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One word: fantastic. Does it replace the original in my heart, even though that had goofy ape suits and melodrama to spare and this is clearly more polished? No. That movie is immortal. But this reboot doesn't try to do that, or really even reinvent the wheel when it comes to the plot, since if you're even vaguely familiar with the series you'll know exactly what happens. This is Planet of the Apes, the timeless reimagining of the classic Frankenstein story, updated for a new generation concerned with bioethics, the nature of humanity, animal cruelty, sentience...I'll cover all of that in the philosophy review.



This guy doesn't want any monkey business.

But what sets Rise apart from what could have been yet another rehashed "origin story" is how fantastic the apes and their actors are. Most of the humans are terribly acted while some such as James Franco come close to great, but they can't help but be out shined by how amazing Andy Serkis is in yet another one of his brilliant motion-capture performance. He wowed audiences as Gollum in Lord of the Rings for a very good reason: he can sell CGI characters as living and breathing like no other actor I know. That and the quality of the CGI itself makes for some serious emotional investment as Caesar develops as a character. Get the tissues ready.

Again, I do wish the human characters were a bit more believable and fleshed out, but our sympathies are clearly supposed to go ape. Some of the scenes are a little hokey and melodramatic as well, but that does fit the spirit of the series and is a bit par for the course for Hollywood right now. Lastly, if you're like me and you tend to go looking for a lot of plot holes, you'll probably find them in abundance, but most of the time I found myself not caring and just enjoying the ride. And what a ride it is.

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This Blu-ray Disc comes in a pretty standard blue plastic case, but inside you get a Blu-ray, a DVD, a digital copy that expires in 2017 (which can only be played on UltraViolent- I mean UltraViolet- which was clearly designed by Ray Comfort and the movie studios to make people think of fundamentalist Christianity as less painful), an eight dollar coupon printable from Fandango for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes which expires on August 6th 2014, and a code to unlock a streaming extra for Dawn which expires in December. I bought this for $7.99, and this has over $30 worth of value.



Hey, who can blame me for the misspell? You'd want to be ultraviolent to whoever came up with this shitty idea.

All anger towards idiotic DRM aside, the Blu-ray itself is something you'll want to show off. The video quality is impressively sharp, and I almost had to blink to make sure I wasn't seeing real apes on the screen, which of course really helps with what the filmmakers are trying to do. The audio is dialogue heavy for the most part until the climactic finale, but the score is great and it does present ambient sounds quite well.

Then there's the five hours of glorious extras. Once you're done with the movie you can delve into TWO audio commentaries (I found the one by the director to be a little dry and overly technical even for me, with the writer and producer commentary more fun and engaging), the usual deleted scenes, an all too brief character concept gallery, and the sometimes clunky but nonetheless cool ability to connect to IMDb via BD-Live to show actor information while you watch the movie, among other things. (You'll need to have a 1 GB USB drive in order to do so as well as see one of the "Live Extras" located online- a minor annoyance but worth it).

But the supplements that make the disc worth purchasing ALONE are the making-of featurettes, especially anything to do with Andy Serkis. They wisely focused on showing how his performance came to life with most of the special features, and your jaw will drop. My only (minor) gripe with the presentation is that the disc's looping clips spoil pretty much the entire gist of the plot, but if you're not too sensitive about that, the sampling of the theme song will get stuck in your head.

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I called "Rise" a Frankenstein story, and I believe that the reason that this movie (and the rest of the Planet of the Apes franchise in general) has captured a lot of critical acclaim alongside sci-fi franchises with similar themes like Jurassic Park, I Am Robot, and Terminator is because, done well and fresh, the basic Frankenstein plot of out of control creations overtaking their creator that captured Bram Stoker's imagination when Mary Shelley cooked up the story at her friend's Swiss retreat two hundred years ago is something that can really be more thought provoking than your average blockbuster.



It also created one of the greatest comedies of all time!

Sure, because of the usual connotation of the word "creator" and the often hammered in moral plea that science shouldn't "play God" (whatever the heck that means) by creating life since that's God's job, some atheists may be tempted to roll their eyes at the whole philosophical concept. If you can ignore that interpretation, and also accept some of the "fi" in the sci-fi genre (as well as the aforementioned plot hole disclaimer in the Blu-ray Review), then you'll find a lot of brain food to chew on here. Thankfully, there's no suggestion that the apes have "souls" in the traditional sense when it comes to automatons in movies as in, say, A.I. (don't get me started) so that's averted.

Although I did say that the basic plot is still really predictable, a lot of the enjoyment of the movie comes from the how and why of Caesar's journey as a brainy chimp, so it's a little difficult to delve too much further into specifics without spoilers, but I'll try and cover what I found enjoyable about the philosophy and metaphysics.

Basically, what makes the apes memorable stars (aside from the breadth of their acting and emotional depth) that steal the show, philosophically speaking, is that, once they gain intelligence (the manner in which they do so raises the question of the measly 2% difference between us, who evolved consciousness, and apes) they (mostly) behave rationally and question and collectively rise up against the unjust discrimination against them a la the Civil Rights Movement. The main draw of the apes for me as well is that they don't accept that things just are the way things are and try to find out what it actually is, much like the early Greek scientists did.

And, despite being thrust into a world without any meaning they can discern, Caesar and the others make choices that make this suddenly conscious life free and meaningful for them. Way to go atheist apes! They also work together as a group as our earliest hominid ancestors once did in order to survive in a world full of hatred and fear. They become more believably human than the humans as a result, and it digs at the heart of what it means to be human. I think that the movie argues its characteristics such as reason and compassions rather than species that can be classified as human.

Meanwhile, the human scientists act completely inhuman by abusing something that is supposed to be rationally and thoughtfully applied in an ethical manner (genetic research and animal testing) irrationally. They are only concerned, as Ian Malcolm said in Jurassic Park, with slapping their discovery on a plastic lunchbox and selling it, which not only causes unnecessary ape and human suffering, but goes against basic respect for animals that, even without genetically-imbued super smarts, can feel much as we do. Even the main human character, despite his affection for Caesar, acts more out of emotion than reason to his detriment.

There's a ton more depth to the themes and that I couldn't possibly cover comprehensively, but suffice it to say that if you're looking for thinking man's science fiction, it's no 2001: A Space Odyssey but Rise of the Planet of the Apes is much better brain food than most of the CGI and explosion filled shit that plagues Hollywood nowadays and will stick with you.

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Well, here's my final recommendation! Buy this movie on Blu-ray now (if you own a Blu-ray player at any rate). Not only is it the definitive version of the movie, but it's packed with value from the story to the eye and ear candy to the bonus features to the themes and philosophy. I can't praise this film highly enough and I can't wait to use the included movie coupon to see Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in 3D!

Enjoyed this review? Got a suggestion for a movie I should review next? Please let me know with kudos and comments!

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