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Rise of the Planet of the Apes [spoilers]
14 years ago
So, I recently saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and quite frankly I found it rather confusing. Not as far as the plot is concerned, but in terms of emotional investment. There isn't really a good side or a bad side, so the conflict resolution seems rather unfulfilling and it makes the movie feel kind of incomplete. Technically it is incomplete, I suppose, but it still makes it suffer as a standalone movie. Continue reading for some more in-depth discussion.
PLOT SUMMARY
The movie starts with a group of chimpanzees being captured and taken to a pharmaceutical research corporation. At the corporation, a man named Will is developing a form of viral therapy that can repair damaged brain tissue. The drug is tested on the apes, and shows remarkable results. They started by having one of the apes perform the Tower of Hanoi puzzle (they called it something different, but it's the same puzzle) and she was unable to solve it. After taking the drug, she was able to solve it in 20 moves. Impressed with the results, they decide to show it off to investors. However, the ape turns violent and goes on a rampage through the facility before being shot right in the middle of the investors meeting. An order was put out to put the apes down and they cancelled development of the drug. However, it turns out the ape hadn't turned aggressive from the drug, she was just being protective because she recently had a baby. The lab worker put in charge of euthanizing the chimps couldn't bring himself to do it to a baby, so he gave it to Will to deal with. Will decided to take care of it and took it home with him.
At home, we're introduced to Will's father, Charles, who's showing signs of Alzheimer's syndrome. Will asks his father to help feed the baby chimp, and as Charles is handing it a bottle, it grabs the bottle and begins to suckle on it. They recognize its intelligence and do some tests, eventually concluding that the effects of the drug were genetically passed on from the mother, and in the absence of any brain damage to repair, it made the chimp smarter. They name him Caesar after one of Charles' favorite Shakespeare plays, and start to raise him almost like a child, teaching him sign language to communicate.
Impressed with the results seen in Caesar, Will sneaks some of the drug home and administers it to his father, who rapidly shows signs of improvement. His thoughts are more clear and coherent, his manual dexterity is improved, and not only have the effects of Alzheimer's disappeared, but he's showing signs of being more intelligent than ever before. Back at the research corporation, he explains to his boss that he had been performing human tests in secret and that the results were incredible. He's told to continue testing and monitoring the results.
Eventually, Charles' immune system develops antibodies to counter the viral treatment, and his Alzheimer's returns. One day he wakes up and enters someone else's car that had been left open, slamming it into the cars directly in front and behind. The car's owner pulls him out and starts yelling at him which trigger's Caesar's protective instincts. Caesar tears the man away from Charles and starts pummeling him. The fight stops when Caesar hears the man's daughter cry out to him, but the damage had been done and Caesar was sent to stay at a primate shelter until a scheduled court hearing.
Will takes the information he learned about the drug being resisted by the immune system and starts working on developing a new strain. The new strain is airborne and must be administered through inhalation rather than injection. As they're administering it to a test chimp, the chimp starts seizing and knocks the mask off of one of the lab workers in addition to letting some loose into their chamber. The worker later shows signs of sickness, sneezing blood and sweating profusely until finally we see him dead in his apartment. It turns out the chimps' immune system keeps them safe from the drug while it enhances their intelligence, while humans get sick and die from it.
Back at the shelter, the apes are treated badly. They have a common area with a tree to climb but they are usually confined to their cages. Caesar isn't accepted by the other apes at first, but eventually gains their trust. He uses his intelligence to escape the shelter and sneaks into Will's house to get some of the new drug. He lets it loose in the shelter to make the other apes intelligent, and they plan their escape. Once free of the shelter, they coordinate an attack on the research lab to free the intelligent apes that are captive there. Once freed, they make their way across the Golden Gate Bridge to get to the redwood forests where they can live free. The military was called in after the attack on the lab and they blocked the path across the bridge. They weren't expecting the heightened intelligence of the apes and were easily overcome.
Will follows the apes to the forest where he confronts Caesar, explaining that everything was his fault and asking Caesar to come home with him. Caesar gives Will a hug and says, "Caesar is home." Will accepts this and lets Caesar live with the other apes in the forest.
After a few seconds of credits, cut to an airport and we see a man sneezing blood as he's about to get on a plane. We are then shown the plane's flight path and the spread of the infection. Roll credits, and we're at the end of the movie.
END PLOT SUMMARY
There is really no good or bad side in this movie. There are plenty of "bad" actions performed on both sides, but they have good intentions behind them. The humans created a new breed of super apes and a fatal virus, but they were trying to create a cure for degenerative brain disease. The apes acted violently toward people, but they were just trying to protect their families and friends, plus they're intelligent, sympathetic characters that you actually feel for. The military got in the way of the apes as they were crossing the bridge, but they were just trying to protect people in response to the recent aggressiveness at the lab. The only truly bad characters were the people in charge of the primate shelter, but the worst one was electrocuted when he was hit by a fire hose blast as he was attacking the apes with a cattle prod, and the others just surrendered, and this was far before the big fight on the bridge.
I will admit I have only seen one of the Planet of the Apes movies, and I remember very little about it other than the twist ending where it's revealed that they've been on Earth the whole time. That ending was enough for me to know that the apes took over, so I knew that much about how this movie was going to end. Even so, Rise of the Planet of the Apes feels like an anticlimax. The apes don't take over, they simply survive because their immune systems protect them from the virus while the humans die of infection.
