C.C.C. Issue #34: Top Ten Movies I liked that the critics didn't

Top Ten Movies I liked that the critics didn’t 

The critics know their stuff, but they aren’t always right. Sometimes, films get reassessed and given much higher praise than in their initial run (Vertigo, for example, originally received a mixed reaction, and is now considered by some as the greatest film ever). I am going to offer concrete reasoning for why I think the critics were wrong about these ten films. 

Criteria: Movie that has a score below 5/10 which I gave a rating much higher than 5/10. Example: If movie has 4/10 rating and I gave it 6/10, it’s not overwhelmingly more positive so doesn’t count. If a movie has 3/10 and I gave it 7/10, it qualifies.

“RT” refers to the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, in particular their critics’ consensus, on each film.

10. Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)

RT score: 22 %

My score: 6.5/10.

First up is the third installment in the long running Resident Evil franchise, very loosely based on the video games of the same name. With the first film the filmmakers were experimenting and establishing the characters as well as the main plot: an underground lab experiences a zombie outbreak, and the characters must survive the zombies, other gruesome creatures, and pitfalls in the subterranean facility, called “The Hive”. For the sequel, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, main character Alice (MIlla Jovovich) escapes The Hive and enters Raccoon City above, only to find the virus has spread to it as well and turned the populous into mindless flesh eaters. The sequel failed to improve on the original, and even as someone who enjoys the franchise, I found it to be bad. The third film, however, is my favourite of them all. The fourth and fifth really re-tread old ground and didn’t take the series anywhere new and exciting, but the third film sees Alice and another group of survivors travel to Las Vegas, which has become entirely desert, and scientists in a secret, mini underground facility are trying to tame the zombies. It’s as preposterous as anything else in the series, but the action is swift, there are a couple twists that are actually effective, and the characters aren’t terribly annoying. The main reason for me loving this film—and the franchise at all, for that matter—is Milla Jovovich. I think she’s one of the best actresses in action films today—she’s sexy, tough, and maintains a serious/intense yet relatable aura in all her films—and she’s the principle reason I don’t condemn the Resident Evil franchise like most people do.

9. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007)

RT score: 45 %

My score: 8/10.

The first Pirates of the Caribbean film was a huge success, which meant a sequel was inevitable. What audiences got was a second chapter with even grander visual effects, but not quite the same compelling story. It was appropriately darker than the first, but it was also longer, more drawn out, and ended on a cliff hanger ending. For varying reasons including some of the ones I just mentioned, critics were less enthused by the second chapter of the Pirates trilogy. It didn’t stop the movie from being one of the highest grossing films of all time, and the third film ended up doing comparatively big business. Most critics were unsatisfied with the closing chapter of the Pirates trilogy, but I felt completely the opposite. Despite being nearly three hours long, I was on the edge of my seat for most of the run time, anxiously awaiting the fate of all the characters I had become invested in over the past two films. The final action sequence was breathtakingly epic, but I enjoyed some of the smaller, quieter, and lighter moments as well, such as when they meet with Davey Jones on land and he’s standing in a bucket of water, due to being unable to set foot on land. It’s an exhaustive ending to the trilogy, but does bring things to a satisfying conclusion while leaving it open for future films.

8. Click (2006)

RT score: 32 %

My score: 8/10.

In the nineties, Adam Sandler was one of the most reliable sources for laugh-out-loud comedy, with great films such as The Wedding Singer and Happy Gilmore. As his career pushed ahead, his films started to go south, and now his movies are seen as unqualified box office successes, although this is becoming less true as fewer and fewer people are tricked into thinking his next project will be better than the last. For most, Click is just another one of Sandler’s crappy comedies, but for me, it’s his last good one. The concept is simple enough: a workaholic just wants more control over his life, and he gets it, when Christopher Walken’s character gives him a universal remote control that controls his own life. It kind of rips off other movies like A Christmas Carol and several time travel plots, but Sandler plays a funny, likeable, and earnest father/husband here, and the supporting characters are solid enough. It doesn’t make the most of its concept, but with such limitless possibilities, it does get a few things right. The scenes where Sandler uses the remote’s settings are the funniest, such as when he changes the contrast of his skin colour or uses the subtitles feature. I can understand why critics turned their noses up at this family comedy, but I must have seen it at the right time in the right place, because it made me laugh, cry, and was wholly entertaining.

