Looking Back on ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ — Film Review
Does the film that began the reboot series hold up?
The Planet of the Apes is not a film series I have ever fallen in love with. I think I saw some of the recent ones when they were released, but not 2017’s War of the Planet of the Apes, and not the most recent outing, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (yet).
I wanted to familiarize myself with the films again in preparation for Kingdom, so I decided to watch Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), the first in the reboot series.
Full disclosure: I have never seen any of the original movies from the 60s and 70s. I have, of course, absorbed the general premise of those movies through pop culture osmosis (fine, yes, mostly through the best Simpsons bit of all time), but I think not having seen the originals makes for a slightly more interesting viewing experience.
I just couldn’t help but notice that if you lacked the context of the original films when watching Rise, you might think this was one of the most baffling stories ever put to screen. But we’ll get to that.