Honestly, I don't know what to make of this movie. The only clearly defined antagonist is killed before the climax of the movie so there's not really any conflict to resolve at that point. Rather than being its own story, it feels more like the explanation behind another story, and it's entirely possible that was the intention. Whatever the case, it makes me want to watch Planet of the Apes, because it just feels incomplete on its own.
PLOT SUMMARY
The movie starts with a group of chimpanzees being captured and taken to a pharmaceutical research corporation. At the corporation, a man named Will is developing a form of viral therapy that can repair damaged brain tissue. The drug is tested on the apes, and shows remarkable results. They started by having one of the apes perform the Tower of Hanoi puzzle (they called it something different, but it's the same puzzle) and she was unable to solve it. After taking the drug, she was able to solve it in 20 moves. Impressed with the results, they decide to show it off to investors. However, the ape turns violent and goes on a rampage through the facility before being shot right in the middle of the investors meeting. An order was put out to put the apes down and they cancelled development of the drug. However, it turns out the ape hadn't turned aggressive from the drug, she was just being protective because she recently had a baby. The lab worker put in charge of euthanizing the chimps couldn't bring himself to do it to a baby, so he gave it to Will to deal with. Will decided to take care of it and took it home with him.
At home, we're introduced to Will's father, Charles, who's showing signs of Alzheimer's syndrome. Will asks his father to help feed the baby chimp, and as Charles is handing it a bottle, it grabs the bottle and begins to suckle on it. They recognize its intelligence and do some tests, eventually concluding that the effects of the drug were genetically passed on from the mother, and in the absence of any brain damage to repair, it made the chimp smarter. They name him Caesar after one of Charles' favorite Shakespeare plays, and start to raise him almost like a child, teaching him sign language to communicate.
Impressed with the results seen in Caesar, Will sneaks some of the drug home and administers it to his father, who rapidly shows signs of improvement. His thoughts are more clear and coherent, his manual dexterity is improved, and not only have the effects of Alzheimer's disappeared, but he's showing signs of being more intelligent than ever before. Back at the research corporation, he explains to his boss that he had been performing human tests in secret and that the results were incredible. He's told to continue testing and monitoring the results.
Eventually, Charles' immune system develops antibodies to counter the viral treatment, and his Alzheimer's returns. One day he wakes up and enters someone else's car that had been left open, slamming it into the cars directly in front and behind. The car's owner pulls him out and starts yelling at him which trigger's Caesar's protective instincts. Caesar tears the man away from Charles and starts pummeling him. The fight stops when Caesar hears the man's daughter cry out to him, but the damage had been done and Caesar was sent to stay at a primate shelter until a scheduled court hearing.
Will takes the information he learned about the drug being resisted by the immune system and starts working on developing a new strain. The new strain is airborne and must be administered through inhalation rather than injection. As they're administering it to a test chimp, the chimp starts seizing and knocks the mask off of one of the lab workers in addition to letting some loose into their chamber. The worker later shows signs of sickness, sneezing blood and sweating profusely until finally we see him dead in his apartment. It turns out the chimps' immune system keeps them safe from the drug while it enhances their intelligence, while humans get sick and die from it.
Back at the shelter, the apes are treated badly. They have a common area with a tree to climb but they are usually confined to their cages. Caesar isn't accepted by the other apes at first, but eventually gains their trust. He uses his intelligence to escape the shelter and sneaks into Will's house to get some of the new drug. He lets it loose in the shelter to make the other apes intelligent, and they plan their escape. Once free of the shelter, they coordinate an attack on the research lab to free the intelligent apes that are captive there. Once freed, they make their way across the Golden Gate Bridge to get to the redwood forests where they can live free. The military was called in after the attack on the lab and they blocked the path across the bridge. They weren't expecting the heightened intelligence of the apes and were easily overcome.
Will follows the apes to the forest where he confronts Caesar, explaining that everything was his fault and asking Caesar to come home with him. Caesar gives Will a hug and says, "Caesar is home." Will accepts this and lets Caesar live with the other apes in the forest.
After a few seconds of credits, cut to an airport and we see a man sneezing blood as he's about to get on a plane. We are then shown the plane's flight path and the spread of the infection. Roll credits, and we're at the end of the movie.
END PLOT SUMMARY
There is really no good or bad side in this movie. There are plenty of "bad" actions performed on both sides, but they have good intentions behind them. The humans created a new breed of super apes and a fatal virus, but they were trying to create a cure for degenerative brain disease. The apes acted violently toward people, but they were just trying to protect their families and friends, plus they're intelligent, sympathetic characters that you actually feel for. The military got in the way of the apes as they were crossing the bridge, but they were just trying to protect people in response to the recent aggressiveness at the lab. The only truly bad characters were the people in charge of the primate shelter, but the worst one was electrocuted when he was hit by a fire hose blast as he was attacking the apes with a cattle prod, and the others just surrendered, and this was far before the big fight on the bridge.
I will admit I have only seen one of the Planet of the Apes movies, and I remember very little about it other than the twist ending where it's revealed that they've been on Earth the whole time. That ending was enough for me to know that the apes took over, so I knew that much about how this movie was going to end. Even so, Rise of the Planet of the Apes feels like an anticlimax. The apes don't take over, they simply survive because their immune systems protect them from the virus while the humans die of infection.
Honestly, I don't know what to make of this movie. The only clearly defined antagonist is killed before the climax of the movie so there's not really any conflict to resolve at that point. Rather than being its own story, it feels more like the explanation behind another story, and it's entirely possible that was the intention. Whatever the case, it makes me want to watch Planet of the Apes, because it just feels incomplete on its own.
