A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier.
A greedy film producer assembles a team of moviemakers and sets out for the infamous Skull Island, where they find more than just cannibalistic natives.
As a war between humankind and monstrous sea creatures wages on, a former pilot and a trainee are paired up to drive a seemingly obsolete special weapon in a desperate effort to save the world from the apocalypse.
After the Vietnam war, a team of scientists explores an uncharted island in the Pacific, venturing into the domain of the mighty Kong, and must fight to escape a primal Eden.
Director:
Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Stars:
Tom Hiddleston,
Samuel L. Jackson,
Brie Larson
An ancient struggle between two Cybertronian races, the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, comes to Earth, with a clue to the ultimate power held by a teenager.
An astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet in the distant future where intelligent talking apes are the dominant species, and humans are the oppressed and enslaved.
Director:
Franklin J. Schaffner
Stars:
Charlton Heston,
Roddy McDowall,
Kim Hunter
A new theme park, built on the original site of Jurassic Park, creates a genetically modified hybrid dinosaur, the Indominus Rex, which escapes containment and goes on a killing spree.
Director:
Colin Trevorrow
Stars:
Chris Pratt,
Bryce Dallas Howard,
Ty Simpkins
At the story's heart is Caesar (Andy Serkis), a chimpanzee who gains human-like intelligence and emotions from an experimental drug. Raised like a child by the drug's creator, Will Rodman (James Franco) and a primatologist Caroline Aranha (Freida Pinto), Caesar ultimately finds himself taken from the humans he loves and imprisoned in an ape sanctuary in San Bruno. Seeking justice for his fellow inmates, Caesar gives the fellow apes the same drug that he inherited. He then assembles a simian army and escapes the sanctuary - putting man and ape on a collision course that could change the planet forever.Written by
20th Century Fox
Will is similar in several ways to Dr. Susan McAlester from Deep Blue Sea (1999). Both are dedicated scientists who desperately work to achieve a miracle for Alzheimer's Disease, and are inspired and heavily driven because of afflicted family members; both use animals to achieve a means to an end in attempt to cure Alzheimer's, but cause the animals to become hyper-intelligent and cause them to revolt against their creators (in the case of Dr. McAlester, she used genetically modified Mako sharks, rather than an already existing miracle drug); both had fathers inflicted with advanced stages of Alzheimer's that eventually claimed their lives. See more »
Goofs
When the apes break out of the zoo they all grab a bar from the railing fences which become spears.
Now although these types of fences look like a rack of spears each bar is actually cut in three pieces (a top,spear head part, middle and bottom),or more depending on the amount of cross bars, and then welded to the cross bars to give the appearance that it is one solid spear. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Robert Franklin:
[administering chimp intelligence test]
Okay, okay. Here you go. And let's go again.
[gives Bright Eyes treat and clocks timer]
Will Rodman:
Which one's this? Number nine?
Robert Franklin:
Yeah, this is number nine. Bright Eyes, we call her. Are you watching this? This is unbelievable.
[Bright Eyes does the tower fast]
Robert Franklin:
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
Bright Eyes:
[grabs treat and eats it]
Will Rodman:
How many moves was that?
Robert Franklin:
20.
[...] See more »
Crazy Credits
The end credits appear over a map, showing the virus spreading around the world. See more »
Disaster movies are a dime a dozen now a days. We have seen an influx of Alien takeovers recently and it is getting a bit stale I must admit. Don't get me wrong, I love films about ET's taking over, but Hollywood has beaten that horse to death. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is a welcome change to this trend pitting us measly humans against our closest ancestors, Great Apes. Directed by Rupert Wyatt ("The Escapist") and supported by the unbelievable WETA Digital ("King Kong", "Lord of the Rings", "Avatar") for special effects. "Apes" is a wonder of motion capture, an intelligent heart felt script with great direction. Unfortunately, the human actors left a lot to be desired. But this film isn't about the humans, it's all about the Simians.
As plots go, this is pretty basic. James Franco plays Will Rodman, a brilliant scientist with a breakthrough drug that just may cure Alzheimer's. Rodman and his team are using chimpanzee's to test this new drug and in the process find out that it increases intelligence as well as repair cells in the brain. One of the test subjects gets loose in an intense sequence and ultimately put down. It turns out that she had just given birth to a beautiful baby chimp who inherited this new "altered" gene. Rodman decides the only moral thing to do is to take the baby home while a co-worker tries to find a sanctuary but once Rodman finds out that this little ball of fur has the intelligence of a human child twice it's age he decides to keep and raise the chimp as a child. It's only a matter of time that our chimp Caesar figures out he is not like the other children in the neighborhood. Rodman is forced to give up Caesar to an "Ape Sanctuary" and there begins some of the most exhilarating revolutionary action I've ever seen.
