Posted on Sunday, 4 September 2011

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (Wyatt, 2011, C) - Sometimes, simply by virtue of seeing two films in close succession, you start seeing links between them, even if they’re tenuous at best. That’s why, after FIVE EASY PIECES, what I thought about most during PLANET OF THE APES was the plight of someone caught between two worlds, neither of which they really belong in or to. The other thing that struck me was that it’s kind of subversive to put us so clearly in the shoes of the oppressed person, and showing just how terrible the consequences can be if you relegate a group to “sub-human” status - with the complication, of course, that apes ARE in fact not human and “other”, and that even I, as a bleeding-heart liberal, have an “own-species-first” attitude. I think the main reason this got such good reviews is simply suprise that it didn’t suck, and the good reviews, in turn, led to me being somewhat underwhelmed, but it’s an interesting look at the birth of a revolutionary. 

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (Wyatt, 2011, C) - Sometimes, simply by virtue of seeing two films in close succession, you start seeing links between them, even if they’re tenuous at best. That’s why, after FIVE EASY PIECES, what I thought about most during PLANET OF THE APES was the plight of someone caught between two worlds, neither of which they really belong in or to. The other thing that struck me was that it’s kind of subversive to put us so clearly in the shoes of the oppressed person, and showing just how terrible the consequences can be if you relegate a group to “sub-human” status - with the complication, of course, that apes ARE in fact not human and “other”, and that even I, as a bleeding-heart liberal, have an “own-species-first” attitude. I think the main reason this got such good reviews is simply suprise that it didn’t suck, and the good reviews, in turn, led to me being somewhat underwhelmed, but it’s an interesting look at the birth of a revolutionary. 

Notes