7. Mortal Kombat (1995)

RT score: 33 %

My score: 8/10.

This movie was set to disappoint critics from the start. Reviewers criticized the laughable plot, bad dialogue, and questionable acting, but what else could you expect from a film based on one of the most popular fighting video games of all time? Mortal Kombat is a hot blooded nineties arcade fighting game and the film adaptation is actually faithful to the source material. Was Mortal Kombat ever going to be about incredibly intelligent dialogue delivered by exceptional actors? Of course not, it’s about one liners and cheesiness and not taking things too seriously. The action was great, the characters were all pretty close to the way they were depicted in the game, and it has several recognizable trademarks from the games, including the beloved theme song, which plays multiple times throughout the movie, unaltered. Mortal Kombat is, in my opinion, among the few best video game movie adaptations, and delivers just about everything fans of the game would want to see. The sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is another story...

6. 10,000 BC (2008) 

RT score: 8 %

My score: 6.5/10.  

Director Roland Emmerich is infamous for delivering big scale action/disaster films with no brains but lots of cgi. His first major success was Independence Day, debatably his best (using that word lightly here) film to date.  What followed were disappointing, similarly themed action fests, such as the overwhelmingly disappointing 1998 Godzilla, and other bland catastrophes like The Day After Tomorrow and 2012. 10,000 BC was a little different for Emmerich, in that it meshed historic, prehistoric, and alternate history elements with his typical disaster-type action, but still maintained that brainlessness and epic visual grandeur common throughout all his films. Critics crapped on this movie hard, but I was able to enjoy it for what it was worth. 10,000 BC wasn’t trying to be historically accurate—obviously the pyramids were not around 10,000 years ago and Mammoths didn’t help build it by towing big stone blocks—but it made for some pretty exhilarating action scenes and impressive visuals. It even pays some tribute to similarly themed films like One Million Years BC and Quest for Fire. The plot is unarguably poor, but it keeps the story moving and showcases the fearsome creatures of the past. 10,000 BC is pure popcorn entertainment, nothing more and nothing less.

5. My Best Friend’s Girl (2008)

RT score: 14 %

My score: 8.5/10.

Dane Cook’s brand of humour is definitely not for everyone—in fact, I think more people dislike him nowadays than like him. When I was younger, I thought he was the best comedian around, and so eagerly sought out his comedy films. I no longer feel that way, though I still find him funny and he can make me laugh quite consistently. I don’t understand why everyone hated My Best Friend’s Girl so much. To me, it’s more than just a raunchy romantic comedy. It’s a raunchy romantic comedy that goes against conventions. Dane Cook’s character takes girls out on bad dates to make them realize their ex boyfriends aren’t so bad, thus sending the girls crawling back and giving their former relationship a second chance. His character is not immediately likeable, and what he does seems to be low and conniving, but as the film goes on, you see he’s not such a bad guy and he even has a heart (though buried deep beneath a lot of filth). The supporting characters are all great, and the plot doesn’t feel run of the mill or too similar to other rom-coms. The humour does tend toward the vulgar side, but it has several laugh out loud moments that are genuinely clever and funny. Another factor to note is the enjoyable and compatible collection of music, from artists including The Cars and Tom Petty. If you haven’t seen this flick and are a fan of comedies like Hitch or The 40 Year Old Virgin, then you should give it a chance.

4. Without A Paddle (2004)

RT score: 14 %

My score: 9/10.

The main reason I love this movie is easy to explain. I love camping and being outdoors, and I have a love/hate relationship with outdoor adventures that go wrong. It sucks that the planned activities get ruined, but the unpredictability of nature is one the things I love about it, and not knowing what’s in store on an adventure can end up being even more fun. Without A Paddle is the quintessential comedic quest through the wilds that goes awry. Besides being about subject matter I can connect with and relate to, the plot is actually entertaining and really funny. Three guys go looking for a lost treasure in the woods, and come across vicious hillbilly pot farmers, gorgeous, free-spirited hippies living in a tree, and treacherous terrain. The characters move from memorable scene to memorable scene, all the while delivering witty dialogue and playing off one another with ease. It’s interesting to point out while the critics gave Without A Paddle a low score, the audience approval rating is significantly higher, at 69 %. Having seen this movie at a young age might also play a part in why I still love it. The nostalgia coupled with the adventure elements make this a comedy I can watch every once in awhile and still have a hearty laugh.

