rise of the planet of the apes (2011) - rupert wyatt

I used to really like the original series of  'Planet of the Apes' films when l was younger, so l was looking forward to seeing the new version of 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'. Not looking forward enough to go and see it at the pictures mind you, but l did have high hopes for it. Usually, because l am so sad, any film that was directed by someone called Rupert (educated at Winchester - named public school of the year in 2010 by Tatler, and the oldest of the public schools) would get my back up straight away (class war and all of that), but l'll admit he did do a good job with this, although the story was straightforward enough (evil lab / experiments going wrong / a good intentioned scientist / it all going tits up and the apes rising up). I shouldn't complain about unbelievable parts of the film if l am already watching a movie about apes talking and taking over, but there were a few scenes which annoyed me, such as  Caesar not telling of the cruelty being inflicted in the ape sanctuary by the guards. There was also a lot of fuss beforehand about how the ape effects and CGI  had moved on so much from the earlier films, and l do agree they have, but there were also plenty of action scenes where l thought people would look back on them in a few years and consider them dated. Anyway, l used to love Roddy McDowall in the earlier films, and he certainly bought a different kind of identifiable reality to the apes. Wasn't too keen on the apes running up buildings, as they reminded me of spiders, but overall, it was good enough to make me want to watch the sequel, and there are plenty of films where l don't feel that way. Andy Serkis must be wearing his hands away, rubbing them with glee at the amount of money he will be making from this franchise.

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