Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) - Rupert Wyatt

I sat down to this film being a newcomer to the planet of the apes franchise as i've never given the older films much of a chance in the past and i figuired where better to start than the brand new prequel? Boy am i glad i took the time to watch this film, it was an absolutely stunning and compelling mixture of brains and emotion that made this film possibly my favourite film of the summer season on par with the Deathly Hallows part 2 (Which i shall review sometime soon as it's just come to my attention i havent done so yet!).

Rise of the Planet of the Apes takes a strong look into a very real and emotive world of gene therapy, big pharmaceutical companies and animal testing gives the film relevance and credibility, something lacking in most modern sci-fi pictures where we are thrown right into the thick of things often with very little explanation. In all honesty i'm going to struggle to review this in too much depth as it is very hard not to give any spoilers away as this film is packed to the brim with an exciting, richly intense and emotive storyline. So all i can really do here is attempt to convey to you how bloody brilliant this film was without telling too much of the story.

We follow the life of the son of a genetically altered ape, Ceaser who was taken from his lab by our other main character, scientist Will Rodman (Played by James Franco)  to avoid being slaughtered. Ceaser is a naturual companian too Will and his father Charles (Played by John Lithgow) who suffers from the very disease Will is trying to combat, Alzheimers. The scenes with these three together were intense and emotional and by far some of the best moments. Of course this is a film on how it all began so of course it wasnt going to end on that note, things change dramatically for Ceaser and using his superior intelligence he and his primate counterparts begin an uprising. Of course we all know how this ends from the original films..

I was gripped from start to finish with this exceptional movie, which is something i can say is fairly rare with some of the latest releases too hit the cinema. Absolutely brillaint film i could not rate highly enough! A must see and surely in line for some serious awards come awards season thanks to its exceptional CGI alone.

Overall Grade: A+