3. Alien vs. Predator (2004)/Aliens vs. Predator Requiem (2007)

RT score for AVP: 21 %

RT score for AVP: R: 12 %

My score for AVP: 7/10

My score for AVP: R: 7.5/10.

I’m a diehard fan of the Alien and Predator franchises. For most fans of either or both franchises, the two crossover films were pure abominations, but I hold some reverence for both. When I was just a kid and knew nothing about movies, I heard about this new movie coming out that had these two alien species fighting each other, called AVP: Alien vs. Predator. It intrigued me, but I was too young to see it, so had to wait. Finally, in grade 5, I was allowed to rent AVP from the video store and watch it with my friends. It was exhilarating seeing two extremely cool looking aliens fighting each other to the death and using their unusual, frightening, and creative arsenals. It was after this that I discovered each creature had starred in their own films long before, so I viewed both the Alien and Predator franchises in their entirety, and eventually went to the theater to see the second AVP film. For a long time I loved all of the movies, but as I re-watched them, got to know more about cinema, appreciate quality storytelling from generic storytelling, and learn about how the other fans felt, the AVP films fell away as my favourites. Still, I look back on them and recognize what was captivating in the first place. The story and human characters suck in both films, but the visual effects—particularly the practical and animatronics—are top notch, and the action is great. Neither film holds up to any of the originals, but I still think they aren’t as sinfully bad as the critics claimed.

2. The Butterfly Effect (2004)

RT score: 33 %

My score: 9/10.

I have watched this film many times, and I still think it’s as great now as when I first saw it. Critics blatantly said the plot is interesting, but wasted in too dark, depressing, and silly of a film. I strongly disagree. Yes, the film is dark, but so is Looper, a more recent sci-fi flick using similar time travel plot elements which received massive critical praise. It’s unfair to compare the two films, but I’m trying to put it in perspective. The Butterfly Effect is about a kid named Evan who has a tough childhood. His dad’s crazy, he gets involved in child pornography with his friends’ abusive father, he has strained relationships with everyone he knows, and worst of all, he keeps having blackouts, after which he remembers nothing. As it eventually becomes clear, Evan can time travel, in a sense, as an adult by reading entries from the journals he kept near the time of the blackouts, and go back into his younger body during said black outs. Each time he does this, it changes the future and he returns to a different reality. It’s a relentlessly engaging story made even easier to become involved in thanks to the great acting, in particular the child acting. I’ve never seen Aston Kutcher in a serious role other than this film, but I think he does a decent enough job and is a sympathetic main character. The main issue with the movie is the theatrical version has a radically different ending. The alternate ending on the DVD is much more somber, but also more effective. If you can get past the darker elements, then give The Butterfly Effect a shot. It’s an engrossing, original, and highly misunderstood film.

1. Ultraviolet (2006)

RT score: 9 %

My score: 9.5/10.

Remember how I said I was a Milla Jovovich fan? Also notice how nostalgia can be a factor in why I like some of these movies? Ultraviolet is the ultimate example of a film I really liked, that the critics really, really, didn’t. I could go on and on about this movie, but I’ll keep it brief. This is the critics’ consensus on Rotten Tomatoes: “An incomprehensible and forgettable sci-fi thriller, Ultraviolet is inept in every regard.” Harsh. More than a little too harsh, if you ask me. First of all, after I saw Ultraviolet for the first time, I couldn’t forget about it (I was only 13 at the time, mind you). Second of all, the plot is not incomprehensible. In fact, dare I say it; it’s original and even kind of clever. A sort-of-vampiric disease turns people into “hemophages” in a dystopian, technologically advanced future, and the hemophages are sentenced to death by uninfected humans, so the angry hemophages are rebelling. One in particular, Violet (Milla Jovovich), is a skilled martial arts warrior with swords and guns and chameleonic leather clothing—a force to be reckoned with. I won’t say much more on the plot, but what I like best are two things. One: the creative technology of the future, including flat space technology which compresses objects and allows a person to carry dozens of weapons on a bracelet-sized device, and two: the strong female lead, reminiscent of other great action films like Aliens. Ultraviolet is visually incredible, action packed, sexy, and is almost like a comic book or superhero movie, which is what it was intended to feel like.

