In preparation for Dawn of the Year of Monkey Business 9: Back 2 Apesics, I watched the original Planet of The Apes. No, not the incomprehensible monkey-shmoozing monster Tim Burton let fall out of his ass 13 years ago. I'm talking Charlton Heston baby...from the tail end of the sweaty 60's.
Planet of the Apes is still a great film. It's well shot, eerily scored and still bears some terrific makeup. You can't escape the cheese that comes with those at-times silly gorilla masks, but it's supported by an unorthodox story, great performances and excellent pacing. It keeps you interested despite yourself; you can start PotA scoffing at the silliness of the idea and leave it feeling thoughtful and willing to wax philosophical on the ludicrous world that was set before you. The sense of isolation that sets in when you realize how alone with Charlton Heston/George Taylor you really are keeps it feeling tight and always bringing you along for the ride. A lot of 60's science fiction suffers from too much bloat and not enough progression. Planet of the Apes finds its pace and keeps it moving right until the ending reveal, which was on the DVD and the Menu. They actually showed a clip of the ending when I clicked 'play movie', I'm dead serious.
Anyhow, go watch Planet of the Apes. It opens a lot of questions that were ultimately answered by...
DAWN of the Planet of the Apes suffers from some typical sequel errors; banking on making the shocking revelations of Rise the norm such as talking apes and idiotic humans being a constant, almost overemphasized aspect of the film. It suffers from being slightly tone-deaf, the Antagonists (it's difficult to call them villains until the very, very end of the film) are hardly monsters themselves. Replacing the naive, uncaring human villains of the first movie with more relate able, if not ultimately more monstrous cutout characters. A tragic experiment survivor. Sad Gary Oldman. Despite how flat the characters are, Rise gives the world a lot more flesh for you to sink your teeth into, it succeeds at being much more than a hackneyed, unnecessary sequel. It's like a good breakfast; filling but without too much bloaty carbs and poo-throwing.
There's also a scene where a rampaging ape dual wields M249 machine guns with his giant ape biceps and rides a horse. That part was okay, but thankfully brief. I have to give it points for avoiding indulging in too much action, it's a genuinely suspenseful and very tense film. So go see it too.
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Last edited by Mac Sirloin; 07-24-2014 at 05:23 PM..
: every single day of my life
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