20th Century Fox resuscitates the “Apes” franchise once again, this time with a contemporary look at the origins of the super-smart apes that terrorized Charlton Heston in the classic 1968 original and Mark Wahlberg in Tim Burton’s virtually unwatchable 2001 remake.
“Rise” has less in common with those two films than it does the 1972 prequel entry “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes,” in which enslaved apes revolt against their human masters, setting the stage for world domination and human subjugation.
James Franco, who can currently be seen in “Your Highness,” plays a research scientist whose monkey medical experiments have strange, and ultimately, disastrous side effects. Brian Cox (“Red,” “X-Men 2”) gets the chilling line “they’re not human, you know…”
Andy Serkis — who, between “Lord of the Rings,” “King Kong” and this, is fast becoming the Sir Laurence Olivier of motion-capture performers — plays the hyper-intelligent simian Caesar (played by Roddy McDowall in the original series).
WETA, the company that helped transform Serkis into Gollum for “Lord of the Rings” and the upcoming “The Hobbit,” executed the effects here (and, as the trailer proudly points out, on “Avatar”).
The trailer promises a slick, thrilling ride with fewer sci-fi trappings (and hopefully a much better ending) than the 2000 film.
What do you think of the trailer? Is it enough to make you want to spend money on the franchise again?