At the end of it all, what the critics thought really doesn’t matter. As long as you enjoyed the movie, then that’s what counts. The critics can only offer their opinions and try to offer some kind of guide as to whether a movie is worth your time or not. I have no problem with liking movies that the critics didn’t, or vice versa, but it can be interesting to see where the difference of opinion lies in regards to cinema. 

Planet of the Apes: A Brief History of Cinema Issue #3

A Brief History of Cinema: Planet of the Apes series

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the follow-up to 2011’s unexpected hit Rise of the Planet of the Apes, hits theaters this week, continuing the rebooted franchise and perhaps exceeding the sky high expectations.

Looking back on the Planet of the Apes franchise, the series has had its fair share of highs and lows, but what everyone can agree with is the first film which launched the franchise, remains one of the most influential and significant sci-fi films of all time. It’s time to take a look back on this simian series, so peel a banana, fling some feces, or just go ape shit, because it’s time to recount Planet of the Apes in this edition of: A Brief History of Cinema!

Going back to the beginning, Planet of the Apes, which was based on the novel La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle, came out in 1968: the same year Stanley Kubrick’s classic sci-fi adventure 2001: A Space Odyssey came out. Interestingly enough, 2001 also has a segment devoted to apes. It seems ’68 was the year of sci-fi simians (I promise, that’s the last bad simian pun).

Planet of the Apes stars Charlton Heston as the Astronaut George Taylor, who ends up stranded on an unknown planet with the rest of his small crew after their ship crash lands in a lake. Uncertain about what planet they’re on, they find a group of mute humans in rudimentary cave-man-like clothing, and just as they suspect there will be no problem in establishing dominance over this primitive culture, a band of apes on horseback coming riding in, guns ablaze. Taylor and the rest of his crew are quickly captured or killed, along with other mute humans. The apes—gorillas to be precise—are a hunting party, and hunt the humans for sport, taking some as slaves back to Ape City.

Taylor is treated like an animal, but he remains strong and tries to figure out just what the hell is going on and how apes could be so intelligent and have such a sophisticated society. He befriends Nova (Linda Harrison), the hottest mute human of the bunch. Taylor is put in a cage and studied by the Chimpanzee scientist Zira (Kim Hunter), who discovers Taylor can speak—something thought impossible for humans to do. Along with her husband Cornelius (Roddy McDowall), Zira gets Taylor free and finds out where he’s from, but has a hard time believing any of it. One ape who refuses to accept any of what Taylor, Cornelius, Or Zira claim to be true is Dr. Zaius, an orangutan who believes the day a talking human reveals itself will be the day their society takes a turn for the worst. Zaius orders that Taylor be castrated, but Taylor escapes and goes on the run, eventually being captured by gorilla’s an uttering the film’s most famous line: “Take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape!”

After a tribunal, Taylor escapes with Nova, Cornelius, Zira, and her nephew, and the fugitives head to the Forbidden Zone, an area of land not yet fully explored by the apes. Taylor seeks answers, but Dr. Zaius seeks to keep him from finding them out, so intercepts him at a beach. Taylor is on the cusp of finding out the truth, and though Zaius warns him that he may not like what he finds, Taylor and Nova ride off down the beach on horseback, where Taylor makes a horrific discovery. The ape planet is none other than a future, post-apocalyptic earth, made clear by the Statue of Liberty submerged in sand and rock. 

With a cliff hanger ending as severe as that, it was inevitable that a sequel be made. Beneath the Planet of the Apes followed a different lone surviving astronaut from a different ship, which crash lands just like Taylor’s did in the first film, only this time it’s on land not water. Astronaut John Brent (James Franciscus) was sent to look for Taylor’s ship, but ends up on the future earth the same as he did. He discovers the city of apes, a lone Nova, and the friendly apes Zira and Cornelius (Roddy McDowall was replaced by David Watson this time around). They discover Brent was sent to find Taylor, who disappeared in the Forbidden Zone and left Nova on her own.

While Zira and Cornelius help Brent and Nova escape Ape City to go look for Taylor, the apes are planning to send an army into the Forbidden Zone, led by the gorilla General Ursus (James Gregory). Dr. Zaius is against the idea, but he’s ignored and the apes move out. Brent and Nova are captured by gorillas, but they escape and hide in a cave, in which Brent makes the realization that he is on a post apocalyptic earth rather than an alien planet as he (and Taylor) first thought. He also discovers an underground society of mutant telepathic humans who worship a gigantic atomic bomb as their deity. Brent discovers Taylor is being held prisoner, but they break out and narrowly avoid killing each other when one of the mutant telepaths takes over their minds and pits them against each other. They discover the A-bomb these freaks are worshipping is an Alpha and Omega bomb—an ultra-powerful doomsday nuke capable of blowing up the entire planet.

