THE PLOT THUS FAR
During experiments to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, a genetically-enhanced chimpanzee uses its greater intelligence to lead other apes to freedom.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
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.
Needless to say, Caesar’s performance is flawless; after all this is the man who brought Gollum to life, but he captures the screen with an entirely wordless performance, which to me is the greatest part of the film. I felt for Caesar more than any other character in this film, and he did it without saying a word. I was almost in tears at one point during one of Caesar’s more emotional scenes – although a chimp, the heightened intelligence really gives him just enough human characteristic to be above the uncanny valley while still behaving like an animal. The humans in the film were what I considered weakest in this film; not any of the performances were bad, but a little more development in some minor characters and some tweak in the writing here and there would have made this a perfect ten. Tom Felton felt a bit off to me; he was cruel but almost in a cartoon way, though I suspect that’s more to do with ill writing than any personal issues. The main cast are good, though at it’s current length, I think more development with James Franco’s character wouldn’t have gone amiss, but then again, this might have thrown off the pacing.
The DVD comes with deleted scenes, featurettes and a trailer. The A/V Quality is good enough for standard definition, but I found the DD 5.1 track to be poorly mixed. Too many volume changes between dialogue and action scenes will have you scrambling for the remote. Not the best version to watch, so I’ll recommend the Blu-Ray. That being said, it’s still one of the best flicks of the year. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!
