Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes: Triple Play Exclusive Steelbook Blu-ray (Rare out of Print)

Excellent film

A new attempt at rebooting/reimagining/remaking/calling it what you will the Planet of the Apes franchise.So forget the originals and the 2001 version - as well you might in the case of the latter - because this is a whole new take on things, having no tie in with those films whatsoever.James Franco plays Will Rodman, a scientist trying to find a cure for Alzheimer's. Not least so he can help his afflicted father [John Lithgow]. When work on chimps with a new drug yields unexpected results he is left with a baby chimp to care for. Who is eventually named Caesar. Caesar is very smart. A bond between humans and apes forms.But when Caesar gets to see the worst humanity can offer, and when the drug trials lead to more unexpected developments, the future of two species might be changed forever.Caesar is brought to life via actor Andy Serkis in a motion capture suit and cgi, a la Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies. The end result is just as good. He is a character you can't help but sympathise with and root for. It's very easy to forget at times that he's not a real creature.Human wise Will Rodman has a decent amount of depth to him and James Franco acts the character well. Frieda Pinto takes the somewhat thankless role of his life interest and does catch the attention regardless of her character not being quite as deep as she could. And John Lithgow does tug at the heartstrings when portraying a man who simply can't remember any more.The rest are cold hearted and ruthless or ignorant as required, but all are played well.The film moves at a decent pace throughout. This is a 12 certificate film, thanks to some moments of violence and angry apes that might not be suitable for younger viewers. It all builds to a very satisfying last act which begins with a great punch the air moment. And has a few more during what follows.Both a decent action movie when that kicks in, and a solid drama about the bond between two indiviuals, this is excellent movie making and an excellent way to start a franchise. Not least because although it's relatively self contained it does at the same time set a few things up to follow. The first of them in a pretty clever way. The second you will find out more about at the start of the end credits, so keep watching those.There are two short scenes which are done with subtitles. There's no way to switch those off. But they are necessary. You'll see why.There is also one great homage to the original.Forget the 2001 version. This is an attempt at franchise rebooting that wholeheartedly succeeds. Which is why the sequel will be along shortly. And why I look forward to it.The dvd has the following language and subtitle options:Languages: English Spanish German Italian.Subtitles: English Spanish Danish Finnish German Swedish Italian Norwegian.There are no extras at all.It begins with one trailer that you can skip via the next button on the remote.And one that you can't get past like that, unless you use fast forward.

Ok

This is a surprisingly good film. However, it also came with certain short comings. The most substantial was the basis of the drug delivery. I am a Pharmacologist and from what I understood, the test drug ALZ112 was delivered in the form of a recombinant virus. The film depicts eventual human immunity against the virus, thus virus being eliminated by human host immune system. However, the film makers got the Pharmacology completely wrong. I believe they are confusing future generation 'gene based drugs' with recombinant DNA technology. Firstly, a recombinant microbe is traditionally a bacteria and not virus (since bacteria also contain DNA). Furthermore, a virus can only replicate itself by invading a host cell and using host cell organelles to manufacture subsequent clones of RNA (not DNA!). A virus contains and replicates only RNA, so how the film makers can make this leap to DNA is beyond me. A major oversight on their part. Another point over looked, was the concept of a gene based drug, which contains actual strands of DNA, which when injected into host cells becomes an integral part of the host DNA. The purpose is to excise faulty DNA/genes (ie - the genetic basis of disease) and replace them with 'healthy DNA (albeit laboratory engineered DNA). Using a virus as a vehicle cannot work for the above reasons (host immunity and limitations of viral RNA). The faulty science apart, it was a good film, even though there were some minor oversights (how Jacobs survived the crashing helicopter is a mystery and how the primate care centre worker survived the full force beatings of a troupe of crazed chimps is yet another mystery, bearing in mind that the average male chimp is 5x stronger than the average human male and that they have an incredibly dense skeletal bone matrix). Yet the centre worker, walked away without a scratch!. The reality is that a single blow would have broken all of his ribs and ruptured his heart and lungs. These issues aside, if you are watching it purely for entertainment value, you will not be disappointed. The film also raises a pertinent issue. That is, the genetic manipulation of animal species and the possible negative repercussions. It is always best to avoid this line of 'work'. Oh yes, I almost forgot one other thing. That the chimps used in this film are substantially more intelligent than the average American :)

Value for money