The apes reach the Forbidden Zone and attack the underground city of mutants. It’s chaos as they all battle, and the mutants try to set off the doomsday device, but they are killed, and so is Nova, along with Brent. Though mortally wounded, Taylor activates the doomsday device and the most depressing ending to a sci-fi film ever occurs, as a voice over declares: “In one of the countless billions of galaxies in the universe, lies a medium-sized star, and one of its satellites, a green and insignificant planet, is now dead.”

How could they make a sequel to that? 20^th Century Fox found a pretty clever way. Before the world blew to smithereens, Zira and Cornelius (again played by Roddy McDowall again) along with Dr. Milo (Sal Mineo) escaped in Taylor’s space craft, which they repaired, and went through a time warp that sent them back in time to earth in the year 1973. And so begins Escape from the Planet of the Apes!

Dr. Milo is accidently killed by an angry gorilla while they’re being held in a zoo, but Cornelius and Zira are not harmed. In almost reverse fashion, the apes are discovered by humans to be intelligent, and that they can speak. They become celebrities, but Dr. Otto Hasslein (Eric Braeden) is concerned about what their presence on earth means for the future of humankind. He discovers not only that Zira is pregnant, but in the future humans become slaves to the apes, and that Zira experimented on humans like guinea pigs. Both apes are put into confinement, and eventually deemed dangerous. Zira and Cornelius escape with the help of some scientists and take refuge at Armando’s (Ricardo Montalban) Circus. There, Zira has a baby boy, whom she names Milo after their deceased friend.

                Dr. Hasslein suspects Zira and Cornelius took shelter at a zoo or circus because of her pregnancy, so he orders a search for them. The family of apes gets trapped on an abandoned ship in L.A. Harbour, where Hasslein shoots Zira and her infant several times, then is shot by Cornelius and dies, and then Cornelius is shot by a sniper and also killed. Zira crawls to her dead husband and dies on him. The ending isn’t much happier than Beneath the Planet of the Apes, but a final scene reveals Zira swapped her baby with another baby chimp at the zoo, and Armando is looking after the infant chimp, who can speak.

Taking place ten years later, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes follows the intelligent speaking ape child of Cornelius and Zira, Caesar (played by Roddy McDowall). Formerly known as Milo, Caesar was thought to have been killed along with his parents, but Armando has been caring for him in secret. In this world, a disease wiped out cats and dogs, so apes became the new house hold pet, and were trained to carry out tasks—essentially becoming slaves. Caesar is appalled by the way humans treat his own kind, and when he yells out at the mistreatment of an ape, Armando covers for him, but people suspect the ape spoke.

Caesar is inducted as a slave, and after Armando dies from falling out of a building, Caesar starts using his wits and cunning to overthrow the human race and begin an epic ape revolution. Recruiting fellow apes from all three castes—gorilla, chimpanzee, and orangutan—Caesar gets his hands on weapons, and successfully initiates the conquest that the title indicates.

The fourth sequel/third prequel/final film in the original series, Battle for the Planet of the Apes takes place a few years after Conquest. Although the world has been destroyed by nuclear weapons, the apes have won the power struggle, and now Caesar is their all-powerful leader. Humans still live amongst the apes, but not as their equals. They teach apes how to read and write English, all living in Ape City which is much more primitive here than it was in the first and second films. Caesar sets out on a personal mission with a human, MacDonald (Austin Stoker), and a Dr. Zaius-like orangutan, Virgil (Paul Williams), to the ruins of the city in search of a record of his parents. Caesar finds what he’s looking for, but their presence becomes known. The underground mutant society discovers Caesar and his comrades, and they suspect the apes plan on overthrowing them and that they must be stopped.

                Back at Ape City, Caesar’s son, Cornelius (that’s not confusing in the least, I know), accidently finds out that the ruthless gorilla General Aldo (Claude Akins) plans on killing all the humans in Ape City, as well as Caesar himself and taking control of the ape population. Cornelius is spotted and gets badly injured, eventually dying from his injuries.

