With all of the bungling, protracted, witless summer movie sequels invading theatres, you’ve gotta wonder when Hollywood’s going to stop monkeying around. Enter: Planet of the Apes. Sniff it all you want; it smells enough like a case of the remake to fall in line with this summer’s sequel monotony, but upon closer inspection, it’s clear that this is a chimp of a decidedly different breed.
Director Tim Burton reinvents the aesthetic and tonal gestalt of the 1968 classic without ditching the original’s thematic underpinnings, creating a world that is both visually fascinating and painstakingly complete.
When Air Force pilot Leo Davidson, (Mark Walberg), leaves his spacestation in search of a test-chimp deployed to survey a magnetic storm, things go awry, leading to a crash-landing on a planet where humans are enslaved by a breed of apes that are uniquely advanced, cognizant and cultured. But their refinement is little more than a thin veneer hiding their aggressive animal drives, which can lead them to the brutal treatment of their captured humans. Leo, who isn't acclimated to the Apes' tyranny, revolts against them and becomes a heroic figure and leader to the enslaved humans who know little else than the servitude and submission they have faced since birth. Helena Bonham Carter plays Ari, an ape with a compassionate steak towards humans, while Tim Roth portrays Thade, a snarling, aggressive (really goddamn spooky) ape general, who wishes to see his planet cured of humans, and his fellow apes cured of their human-derivative tendencies.
Under the façade of a fast-paced sci-fi/action blockbuster lies an entirely different animal. On the most visceral level, “Apes” is gargantuan, pounding its fists with an energy and a capacity to amaze that makes this film monumentally entertaining. But like the skillfully crafted latex ape masks through which the actors’ subtle, universal, seasoned human facial expressions are transmitted, “Apes” breathes a life of its own beneath the glaze of action. Burton paints a textured portrayal of man’s struggle against subjugation, with settings and characters that are ethereal and otherworldly, yet dually dark, gritty and present. The iconoclastic director ditched the early-proposed ideas of digitally animated apes or live apes with computer-generated mouths, enlisting A-list actors instead to give each ape a uniquely human core.
Perhaps the real feat here is that Burton was able to make these apes so utterly creepy and animalistic (much more so than their original, stiff-Brit counterparts) yet still found a way to maintain their indelibly human characteristics. Roth and Bonham Carter learned an entire behavioral language for their roles, replete with loping, off-kilter strides and dexterous, long-armed gesticulations. It takes a while to get a grasp of the full complexity of their movements, but once the language is understood, you quickly see how the ape dispositions intensify the actors’ capacity for human emotional expression.
Other apes include Limbo, a pandering human-slave dealer played by Paul Giamatti, and Attar, Thade’s loyal silverback, played by Michael Clarke Duncan (who incidentally, is perhaps the only Ape actor that sounds as though he’s using his normal voice). Chuck Heston makes a cameo, donning full ape regalia to play Thade’s dying father, and Lisa Marie (Burton’s squeeze) appears briefly as a snooty socialite chimp.
On the human side, two words: Estella Warren. She says close to nothing (perhaps a throwback to the mute humans in the original, perhaps not). With a character that grows envious of the affection formed between Walberg and Bonham Carter (yes, a man and a chimp) Warren is left to primarily convey her dissatisfaction through looks and body language. And looks plus body are a definite can-do on Warren’s checklist. Things seems a little exploitative at times; her garb is close to non-existent, and the camera, perhaps a bit too indulgent, but Warren certainly helps heighten the degree to which this film is visually fascinating.
Unfortunately, it isn’t all bananas and cream pie. The “Apes” script incorporates a few narrative devices that are just too convenient, such as the illogically timed event that causes the wrap-up to the climatic battle scene. Although the majority of dialogue in the film runs smoothly, certain characters (take for instance, the shifty-eyed comic relief, Limbo) are developed in a stagnant and predictable way. Walberg’s pre-battle scene speech, despite its relative brevity, is still a little laughable. The re-vamped surprise ending is creatively done, carrying a certain light-heartedness to it, but the film leaves things too easily opened ended. However, with a sequel assured (all principal actors signed a 2 movie contract), ‘open-ended’ could be a good thing.
Ultimately, Burton’s overall design is so meticulous and aesthetically comprehensive and his ape characters, so believable and culturally complete that you can’t help but be lured into his stunning visual world, which seems (if not only momentarily) to take precedence over other concerns. You haven’t seen anything quite like this. The film may have aped the original, but it stands on its own two feet (and dexterous feet they are).
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