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 times I found myself with my jaw on the floor from the intense sequences put to screen. Not only is the technology used to create the revolution amazing, the action is top notch as well. Without such an experienced mo-cap actor, this film would not have been such a success. There is a real connection that the audience feels with Caesar and it is all thanks to Serkis' work. His facial emotions and mannerisms should most certainly nominate him for an Oscar. Serkis manages to fool all of us into believing he is a real animal with super intelligence. Andy Serkis (Gollum from "Lord of the Rings" and Kong from "King Kong") plays chimp Caesar. 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. The work WETA Digital did with motion capture (mo-cap) is truly a wonder to behold. 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. It's only a matter of time that our chimp Caesar figures out he is not like the other children in the neighborhood. 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 turns out that she had just given birth to a beautiful baby chimp who inherited this new "altered" gene. One of the test subjects gets loose in an intense sequence and ultimately put down. 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. James Franco plays Will Rodman, a brilliant scientist with a breakthrough drug that just may cure Alzheimer's. But this film isn't about the humans, it's all about the Simians.
Unfortunately, the human actors left a lot to be desired. "Apes" is a wonder of motion capture, an intelligent heart felt script with great direction.
Directed by Rupert Wyatt ("The Escapist") and supported by the unbelievable WETA Digital ("King Kong", "Lord of the Rings", "Avatar") for special effects. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is a welcome change to this trend pitting us measly humans against our closest ancestors, Great Apes. Don't get me wrong, I love films about ET's taking over, but Hollywood has beaten that horse to death. We have seen an influx of Alien takeovers recently and it is getting a bit stale I must admit. Disaster movies are a dime a dozen now a days.