With members of Top Five Movies flung far and wide throughout the country, opportunities for us to watch movies together have
become scarce. All that changed this weekend as writers Ryan DeMotte, Greg Kline, Jagan Nicholas Ranjan, and Brian Sproul
joined up near Akron, OH for a special viewing of Planet of the Apes. The outing was preceded by an exhausting game of
football as well as numerous objections by Sproul, who acknowledged a bias against the film's star, Marky-Mark Wahlberg.
We nevertheless proceeded to the cinema and sat back to enjoy the film. Along the way I'm sure we annoyed some fellow patrons
as we whispered our thoughts and theories throughout the proceedings, but our actions paled in comparison to the woman who
received a cell-phone call in mid-movie. The group consensus seemed to be that the movie was enjoyable and even satisfying,
though some felt the need to qualify that with the phrase "... for a movie with talking monkeys." Below are some comments
from each member about the experience...
Ryan Says:
I went into "Planet of the Apes" expecting very little. The combination of
a seemingly corny plot and Mark Wahlberg was destined for failure. However,
after 2 hours of the epic human struggle against ape domination, I was
converted. First, Tim Burton did for "Planet of the Apes" what he did for
"Batman", creating a dark and disturbing feel for the movie through settings
and costumes. Second, Thade and Attar were masterful as the main
antagonists. Thade, a bloodthirsty general whose habit of hissing and
sniffing made him completely revolting and evil. I did think he was a
fascist, but then fascists don't show as much deference to the Senate.
Thade patiently waited for martial law to be declared before moving his
troops. Attar was equally convincing. I have been caught bellowing "BOW
YOUR HEADS" not a few times since seeing the movie. The third and most
fascinating part was the ending. The time travel issues involved are still
unresolved and left me thinking about the movie for a long time afterwards.
All in all, it was a great movie. An 8.5/10.
Greg Says:
The comparisons of this movie to the original are inevitable, but I'd like to think that some of the film's lesser moments
were actually intentional bits of campiness intended to pay homage to its predecessor.
This is clearly more of an action film than a thought-provoking
sci-fi piece, but the issues of time travel and the creation of the planet
injected some intelligence into what otherwise might have disintegrated into yet another Hollywood blockbuster.
The aggressive animal nature of the apes in this film contrasts greatly with their civilized personalities in the
original and is a bit unsettling at first, but I think Burton may have intended it as a parallel to mankind's own beastly
nature. Look for Charlton Heston in a well disguised cameo. Overall I rate it 7 opposable thumbs up.
Jagan Says:
A love triangle between two humans and an ape? I wasn't too sure about that. The character development in this movie was
zero as was the development of almost all of the relationships. That being said, parts of this movie reminded me of
'Contact' (a very good thing); and the ending was superb and basically saved the movie in my mind. Bottom line: 7.0 rating
Brian Says:
I fought it hard. I swore I would not watch it. To be honest with you, I've never been interested in the originals.
But to avoid being the party pooper, i "strapped it on" for the gang. I was pleasantly surprised by the film's depth
even though there were too many instances of enormous cheese-ity. To clarify: I HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH MARK WAHLBERG.
This was a little misguided and rather a tendency to associate him with mass-audience films that cost a schluckazillion
bucks to make. This may not even be the case, just pure stereotyping on my part. Wahlberg turned in a solid performance.
Anywhoo, I thought that there were some interesting lessons to be drawn from the film regarding not only relationships
between man and animal, but man and fellow man. Its message was loud and clear, meant for the masses-- not sneaky
for the cerebral. And the ending would've had Dr. Emmitt Brown hitting his head on the porcelain a couple more
times to figure out. The film was worth my time.
