Why? Better visual effects being 2001 and all, one of my favorite actors in Tim Roth starring in it, and a great director named Tim Burton. Nothing could surely go wrong with Burton in the director's chair. Granted, I was never a huge fan of the POTA films, but seeing the potential here for a remake or revision by Burton made my mouth water. Then, in 2001, I got advance tickets and I began to watch one of the most anticipated movies for that year...

I left the cinema very disappointed! Disappointment can cloud criticism though, and sometimes makes you bitter towards a movie and not see the positives. So I tried to look at the good. The make-up was excellent, but inconsistent in parts, but I still feel that area should have been nominated for an Oscar. Okay, that's good! Tim Roth was amazing in his performance but his character was not that great and seriously lacked depth. Helena Bonham Carter was also fairly decent in this film. And, finally some of the cinematography was fairly nice.

What really let the remake of 'Planet of the Apes' down, was by in large, Tim Burton. This is, without a doubt, his worst film that I've seen! I cannot really compliment the direction of this movie, as it seemed self-aware and indulgent in being the "remake". The script was awful, as well as the integration of one-liners from the original films to this new one. I groaned completely during Heston's cameo, particularly due the referrals to the original film. The remake should have been a film in its own right, and should have focused on creating a compelling story and universe, instead of opting for lame jokes revolving around Charlton Heston in ape make-up as Thade's father. The hero of the new film in Mark Whalberg was one-note, but he was given such a boring character who just went through the motions. Going to take a risk- check, gets sucked through a new dimension- check, captured by Apes- check, escape- check and so on and so on. I never felt anything for his character at all, and that was partly his performance and partly the woeful script/direction. Estella Warren was awful, and Kris Kristofferson played the obligatory predictable role of the her father. Michael Clarke Duncan suited his part, but never became a well established character, and Paul Giamatti was okay as Limbo, but was obviously the comic relief. I also did not like the art direction was the Ape City, and found the original far more convincing in look and as a story.

While, General Thade was certainly a memorable chimp because of Roth's performance, it's a shame the character was wasted in an extremely formulaic and cliche story! 'Planet of the Apes' (2001) is nowhere near the worst film of 2001, it certainly was the most disappointing for me, considering the potential it had with the dynamic vision of Tim Burton and the modern visual f/x to create a film that stands out in its own right. It's just a pity Tim Burton chose to make a Hollywoodized self-aware gimmicky version that ends up being significantly inferior to the original film, instead of on par with it! And yes, Burton's 'Mars Attacks' is also better than his remake here! 'Planet of the Apes' gets a reluctant pass for Tim Roth's performance, the superb make-up and the decent cinematography, however that still doesn't save it from silly mediocrity.

**½ out of *****!