Kevin's Watch

Great flick! It was a lot more character-driven than I expected. If you're expecting an action movie based on the previews, you might be disappointed--though all hell does eventually break loose. James Franco does a great job. I'm really starting to like him as an actor, especially after 127 hours. But the real star is Andy Serkis, who (for obvious reasons) disappears in this performance. Andy and the Weta effects are astonishing. This does not look like CGI. I think this is the first time I could really say that. King Kong was a huge move forward in that direction, but given that this is about relatively realistic apes, chimps, gorillas, etc., there is absolutely nothing fantastic to call attention to the fact none of these monkeys are real. Well, except for their expressions, but I've always found that many primates can make remarkably human expressions anyway. This just takes that up a notch, so you can see true intelligence in their eyes. It's both startling and surprisingly natural. After all, that's exactly what we see in our own eyes.

It's a slow paced movie, largely dramatic and character-driven, as I said above. Many touching scenes that remind you of what was attempted in King Kong, but without the massive dose of cheese. There were moments of real beauty, tragedy, sadness, and exaltation. And once the action started, it was a hell of a ride.

There was one moment that explicitly referenced the source material, and if you try hard enough you can probably figure out which moment that was ... but the way it was reversed here was a nice touch. It gave me a moment of spine-tingling holy shit-ness:

Spoiler

An asshole animal handler has a showdown with the lead chimp right before the big ape riot, and he thinks he can handle the chimp because he's always been able to before. But this one has been hiding how intelligent he is. When the chimp grabs his arm in a show of mastery, the human animal handler says the classic line, "Get your hand off me you damn dirty ape!" And the chimp responds menacingly, "No." This is the first time he has spoken, and it is just as surprising for the audience as it is for the animal handler. But what's cool is that this line was the same as the first time Heston's character spoke in the original movie, to the utter shock of his ape captors. So this time we get to feel their sense of surprise by having this moment reversed and the chimp being the one who shocks us by speaking. Nice touch.

I think Conquest of the Planet of the Apes is the only one I've actually seen all the way through (apart from the modern remake of Planet), so I'm interested to see this remake (/reimagining). Kinda surprised to see all the positive reviews, to be honest.

You've never seen the original movie all the way through?? Excellent movie! I like the second, Beneath, a lot, too.

I'm very happy to hear your thoughts, Z. I didn't think anything was going to happen that the basic idea and previews didn't cover.

We're going to try to see this tomorrow. I'm glad to read Z's good review and hear that other good reviews are out there. A big plus for me in seeing this is to see Andy Serkis in action again.

I'm going to see it monday which is also the day me and Phyllis are finally going to get married!!!!!!

I've heard a lot of good things about this movie... I may have to see it.

And I agree with Fist, the first two original movies are excellent. The rest kinda suck.

Lord Zombiac wrote:I'm going to see it monday which is also the day me and Phyllis are finally going to get married!!!!!!

congrats! wish we could be there... take pics.

i am surprised by the positive views. i shall hope to rent it. enjoyed the original with Heston, after that, meh...

zarathustra's spoiler is great and I'm glad I didn't read it before watching. Only the original film and the empire strikes back have had as much brilliant impact on the unsuspecting in the history of film. The incredibly lame ending of Tim Burton's atrocity has been scrubbed from my mind.
An extra bonus for me is that "A War of Apes" will become 1,000 X more popular.

Buck, the Gorilla is exactly how I envisioned Rungrin, except with a bunch of knives and swords and even sometimes full mail!

sgt.null wrote:

Lord Zombiac wrote:I'm going to see it monday which is also the day me and Phyllis are finally going to get married!!!!!!

congrats! wish we could be there... take pics.

i am surprised by the positive views. i shall hope to rent it. enjoyed the original with Heston, after that, meh...

I've seen the original about 500 times, my brother used to make an ape mask for me-- an extremely good one, out of scotch tape and hair trimmings, I wrote an ape novel and have roleplayed a gorilla in live action battle games for five years.
I was originally going to be married in full ape garb and I'm here to tell you GO TO THE THEATER NOW AND SEE IT!

If the theater is closed, break in and run the projector... that is what I feel like doing right now!!!!!!!!!!


Best thing I've ever seen on film...
Caesar, Buck, and Maurice are the most awesome characters I've ever scene in film. Andy Serkis is the reason I'm glad I studied pantomime.

Fist and Faith wrote:You've never seen the original movie all the way through?? Excellent movie! I like the second, Beneath, a lot, too.

I'm very happy to hear your thoughts, Z. I didn't think anything was going to happen that the basic idea and previews didn't cover.

Love Beneath a lot. I did a "beneath" battle game in amtgard (apes vs. mutants, illusion wall, doomsday weapon) . Every element of the series has been forshadowed.

Also, Brent and Taylor fighting with spiked metal clubs was superbly homo erotic, and I got a perverse thrill out of Taylor being psychically forced to strangle Nova in the water basin!

LZ, good to hear that you enjoyed it. Yeah, that spoiler moment is awesome--but it is definitely a massive spoiler! I hope no one else was tempted too much to view it.

Thinking about this movie later has only reinforced my appreciation for it. I really like the interplay between the father (Lithgow) slowly receding from his humanity while Caesar ascends beyond his animal nature. The counterpart between the two blurs the line demarcating animal/human in a way that makes this more than science fiction. Humans really do have to deal with losing their cognitive abilities as they grow older. This is a reality which is thoughtfully joined with the fiction in the movie.

I almost saw this, but decided to go with Capt. America instead
Maybe later.

Thanks for the review. I'll probably watch this because of it. (And no, I didn't read the spoiler.)

Loved the original, was meh about the remake, except that it looked good.

Was in 2 minds about a prequel...usually I love prequels. But this has tipped the balance I think.

--A

Best movie I've seen this summer.