Rise of the Planet of the Apes

[thefrenzexperiment]

I found the most unbelievable part of the movie is
[spoiler]where the gorilla jumped off the bridge onto the helicoptor. The only way that animal could have reached the helicoptor is by following a parabolic path - once launched its effectively unpowered - and that should have taken it through the spinning blades. In order for it to have followed the path it did, nothing less than a giant catapult would have sufficed to give it such momentum. It didn't even have a run up.[/spoiler]

Not true actually - although you're right about motion like that following a curve, if you look at a small section of the first part of a parabola it is practically a straight line, so launched with sufficient force the big guy could have made it to the chopper without going through the blades and only dropping a small distance due to gravity in the brief time of his flight. Far-fetched and implausible yes (like much of the film of course, although I think it JUST stayed the right side of ridiculous), but not impossible, especially if the gorilla had maybe snaffled some steroids from Malfoy in the ape sanctuary....

[elski]

Andy Serkis: why won't Oscars go ape over motion-capture acting?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/aug ... ure-acting

[Snowwhite]

i really loved this movie when i saw it on thursday and i loved how the graphics of how they made the apes
great storyline
9/10

[Beate]

http://www.metro.co.uk/film/reviews/872 ... of-promise

[Beate]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/film/revi ... -review.do

[superhero]

They are doing a twitter campaign to get Andy Serkis nominated for the Oscars:

"We have to be impartial but @OscarForAndy are running a campaign for an Oscar for Andy Serkis' Rise of the Apes performance. Do you agree?"

from Cineworld

[yogi]

Wow. I'd noticed the high marks and good reviews people had given this, and it even surpassed my raised expectations - it's a brilliant film.

And it is a proper film, not just a series of set pieces thrown together, the first hour playing like a drama and then exploding into a thrilling climax.

The special effects are amazing, as is the Caesar character, utterly believable and compelling - some reviews have pointed out that the supporting humans aren't as fully rounded, but thats what they are just supporting characters in Caesars story, he is the star.

I also thought the pacing was spot on, taking it's time when it needed to at James Franco's house and the Brian Cox run facility, but never feeling baggy or outstaying it's welcome.

Overall a wonderful film, cutting technology married to good old fashioned storytelling.

* I heard there was a post credits sequence, anyone know what it was?

[cheekyweelassie]

I can't believe I spent twenty minutes writing my review of this...only for my computer to have a hissy fit and crash. So I lost it all, and inevitably my rewritten review will be considerably shorter.
I've studied primatology so I would probably be a nightmare companion for any films involving apes, as I will study them meticulously for inaccuracies and get really wound up about it. I went to go and see this on my own to avoid annoying anybody!
Things didn't bode well at the start of this, as I thought the movement of the chimps through the forest was unconvincing, and I couldn't understand why most of the chimps didn't just escape into the trees when the poachers came. However, I was really blown away by the close-up accuracy of the CGI. The texture of the hair, the brightness of the eyes, the expressions. It was brilliant. I think Andy Serkis did a fantastic job (yes to the Oscar), and I really liked the way that Caesar was the main character and had the audience on his side.
It was so interesting to see things from the apes' perspective, which was why I didn't mind that some of the human characters were not as well developed. Who could fail to feel sympathy for the chimps in the lab, or the apes locked up in the 'sanctuary'.
There were some nice touches of realistic ape behaviour, such as the submissive hand gestures, vocalisations, and the aggression occurring at times of defence or protecting family members.
I'm not usually very fussed about seeing action films, but I really enjoyed the way things built up and I did enjoy the battle bit (however, the primatologist part of me thought the gorilla/helicopter scene was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen).
I'm afraid I got annoyed again at the very end. What on earth was gained by making Caesar speak? He didn't need to speak, he could communicate perfectly well with his own kind without needing human language....and besides, chimps don't have vocal chords so will never be able to speak in the way that we can. Oh dear, that set me off on one!
I did enjoy this a lot. More than expected. There were just a couple of annoying things, but not nearly as many annoying things as most films with primates in them, and I'm delighted that they did the whole film without using live animals. I really hope other films follow suit.
8/10

[superhero]

Interesting article.I am tending towards yes let motion captured performances get awards, but you can just as easily see, if someone can't do the smile, the tears, they will just add it on with computers. And is acting really just about the facial expressions, the posture, the hand gestures? Surely the looks play a part too...

Andy Serkis: why won't Oscars go ape over motion-capture acting?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/aug ... ure-acting

[superhero]

Top marks to WETA for doing the CGI on Caesar, much better than the ILM work on the aliens in Super 8 or Cowboys and Aliens