Caesar returns from the city ruins, and the fate of him and his race are in jeopardy. The mutant army attacks Ape City, but they are no match for Caesar’s cunning and the ape’s clever military tactics. General Aldo goes against Caesar’s orders and kills the mutants who survive the skirmish. Caesar discovers it was Aldo who killed his son, which puts Aldo in violation of the apes’ most sacred law: ape shall never kill ape. Caesar pursues Aldo up a tree, and Aldo falls to his death. Caesar heroically frees the humans imprisoned at Ape City and deems man and ape as equals.

While things calm down at Ape City and the future looks bright, the mutants back at the ruined city decide to worship their Alpha and Omega bomb rather than detonate it—remember that doomsday device that will one day destroy the planet? So is the outlook on the future bright, or dark? It’s left to the viewer to decide, but the Apes series would take a darker—and much goofier—path in the form of a reboot almost three decades later.

2001—the actual year not the movie that came out the same year as the first Apes film—saw Tim Burton’s remake/reimagining of the original Planet of the Apes. In the near future, humankind uses chimps as space pilots to test out their advanced space technology. Something goes awry when an electromagnetic storm strikes, and astronaut Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) gets lost in the storm when he pursues a space pod piloted by Pericles, a chimp he’s grown fond of.

                Leo crash lands on the planet Ashlar many centuries ahead of his own time, and discovers a society of humanoid apes that speak English, enslave humans, and more or less do everything the apes have done in previous films. Unlike the previous films, however, these enslaved humans speak, and the apes use reworked quotes from the original film (the first ape to speak is a gorilla played by Michael Clarke Duncan, who says to Leo: “Take your stinking hands off me, you damn dirty human!”) Leo gets to see the humans work as slaves, carrying out domestic chores like the apes did in Conquest, and the audience gets to see some weird scenes such as ape foreplay and political primate discussions.

                Leo escapes the apes thanks to the female chimp Ari (Helena Bonham Carter), who dislikes that apes abuse and enslave humans. General Thade (Tim Roth) and Colonel Attar (Michael Clarke Duncan) pursue Leo and the others, and Leo discovers in an ancient cave the remains of the space station he had been on before being lost in the electromagnetic storm. A video log reveals the apes on board the station took it over and made it crash on the planet he’s currently on, thus the intelligent apes are descended from those that rebelled, and the humans are descendants of the survivors of the crash.

                Remember Pericles, the chimp who disappeared into the vortex? Well he shows up on the planet in the midst of a war between the apes and humans—having been pushed to the future like Leo was—and only now did he find his way to the planet. The apes mistake him as the first ape ever, Semos, and think he has returned, so they stop the battle and bow to him. Of course Leo knows the truth, so after escaping the wrath of General Thade, he gives Pericles to Ari, gets in Pericles’ shuttle, and flies back to the electrical storm to go back in time.

                Leo lands on earth and gets out of the pod, but makes a disturbing (and wholly confusing) discovery: the Lincoln Memorial is now a statue of General Thade! W.T.F! Apes in police cars roll up and arrest Leo. It’s a cliff hanger ending that baffled audiences and was never resolved, because after Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes remake was not well received by critics or fans of the original series, 20^th Century Fox held off from making a sequel and chose to let the apes lay dormant for a further decade before bringing them back in a big way.

In 2011, Rise of the Planet of the Apes rebooted the franchise without remaking any of the originals, although it’s debatable whether or not Rise is a remake of Conquest, because the two share very similar characters and plot elements. In this take, a genetics lab is trying to find the cure to Alzheimer’s, and one scientist, Will Rodman (James Franco) holds an especially personal grudge against the disease, because his father (John Lithgow) has it. After making a break through with an experiment on a test chimp he calls Bright Eyes (a reference to the original, as that’s what Zira called Taylor), Will is on the cusp of curing Alzheimer’s. But an accident at the lab ruins a board meeting with potential investors and results in the death of Bright Eyes. A frustrated Steven Jacobs (Will’s boss, played by David Oyelowo) orders that all the chimps be put down, but chimp handler Franklin (Tyler Labine) discovers Bright Eyes gave birth to an infant while in her holding cell. Will takes it home and keeps the infant as a pet. His father names him Caesar.

