Planet of the Apes Review
by Jerry Saravia (faust668 AT aol DOT com)December 20th, 2001
PLANET OF THE APES (2001)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
December 19th, 2001
RATING: 2 1/2 stars
I am not a huge fan of the original "Planet of the Apes" but I do recognize its place in pop culture history in its upfront look at civil rights and impending nuclear doom as told through a science-fiction scenario. Still, as a movie, it was entertaining but also fairly cheesy and campy with a grand, majestic and overblown performance by Charlton Heston. No one would ever mistake the original "Apes" as the latest example in subtlety. Tim Burton's "reimagining" of "Planet of the Apes" is also fairly fun, campy, and cheesy but it lacks urgency and a real stroke of imagination.
Mark Wahlberg has the Heston role, this time as an Air Force pilot named Leo who loves to work with chimpanzees. One beloved chimpanzee operates a pod that goes through some nebulous cloud and disappears. Wahlberg goes after the chimpanzee in another pod and crash lands in some strange planet populated by apes who talk. In this planet, the humans are slaves to the apes, and Wahlberg is the latest intrusion as he becomes a personal servant to them. He meets with several human slaves including Kris Kristofferson, who quickly disappears from the movie, and Estella Warren as the latest Raquel Welch model in blonde curls and fittingly precious clothing. She is so severely underwritten that we forget her function in the story, outside of making goo-goo eyes at Wahlberg.
The apes include Ari (Helena Bonham Carter), a rebellious thinker who believes in equal rights for all species and falls for Wahlberg, the raging General Thades (Tim Roth), a murderous, rampaging, glowering ape who wants to destroy all humans, the stoic Colonel Attar (Michael Clarke Duncan) who follows Thades every command, and Paul Giamatti as Limbo, the con-artist who is only interested in saving his own neck. There is also a powerful cameo by Charlton Heston (!) as Thades's dying father who wishes all humans extinct.
Most of this is fun to watch and the visual style is dead-on with its view of shadowy woodlands and arid desertscapes in this ape world. I also like the finale where the apes run after the humans on all fours, ready for combat. All the actors do a superior job of portraying apes in both body language and gestures. The human characters are less prone to such credibility, but that says a lot for any action blockbuster post-"Jurassic Park." One crucial difference from the original "Apes" is that the humans here can speak English whereas in the original they could not speak one word, even Heston who you may recall could not utter a syllable for at least an hour into the film. The idea of apes feeling superior to the human race is all lost here.
The movie is an impersonal misfire at best, an attempt by Tim Burton to show he can do a workmanlike job directing other people's ideas. Any capable director could have done an efficient job with this project, so why did the man who created Edward Scissorhands and Pee Wee's strange adventure helm this except to gain respect in an industry that does not reward its own artists? True, Burton also helmed "Batman" and its first sequel but both were molded under his own personal vision - a world where he shares an understanding and compassion for freaks.
None of Burton's touches are evident in "Planet of the Apes," which not so much remakes the original as much as reiterate it. What we have is a bland, undefined hero who accepts apes matter-of-factly, truly nefarious villains, some good special-effects, plenty of ironic, self-aware gags and catchphrases, and a roughly implausible though not wholly surprising finale that seems to make room for a sequel. So, yes, you are likely to be entertained but cineastes will be left pondering the following question: Where is Tim Burton?
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