View Date: July 28, 2001

Cast:

Written by: 
(original story) Pierre Boulle
(screenplay) William Broyles Jr., Lawrence Konner & Mark Rosenthal

Directed by: Tim Burton

Official Site:
Planet of The Apes

Related Viewings:

Fifth Element, The (1997)
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)
Planet of the Apes (1968)

Also see my reviews at:

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Planet of The Apes

There is a saying that if you put a thousand monkeys, in front of a thousand typewriters, one of them would type out a masterpiece (paraphrased of course, since I’m not sure of the actual quote), but it appears that Tim Burton has tried this experiment, and the result is the majority of the screenplay for his poorly written, but occasionally stunning remake of the 70s cult classic Planet of The Apes.  The script is mostly forgettable, although it does progress as the movie goes along; the stumbles are so bad that no amount of wise social commentary humor could ever overcome them.  However, the little touches that do work make this one a slightly guilty pleasure nonetheless.  Although, someone really does need to pull Tim Burton aside and show him how to make an effective action sequence.  Burton falls prey to the same combination of fast camera movement combined with sounds, which made a few scenes in Ridley Scott’s otherwise wonderful Gladiator, nearly unwatchable and dizzying.  Burton needs to watch the battle sequences of Saving Private Ryan to see how to do a fast cut, powerful and effective action sequence which combines physical and mental aspects to drive the mass confusion and intensity of a sequence.  The overall combination of these sequences, offset with dialogue that is mostly bad, but progresses a bit as the film moves on, mixed in with a scene-stealing performance from Giamatti, makes Planet just a shade above mediocre, and either far above, or far below, where it should be, based on expectation and love of the first film.

The story, based on a novel by Pierre Bouille, mirrors the original, but throws in enough original (albeit convenient and questionable) touches to give it an in an individual identity.  Wahlberg is an Air Force captain on a space station where the government is breeding and training genetically enhanced monkeys, apes, whatever you’d like to call them.  The station approaches a storm, which may be something more than it first appears, so they decide to send in one of the monkeys to explore further, since this is what they are being trained to do.  When something goes wrong, of course, Wahlberg defies orders (in a sequence containing two perfect examples of the movie’s cringingly bad dialogue) and heads out to retrieve his monkey.  In the process, he goes through turbulence (including the clock sequence from the first film) and crash lands on a planet where things have definitely changed and been turned upside down.  On the planet, the humans are the prey, the slaves, and the pets, while the apes are the civilized ones, and in control.  The message that both movies, the original and this one, attempt to convey deals with the what if aspect of science fiction showing that we shouldn’t mess with Mother Nature, and what can happen in worst case scenarios.  I’m not sure what the basis of Bouille’s book is, but from both adaptations of the story, I can only imagine that its more politically and scientifically based, and that the writers have lost a bit of those touches in place of satirical human nature commentary.  The ape’s society mirrors ours, while their treatment of humans mirrors some people’s attitudes towards the more intelligent members of our animal kingdom.  The message is meant to show us what it looks like from the other side of the table.  Burton’s tale gets a little lost amidst the overly aggressive nature of some, and the overly sympathetic nature of others.  The original took itself as seriously as it had to in its social commentary, but still had some fun.  This time, there are some nods to both, but when the dialogue takes itself seriously, is when things slide down.  But thankfully, Burton never completely lets his dark side take over and thus, the story isn’t diluted amidst his vision.  It is given a fair enough treatment I believe

There are characters, both good and bad, whose sympathies and angers are never explained or justified.  Granted, it isn’t necessary to go into a long detailed account of why Thade is so angry towards the humans or why Ari is so sympathetic to them.  But amidst the suspension of disbelief that this, along with any sci-fi movie regarding an alternate reality, it would be nice if there was even an attempt to justify characters reactions and emotions. As the movie progresses, listing back and forth between being guiltily enjoyable, and absurdly constructed, the movie teeters on blockbuster status, until the apes go to war, or the humans open their mouths.  Hence, like O Brother Where Art Thou, it all comes down to the finale, for a determination of whether or not the movie scores.  The explanation is plausible, if you’re able to suspend reality, and the conclusion is a rather unexpected one, though not breathtaking, it is does catch the audience a tad off guard.  While we expect there to be something, in tribute to the first one, what does happen may seem a bit silly, but I ask those who see it to try and figure out another way it could have been done, before criticizing. 

Underneath all of the makeup and the hauntingly realistic simian reactions and movements, the true scene stealing comes from an actor who once played a character named Pig Vomit.  Paul Giamatti (son of late baseball commissioner A Bartlett Giamatti) truly injects life, humor, sarcasm and fun into his portrayal of a manipulative slave trader.  He steals every scene he’s in, whether being serious or humorously acerbic.  His makeup, along with most of the others, is also to be applauded.  This film may not even earn a whisper come Oscar time, but it would be a crime not to even consider the effects and makeup artists for their work which renders all of the actors (even the surprise cameo in the middle) nearly unrecognizable from appearance (but not from voice, as Duncan is obvious from his first word, while it is nearly impossible to know that it’s Roth underneath Thades angry scowl).

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