Rise of the Planet of the Apes Review

This has to be the biggest film surprise of the year. This was not a film I expected to enjoy. It was not even a film I expected to see. When I first saw all of the previews for the film, I thought it would just be a dumb, Apes-take-over-the-world film, full of overly CGI'd action and little to no character development. So imagine my surprise when, upon seeing it, not only was it not godawful, but it was actually a great film.

Now, by great, I don't mean that it is just an entertaining action movie with good-enough writing and directing. I mean that it is truly a well made film, in which a lot of effort was put in to create an engaging and satisfying story. The film follows the rise of Caesar, a chimpanzee who, due to some genetic testing, is gifted with extraordinary intelligence.

The storyline may sound very silly, but director Rupert Wyatt gives it just the right tone. Lighthearted enough so that it is entertaining and fun, but seriously enough for the audience to connect and truly care about what happens to the characters. There are a few silly moments during the action sequence (singular) that seem out of place, but mostly it is an engaging storyline that builds up to, and in many ways exceeds, a well crafted and original action sequence at the end.

The visual effects in this film are, of course, outstanding. I do still have some issues with CGI, mainly due to the fact that I never feel like a CGI character is really there. I can always tell it's just a computer creation. However, it was totally necessary here and used to great effect. Makeup would have restricted an actor's movements and looked silly. By using motion capture, they were not only able to give the apes realistic motions, but also fully expressive faces that truly show you how the apes are feeling, even though they can't speak. This allows the audience to more easily connect to these very realistic looking characters.

The greatest strength of the film, however, is also it's greatest weakness, acting. Andy Serkis' performance as Caesar is one of the most brilliant and emotionally resounding animated performances of all time. He truly gets you on the characters side, and hoping that he succeeds. The other apes, though less developed, are also performed very well. The humans, however, have issues. James Franco and Freida Pinto, the two leads, very much underplay their roles. They mostly sit back and let Caesar take the spotlight. John Lithgow is very good as Franco's sick father, in a role that was less developed than it should have been. The "villainous" characters, though, are on the other side of the spectrum drastically overplaying their roles into cartoonish territory. While it is fun to see Draco Malfoy get his ass handed to him by a monkey, the rest of the villains are just distractingly unrealistic, especially David Oyelowo as the Smarmy-businessman character that has become way to predictable and prevalent in modern film.

Despite these shortcomings, the film wisely chooses to play as a character drama for most of its runtime. This way the audience can connect to the characters so that they truly care about the outcome of the battle at the end. It is a very surprisingly well made film, and I truly recommend it to everyone, ESPECIALLY those who thought the trailer looked like shit. Trust me, it's a completely different movie than we were led to believe.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II

The first time I saw this film, I felt very disappointed. It wasn't poorly made, but I felt like there were changes made to the source material that would have been better if they had just been kept the same. There didn't seem to be any need to change them, and that frustrated me. However, it was a midnight showing, and I had been up since 5 AM, so I was very tired and had trouble focusing on the film as a whole.

Having now seen it a second time, I can say that I enjoyed the film much more. While I still find the changes very unnecessary, I was able to focus much more on the film as a whole, and I found it to be a great film almost the best in the series.

One of the strengths of the film is in the direction. David Yates has directed all of these films since Order of the Phoenix, and has improved with each film. He suffered major pacing issues up until the end of Phoenix, and though the pacing of Half Blood Prince may have been improved, tonal issues brought that film down. Deathly Hallows Part I was very well directed, but brought down by having no true climax, but this is made up for in Part II by having the entire film be a climax. The action sequences have always been Yates' greatest strength, and since this film is entirely action, it works. The pacing is excellent, The action exciting and the film has some scenes that deliver a true emotional punch. Yates has improved enough over the films to become easily the second best director of the series, behind Cuaron

Visually, the film is also great. It boasts the most believable effects of the series yet, and the cinematography and editing really help to ratchet up the tension. The one misstep is the poor aging makeup during the epilogue. they use these 20-25 year old actors to play adults in their 30's, but they don't really change the way they look. They give them some facial hair, or a wig, or a gut, but otherwise we're supposed to believe that these people, who still have the youthful faces of those in their early twenties, are supposed to be in their mid 30s. It doesn't fit, especially against the great effects through the rest of the film.

Acting is also great in this film. While most minor characters aren't really given much to do, the most important characters have a lot to carry, and do it well. Radcliffe, Grint and Watson, having grown through the series, have by this point perfected their characters, and each give their greatest performance to date in this film. Fiennes, as Voldemort, continues to brilliantly and menacingly portray one of the greatest villains ever created. However, the MVP, as with every other film in the series, is Alan Rickman as Severus Snape. He has the most dramatic heavy lifting to do, aside from Radcliffe, and everything he's put into the performance since the very first film is revealed and shown, and though it may be his eighth time portraying the character, it is easily his best and ranks among the greater performances from this actor.

Finally, the one trait of the film that bothered me: the screenplay. The final novel was split into two films to fully show the story without having to make compromises for time. Part I made the most of that by sticking to the book to a T. I expected this film to be very similar, too, but am disappointed in how much it differentiated. Granted, the screenplay is very good. Had I never read the book, I would maybe even call it the best of the series. Having read the book, though, I realize that it would have been better if they had just stayed closer. It seems like many moments were cut for time, but this film was the shortest of the series, and could have been a significant amount larger without allowing the audience to lose interest. This would have allowed more time to create moments that would have an even greater emotional impact. Because of this, some moments that were very emotionally effective in the book seem glossed over in the film. Though I can see that the film chose the more logical route in certain ways, this is a movie that includes spells, trolls, and people without noses. I think they are afforded the luxury of choosing emotion over logic to a certain degree.

But the second viewing allowed me to see that the way things were portrayed wasn't bad at all, and even a few moments were improved, mainly Neville-related moments. So it sits comfortably behind Prisoner of Azkaban as the second greatest film of the series. Even if it does fall short of the masterpiece it could have been, I can't deny that it is a great film, and a worthy conclusion to the series.