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July 22, 2014 at 12:12 am (This post was last modified: July 22, 2014 at 1:24 am by StealthySkeptic.)
Heathen Review #1: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
"What is the meaning of this? A movie review column written by godless, hellbound scum?!" cried all the elitist fundie preachers as they fainted in their piles of "donation money."
To answer their question, Heathen Reviews is a proposed series of posts where I look at a movie suggested by you guys (that I've seen, own, or can rent) and not only look at the movie itself, but also the philosophical questions posed by the movie, particularly its viewpoint on religious questions as I see it, and give my perspective on both.
After this post, if you guys show enough interest I'll continue this series and do a movie that you suggested. But for now, since Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is out, I figured I'd revisit Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the movie that saved a beloved franchise after it was nearly killed by Tim Burton in that godforsaken horror that we shall never speak of, and then tell you why you should buy, rent, wait for TV, or skip this movie.
I suppose the first question to ask is: why did it do so well? And does it deserve the praise it's getting? Well, let's find out and explore its themes here.
A couple of technical notes before I begin. For those of you who are geeks out there, I'm reviewing this Blu-ray on a Sony BDP-S3100, which is nicely cheap but really fantastic Blu-ray, DVD, and CD player stuffed with Internet services as well, a Sceptre 32'' 720p display, and a Coby two-channel stereo sound bar. Not the best setup ever, but for a small apartment it's comparatively cheap and robust.
Besides, one look at this sexy beast of a machine restores just a little faith in humanity.
Movie Review
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.
Disc Review
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.
Philosophical Review
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.
Conlcusion (or, if you skipped to this, TL;DR)
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!
Luke: You don't believe in the Force, do you?
Han Solo: Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other, and I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen *anything* to make me believe that there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything. 'Cause no mystical energy field controls *my* destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.
If I were to create self aware beings knowing fully what they would do in their lifetimes, I sure wouldn't create a HELL for the majority of them to live in infinitely! That's not Love, that's sadistic. Therefore a truly loving god does not exist!
Quote:The sin is against an infinite being (God) unforgiven infinitely, therefore the punishment is infinite.
Dead wrong. The actions of a finite being measured against an infinite one are infinitesimal and therefore merit infinitesimal punishment.
Quote:Some people deserve hell.
I say again: No exceptions. Punishment should be equal to the crime, not in excess of it. As soon as the punishment is greater than the crime, the punisher is in the wrong.
July 22, 2014 at 12:29 am (This post was last modified: July 22, 2014 at 12:49 am by StealthySkeptic.)
(July 22, 2014 at 12:27 am)Luckie Wrote: Hell to the yes.
PS thanks for the spoiler protection
You're very welcome! Glad you enjoyed.
Oh and BTW, if you don't have a Blu-ray player, it's around $9.99 to buy on your digital movie service of choice and $3.99 to rent. You can also rent the Blu-ray or DVD at Redbox for $1.50/night and $1.20/night respectively.
Any thoughts on what you'd like for me to look at next?
Luke: You don't believe in the Force, do you?
Han Solo: Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other, and I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen *anything* to make me believe that there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything. 'Cause no mystical energy field controls *my* destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.
July 22, 2014 at 12:44 am (This post was last modified: July 22, 2014 at 12:45 am by StealthySkeptic.)
(July 22, 2014 at 12:41 am)Little lunch Wrote: Thanks, I enjoyed that.
Book of Eli?
Good suggestion and I'm glad you liked it! I remember liking that quite a bit and then souring on it the first time I watched it. But that was before I became an atheist and consequently learned to see various religious and secular perspectives on things. It could be interesting to revisit why I hated the movie in the first place, what I like and dislike NOW, and how to (possibly) enjoy it without being taken aback by the movie's religious themes.
Luke: You don't believe in the Force, do you?
Han Solo: Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other, and I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen *anything* to make me believe that there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything. 'Cause no mystical energy field controls *my* destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.
I loved that movie when I rewatched it as an atheist. Hell I even liked it as a theist
Lets have at it and no I haven't read the Planet of the Apes yet because I like to go in blind. But I'll give you my review when I watch it.
If I were to create self aware beings knowing fully what they would do in their lifetimes, I sure wouldn't create a HELL for the majority of them to live in infinitely! That's not Love, that's sadistic. Therefore a truly loving god does not exist!
Quote:The sin is against an infinite being (God) unforgiven infinitely, therefore the punishment is infinite.
Dead wrong. The actions of a finite being measured against an infinite one are infinitesimal and therefore merit infinitesimal punishment.
Quote:Some people deserve hell.
I say again: No exceptions. Punishment should be equal to the crime, not in excess of it. As soon as the punishment is greater than the crime, the punisher is in the wrong.
(July 22, 2014 at 12:57 am)Luckie Wrote: Agree. ^^^^
I loved that movie when I rewatched it as an atheist. Hell I even liked it as a theist
Lets have at it and no I haven't read the Planet of the Apes yet because I like to go in blind. But I'll give you my review when I watch it.
Just rented it on my Apple TV. What's the worst that could happen?
Luke: You don't believe in the Force, do you?
Han Solo: Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other, and I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen *anything* to make me believe that there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything. 'Cause no mystical energy field controls *my* destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.
(July 22, 2014 at 1:13 am)ignoramus Wrote: One day those apes will evolve and and question where they came from!
Sounds stupid, doesn't it ...Isn't that exactly what we have done!
Loved the movie 8.5/10
Apes could never EVOLVE...oh, wait.
Glad you enjoyed my review. Any suggestions on movies I could do next?
Luke: You don't believe in the Force, do you?
Han Solo: Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other, and I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen *anything* to make me believe that there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything. 'Cause no mystical energy field controls *my* destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.
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