                A few years later, Caesar (played by Andy Serkis, whose performance was rendered through motion capture) has grown in size and intelligence. He inherited the drug that his mother had been tested with, and Will discovers ALZ 112 not only works to restore brain function, but increases it. He tests it on his worsening father, and finds it cures him. For the next few years, things are good, but as Caesar matures, he becomes too much for Will to handle, and he takes Caesar to an ape refuge. Unbeknownst to Will, the refuge has poor conditions, abusive workers, and houses aggressive apes that turn on Caesar, who is a new comer and in turn an outcast.

                Using his sophisticated mind, Caesar learns the ropes of the refuge, finds a way to break out of his cell when he wants, and slowly starts earning the trust of the other apes. This all occurs while Will’s father gets Alzheimer’s once again and eventually dies from it, and his company continues to make breakthroughs with ALZ 112, however it shows to have a negative effect on humans, as Franklin becomes ill and dies. Caesar steals canisters of the drug and releases them on his fellow ape inmates, who all become intelligent like him. When Will is finally able to bring Caesar home, Caesar refuses to go with him, and instead waits until the perfect moment to overthrow the workers at the ape refuge and release his ape army. Caesar speaks for the first time, and assumes dominance over the other apes. They escape the facility and head for the San Francisco zoo, where they free the apes there and forge weapons.

                The police can’t stop the apes, as they rampage through downtown and swing along the Golden Gate Bridge. Reinforcements are called in, they form a blockade, and many apes die, including Caesar’s main muscle, a powerful gorilla. Caesar and most of the others make it past the blockade to the Redwood forest on the other side, and Will pursues him. Will encounters him and asks Caesar to come home, but he says: “Caser is home.” Will lets Caesar go, and in an end credits scene, it’s shown that Franklin passed the ALZ 112 virus on to Will’s neighbour, an airline pilot, who unwittingly spreads the deadly virus around the globe.  

So what are my thoughts on these films? I’ll give you some opinions in brief. 

Planet of the Apes 1968: it’s a true classic of the sci-fi genre, with rock solid acting, an engaging and creative plot, and a wicked twist ending. What really stands out are the special effects, which were not only revolutionary for the time, but stand the test of time and still look impressive today. 9.5/10.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes: considering how tough an act this sequel had to follow, it’s not too bad of a follow up, but does fail to be anywhere as classic or original. A reduced budget becomes evident in some scenes, James Franciscus feels like a discount Charlton Heston at times, and the plot takes some weird turns in the third act. The ending is overpoweringly depressing, and taints the overall experience for me. 6/10.

Escape from the Planet of the Apes: it’s lighter and fresher than Beneath, and it’s fun to watch Cornelius and Zira achieve celebrity status in our own world. It’s a little slow paced in the second and third acts, but it reaches an exciting conclusion where the stakes are high, and neatly sets up the next entry in the series. 7.5/10.

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes: it’s darker and weightier than the previous film, and it’s exciting to see Roddy McDowall play a different ape than he had played previously. Having the apes rise to dominance is an exciting prospect, but inconsistencies (how did all the apes on earth suddenly evolve to be human-sized and stand nearly upright and be significantly more intelligent?) as well as questionable plot elements (a virus from space wiped out all cats and dogs? Seriously? Come on!) make it far from a truly great sequel. 6.5/10.

Battle for the Planet of the Apes: this final entry manages to be an exciting and worthy conclusion to the series, despite an evidently reduced budget. The ape characters are as interesting as ever, and the undetermined future is shaped by the events that unfold. It still suffers from a “been there done that” feeling once in awhile and is occasionally uneven, but generally suffices and entertains. 7/10.

Planet of the Apes 2001: Tim Burton’s reworking of the original classic is disgraceful and silly. Even though it boasts a talented cast, incredible makeup effects by Rick Baker, and a powerful soundtrack by Danny Elfman, the characters are weak, the plot is unremarkable, it’s plagued by bizarre Burton-isms, and the cliff hanger ending falls completely flat. A subpar remake that was never necessary in the first place. 4/10.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes: I expected this film to fail, but it exceeded nearly all expectations. The plot isn’t all that special, but it’s well directed and makes some clever references to earlier films. But the show stealer is Andy Serkis as Caesar. His acting brilliance coupled with the flawless visual effects make it an exciting, tense, and visually thrilling reboot, worthy of the Planet of the Apes title and the sequel coming out this summer. 9/10.