Dark Future. Review on Planet Of The Apes Movie

It is the year 2029 and Captain Leo Davidson (MARK WAHLBERG) is stationed on the Oberon, a large U.S. Air Force space station. The space station has a large collection of apes that are used for space exploration. During an electrical storm, one of the chimps disappears in outer space Leo goes out to find the chimp but is himself sucked into the storm and transported far into the future where he crash-lands onto a planet populated with talking apes that rule over subservient humans.

Here he meets Karubi (KRIS KRISTOFFERSON) and his daughter, Daena (ESTELLA WARREN). They are captured by the militant apes and sold to Limbo (PAUL GIAMATTI), an opportunistic a human slave trader Ari (HELENA BONHAM CARTER) is a compassionate chimpanzee and the daughter of Sandar (DAVID WARNER), an influential simian senator. Ari believes that apes should not rule humans but the military ruler Thade (TIM ROTH), wants to eradicate all humans from the planet. But Ari and former gorilla general Krull (CARY-HIROYUKI TAGAWA) help Leo, Daena and other humans to escape. “Planets of the Apes” is an action/adventure film where you see apes and humans battling each other, apes knocking humans around, apes fighting apes, and various killings.

The superbly detailed masks worn by actors Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti and dozens of others are capable of such an astounding range of motion that even subtle degrees of emotions like anger, anxiety and deceitfulness can be detected in their faces. The actors have been well coached in primate behaviour. They squat and lumber like apes, even running on all fours, and they leap agilely from the ground to branch to branch with the help of a few special effects of course. In conversation they sniff, growl, and howl like apes.

I have read the original book that the Planet of the Apes movies are based on, and have seen most of the Planet of the Apes movies. But this remake, or re-interpretation, as the director Tim Burton has proclaimed it, is no match to the original film. The ethical arguments about the equality of species, fascism, and military build up have been replaced by ridiculous dialogue, an unimaginative narrative structure, and a romance between a monkey and a human. ''Planet of the Apes'' starts in familiar territory and ends up down a disappointingly divergent path. Unfortunately, visual flourishes a side; the narrative is a mix of different ideas that never quite get together. The movie runs like a driverless freight train from start to finish without a hint of humour, irony or invention. .