Technically, this film is massive. The work WETA Digital did with motion capture (mo-cap) is truly a wonder to behold. Visual Effects Supervisor with WETA Digital Joe Letteri stated that they built on the technology used in "Avatar" to produce the most realistic and accurate portrayal of the actors suited to play the Simians. Andy Serkis (Gollum from "Lord of the Rings" and Kong from "King Kong") plays chimp Caesar. Serkis manages to fool all of us into believing he is a real animal with super intelligence. His facial emotions and mannerisms should most certainly nominate him for an Oscar. There is a real connection that the audience feels with Caesar and it is all thanks to Serkis' work. Without such an experienced mo-cap actor, this film would not have been such a success.
Not only is the technology used to create the revolution amazing, the action is top notch as well. Many times I found myself with my jaw on the floor from the intense sequences put to screen. Everything from a simple terrifying look from an angry ape to the full out battle on the Golden Gate Bridge was pulled off without a hitch. Many points to the pacing of the films action as it could have been the crutch that killed this beast of a film. One of the most amazing scenes in my opinion is when a group of apes are fleeing over top a suburban neighborhood through the trees. While this is going on we see some people on the street while leaves upon leaves are falling to the ground. This level of detail is apparent in every shot, brilliant work by the production team.
My only problems with this film is the acting from Franco and Freida Pinto, who plays the love interest. They both seemed to "phone it in" as it were. They were not overly impressive and just seemed stale. Maybe the director wanted them to tone it down so that Serkis would have more of an impact acting as a voiceless chimp. Either way, as I said in the beginning, this film wasn't about the humans. It's about compassion, freedom and understanding and on those levels the film is a grand success.
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Disaster movies are a dime a dozen now a days. We have seen an influx of Alien takeovers recently and it is getting a bit stale I must admit. Don't get me wrong, I love films about ET's taking over, but Hollywood has beaten that horse to death. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is a welcome change to this trend pitting us measly humans against our closest ancestors, Great Apes. Directed by Rupert Wyatt ("The Escapist") and supported by the unbelievable WETA Digital ("King Kong", "Lord of the Rings", "Avatar") for special effects. "Apes" is a wonder of motion capture, an intelligent heart felt script with great direction. Unfortunately, the human actors left a lot to be desired. But this film isn't about the humans, it's all about the Simians.
As plots go, this is pretty basic. James Franco plays Will Rodman, a brilliant scientist with a breakthrough drug that just may cure Alzheimer's. Rodman and his team are using chimpanzee's to test this new drug and in the process find out that it increases intelligence as well as repair cells in the brain. One of the test subjects gets loose in an intense sequence and ultimately put down. It turns out that she had just given birth to a beautiful baby chimp who inherited this new "altered" gene. Rodman decides the only moral thing to do is to take the baby home while a co-worker tries to find a sanctuary but once Rodman finds out that this little ball of fur has the intelligence of a human child twice it's age he decides to keep and raise the chimp as a child. It's only a matter of time that our chimp Caesar figures out he is not like the other children in the neighborhood. Rodman is forced to give up Caesar to an "Ape Sanctuary" and there begins some of the most exhilarating revolutionary action I've ever seen.
Technically, this film is massive. The work WETA Digital did with motion capture (mo-cap) is truly a wonder to behold. Visual Effects Supervisor with WETA Digital Joe Letteri stated that they built on the technology used in "Avatar" to produce the most realistic and accurate portrayal of the actors suited to play the Simians. Andy Serkis (Gollum from "Lord of the Rings" and Kong from "King Kong") plays chimp Caesar. Serkis manages to fool all of us into believing he is a real animal with super intelligence. His facial emotions and mannerisms should most certainly nominate him for an Oscar. There is a real connection that the audience feels with Caesar and it is all thanks to Serkis' work. Without such an experienced mo-cap actor, this film would not have been such a success.
Not only is the technology used to create the revolution amazing, the action is top notch as well. Many times I found myself with my jaw on the floor from the intense sequences put to screen. Everything from a simple terrifying look from an angry ape to the full out battle on the Golden Gate Bridge was pulled off without a hitch. Many points to the pacing of the films action as it could have been the crutch that killed this beast of a film. One of the most amazing scenes in my opinion is when a group of apes are fleeing over top a suburban neighborhood through the trees. While this is going on we see some people on the street while leaves upon leaves are falling to the ground. This level of detail is apparent in every shot, brilliant work by the production team.
My only problems with this film is the acting from Franco and Freida Pinto, who plays the love interest. They both seemed to "phone it in" as it were. They were not overly impressive and just seemed stale. Maybe the director wanted them to tone it down so that Serkis would have more of an impact acting as a voiceless chimp. Either way, as I said in the beginning, this film wasn't about the humans. It's about compassion, freedom and understanding and on those levels the film is a grand success.