Planet of the Apes (2001)

reviewed by
Eugene Novikov


Planet of the Apes (2001)
Reviewed by Eugene Novikov
http://www.ultimate-movie.com/
"Bow your head!"

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti, Estella Warren, Carey Hiroyuki-Tagawa. Directed by Tim Burton. Rated PG-13.

Reading a review of Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes by an internet critic I respect, I stumble upon this quote: "So, a "reimagining," as Burton has been calling it, of Planet of the Apes would surely be ripe for Burton's brand of psychological autopsy. A human man, alone among hostile, intelligent apes, unable to relate to the uncivilized, subjugated homo sapiens he encounters... Bring on the angst, the hero's twisted self-torture, all the stuff that makes you wonder what happened to the director as a child!"* The reviewer then expressed her disappointment that the film was in fact nothing like she expected, that Burton strayed from his usual cathartic misfit tale, as riveting as his best ones have been. The fact that her sentiment was echoed in reviews around the country shows how unfair the critical faculty has been to this gem of a sci-fi movie. From Burton, everyone expected a movie that is extraordinary in spirit; this one is simply extraordinary in craft. It had to happen sometime, and I don't think I mind. Mark Wahlberg takes over Charlton Heston's role in the original 60's Apes, but not his loincloth. He plays Captain Leo Davidson, a scientist/astronaut who takes a shuttle from his space station to go after an escaped chimpanzee and gets caught in an electrical storm that rockets him two hundred years into the future. He crash-lands on a planet where -- you guessed it -- apes rule and humans are caged and enslaved.

The biggest difference between this set-up and that of the original movie is that while the apes Heston had to contend with were merely skeptical and condescending, treating humans much like we treat monkeys, the simians here are downright malevolent. Tim Roth, cast somewhat against type, plays Thade, the cruel, fearsome, rotten-to-the-core villain who ridicules the human rights movement led by Ari (Helena Bonham Carter). When Leo is captured and imprisoned, Ari helps him escape the clutches of the corrupt slave trader Limbo (Paul Giamatti) and lead a group of humans to his crashed ship, showing them that humans weren't always the subservient species.

Much has been made of the ending. I won't go into it except to say that it isn't entirely "Burton's new ending." It's truer to Pierre Boulle's novel than the original movie was, though even here it's slightly modified. But in all the hubbub about its plausibility -- or lack thereof -- something has been lost, and that is Burton's pure technical skill in staging an action movie. He is as comfortable operating in this alien world as he was in the dank, foggy woods of Sleepy Hollow. His Apes is, in fact, remarkable-looking, though many were put off by the fact that it's not his trademark look. Why not let the guy do something different?

Wahlberg makes for a good no-nonsense hero, and the love triangle between him, Ari and a sexy human female is, until the very end, only implied, sparing us a potentially laughable subplot. The make-up effects by the legendary Rick Baker are amazing, making the original look even sillier by comparison. And Burton keeps the movie skipping along at a nice pace, stopping only to give us a look at Roth snarling ferociously at the camera (and to give Heston a nifty cameo).

This is as solid a summer movie as one can expect, beautifully mounted, well-acted and with a nifty shocker of an ending. More importantly, despite the detractors' loud grumblings, this is a Tim Burton film.

*MaryAnn Johanson, The Flick Filosopher

Grade: A-
Up Next: Sexy Beast
©2001 Eugene Novikov
=====
--Eugene Novikov
lordeugene_98@yahoo.com

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts." (Daniel Patrick Moynihan)

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