Planet of the Apes Review
by Tim Wick
I know I've seen the original Planet of the Apes. Some time - years upon
years ago - I watched it on TV. I remember how it ended, I remember that
there were people in cool ape costumes and that is pretty much it. That it
didn't make a lasting impression on me is probably more a function of the
fact that I was about five years old and not a function of the film itself.
I'd hoped to find the original again and watch it before I watched Tim
Burton's "Reimagining" but I wasn't able to.
So I'm reviewing this remake "cold" as it were. There will be spoilers as
this film hardly allows one to write about it without some spoilers. Better
to know that ahead of time.
No matter what you think of this film, you will walk away in awe of Rich
Bakers make up. It's been written about in every review I've read and will
be written about a great deal more. The make up will be nominated for an
Oscar - you can place a bet on that if you like. Harry Knowles told me that
the make up in Fellowship of the Ring is better and that blows my mind.
In this film, Baker gives us ape faces that are more than just a immobile
cover of the actors face. Instead, they are alive with expression. Their
faces move as they speak in a fashion that is uncomfortably natural. Actors
I am familiar with (such as Helena Bonham Carter) are virtually impossible
to detect under the make up and yet the make up actually allows them to ACT
with their face instead of just their voice. This is a landmark work of
make up - make not mistake.
The rest of the movie is a mish mash of perfect moments and imperfect ones.
As one might expect, most of the perfect moments revolve around the apes
themselves. Tim Roth's villainous General Thade is a complex piece of work.
He is certainly cruel and bigoted, but he has some reason to be. The humans
we see at the beginning of the film are certainly not devoid of guilt for
the world they eventually have a hand in creating. The apes fear of humans
is in some ways hard wired due to the humans' own actions.
Aside from Mark Wahlberg, however, the humans really don't get decent
treatment. They seem like an afterthought. It is almost like someone
figured that the name of the film was Planet of the Apes so the humans
weren't really important.
Too bad, because that is where the miss is in this picture. Sure, the apes
are cruel and misguided in their hatred of humans, but the humans hardly cry
out for our pity. We don't know enough about them to care. Since the whole
point of the film is for us to be wanting the humans to prevail against the
apes, we are in real trouble when the humans are just two dimensional
caricatures that never really connect. The fact that it is humans watching
the film does not inherently mean we will pull for the humans.
Burton has a trademark style that is certainly in play here. Even his
outdoor desert shots have a claustrophobic dark edge to them. Most of the
film is emerging from darkened corners and sunlight is either shafts of
light that creates obscuring shadows or punishingly bright ensuring nothing
can hide. His worst films are always great eye candy. Certainly this is no
exception.
I could talk about the primary shortcoming of the film, but that is a
spoiler I am not prepared to share.
This film ranks with Jurassic Park III in my mind as the best action film
of the summer. That it still can rank only three and a half beakers speaks
to the dismal and dull summer we have thus far endured. Even films I
personally adore - such as A.I. and Moulin Rouge are certainly not for
everyone and do not pack the wallop we all expect from a summer blockbuster.
The trick to a summer blockbuster is the ride, not the story. Somebody
needs to go back to the drawing board because I've been on rides like this
before and they were better the first time.
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