"Planet of the Apes" – Gorilla Warfare by Homer Yen (c) 2001
On a distant planet, perhaps in another galaxy or in another dimension, apes have remarkably evolved to a superior state while Homo sapiens, oddly, are the animals. The human race has become a scourge. They are caged, prodded, displayed for amusement, and sold into slavery. Some are even kept as pets. At first, this film seems to project itself as biting satire – an ironic piece of social commentary about our own arrogant sense of aggrandizement. But the film's initial edginess considerably dulls as these notions fade and "Apes" devolves into an unremarkable story about a lost space traveler trying to return home.
The 20-minutes-too-long opening introduces us to Captain Davidson (Mark Wahlberg), a pilot working on a research space station. While on a search and rescue mission, he is blindsided by one of those Star Trek-like swirling spatial anomalies. Hurled through time and space, he eventually crash lands on a strange planet.
Looking like a contestant on "Survivor 4," without benefit of supplies or technology, he comes across a band of humans, dressed in post-apocalyptic fashion. They are running for their lives, pursued by apes. But these aren't the simians that Davidson remembers back on Earth. These species seem to be eons ahead on the evolutionary scale. They speak, have superhuman strength, and are as nimble as Jackie Chan.
Eventually captured, he meets militant extremist General Thade (Tim Roth), who considers the human population an infestation and wants to eradicate the whole species. However, Ari (Helena Bonham Carter), a civil-minded daughter of a powerful Senator, keeps his genocidal plans in check. But her influence can only go so far. And when Thade becomes convinced of Davidson's threat to the ape-world's balance of nature, he calls up his army whilst Ari and Davidson flee into the hinterlands.
Much of the film focuses on their journey to a destination where they believe they can find help while Thade and his military troops give pursuit. But their travels provide too few exciting or tense moments. Meanwhile, Mark Wahlberg lacked the leading-man charisma, unable to inspire his ragtag band of followers. With this kind of leadership, only the hand of God could prevent a complete slaughter.
The Ape characters seemed more, well…human. Roth-as-Thade is gloriously malicious as the fascist leader. Carter-as-Ari turns in a compassionate performance as the sympathetic aristocrat. Also of note is Michael Clarke Duncan who lends an air of nobility as Thade's trusted friend. And likeable was an orangutan slave trader (Paul Giametti) whose witty banter and sour disposition made him seem like a distant cousin to Jim Carrey's "Grinch."
The realism of these apes is incredible as advanced make-up techniques give these creatures an uncannily human look. Yet they still maintain such apish traits as sniffing, roaring, beating their chests, swinging, and walking with that distinctive simian gait. Their world is all the more imposing thanks to director Tim Burton's dark and gloomy otherworldly visualizations. Meanwhile, maestro Danny Elfman (who did "Batman") composes a soundtrack filled with ominous sounding passages and gothic/military anthems.
"Apes" gets an opposable "thumbs up" for visuals, presentation, and for its overall imaginative look and feel. However, it gets an opposable "thumbs down" for a bland story, a lackluster drama, and its absurd resolution. While competent and handsome looking, it needed greater profundity, zip, and intensity. As it stands, there's no reason to go ape.
Grade: C+ S: 1 out of 3 L: 0 out of 3 V: 2 out of 3
========== X-RAMR-ID: 29203 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 244174 X-RT-TitleID: 1108704 X-RT-AuthorID: 1370 X-RT-RatingText: C+
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews