Scream Bloody Entertainment

This was the first week I spent in my new place where I moved to attend university, and it was quite a busy week all in all, so I didn’t get to spend much time indulging in my cinematic needs. I did however find the time to get acquainted with the local theatre, where I got to see a summer blockbuster during its late run.

Friday

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) - 6/10
I caught Rise of the Planet of the Apes during its closing weeks at the theatre. Much of my decision to do so was influenced by the amount of positive feedback that it was receiving at that time – I wasn’t too excited about the film previously and had initially intended to skip it altogether (much of that was owed to its awful title, which kept bugging me to no end). In the end, though, Rise of the Planet of the Apes proved to be a pleasant experience, albeit not a terribly exciting one. While I did enjoy the movie for the most part, I didn’t find myself agreeing with all the hype, and especially opposed those who regarded it among the best of the year. The special effects certainly deserve praise, and so does Andy Serkis’s motion capture performance in the role of Caesar, but overall I found the film lacking a storytelling and cinematic power to raise it up from the modest ‘above average’ group. Some of the story’s stronger and more memorable moments are contrasted and ultimately almost entirely negated by mediocre writing, shallow characters, and a tedious final act. James Franco did not impress in the leading role, but I blame that more on the aforementioned writing than on the actor himself. Also I have yet to understand why Freida Pinto’s character was in this movie at all. To conclude, Rise of the Planet of the Apes provides some good parts and is quite a decent way to spend two hours or so, but it is not the film that many are making it out to be.