Rating: Summary: Great Apes, Mediocre Humans. Review: Walking in to the premier, we were expecting a well done film. Burton is always imaginative and leaves an imprint on the viewer. But, this film is a bomb. It might have been successful without the tortured acting from Wahlberg. His deadpan stare and lack of any emotional depth just plain kill the picture. Mark, you are supposed to be ACTING! When a person realizes that they are lost and without hope, they should show some kind of shock, surprise and terror. With you bud, nothing happens. Looks like you are thinking of the way the lighting highlights your face or something! Visually, the Ape City was all Burtonesque gothic twisted weirdness. The costumes were effective, except for the pretty lady apes - what was that? They looked stupid. The Apes were the show, but overdone, overthought in some ways. The "funny" slavetrader ape - oh brother, I didn't know I bought tickets to a sitcom! As for the story. Please.... an attempt to surprise that every person in the theatre saw coming. Shallow. Sophomoric. Too many ideas, ... acting, lack of intelligent story. SKIP IT!
Rating: Summary: Lost Opportunity Review: The re-imaging of such a sci-fi classic represents a tremendous challenge, and a splendid opportunity to weave in all of the advancements we've made in cinematography, writing, and even primatology. Sadly, Planet of the Apes scores well only in the first. The story appears to have been a hastily contrived excuse to throw excellent special effects onto the screen. Good science fiction has to have good science and good fiction - visuals are not enough. Don't expect the deliciously inovative brainteaser of the original, just superficial action, great visuals, and a big "Huh?" at the end.
Rating: Summary: Much better than expected Review: Wow, first time in quite a while I walked out thinking it was worth sitting in a crowded theater to see. Great 'twilight zone' style ending. Have heard quite a few negative posts about it, but when you keep in mind that the whole premise is very twilight zone-ish, it really works. And then there's Mark W., the low point of the movie. Pathetic acting. His rally-the-troops speach near the end was so ridiculously bad it hurt to watch. His breadth of acting skills is right on par with a weekend weatherman. If it were not for him, 5 stars easy. But, once you block him out, incredible movie. You could either not know much about the PotA history and enjoy it, or be really into it and get all of the subtle (and many not so subtle) references. Very strong pacing, great sound. You really get a sense for the primal violence that is barely kept in check. Comparing back to the first, I thought it was much better. But, in it's time the first was much more of an advance, something very new and disturbing. Relative to current standards, this one is just a very good current film. Not breaking any new ground like the original did, but better non the less. If only they had cast someone other than Mark W, anyone, please!! Maybe Ed Harris? Nicholas Cage? Edward Norton? So many better options.
Rating: Summary: Just saw it! Just as good as the first! Review: If not better! But the truth is that you can't compare the two, so I wish people wouldn't do that! Despite the fact that I don't believe in the theory that humans evolved from apes in the least bit(after all, there still is no scientific PROOF of it, so why do people buy that garbage? It's the biggest longshot I've ever heard! Purely ridiculous!), I nevertheless have always been a loyal fan of the original films! They truly are great fantasy and fun! The subject at hand however is the new film, and as it has been billed, it is a "reimagining," not a remake. One must enter the theater willing to see a completely different version of Planet of the Apes. Doing this, I believe that most people will be quite pleased, even if they are loyal fans of the original like me. Roddy McDowall's presence is deeply missed, but there are plenty of bones thrown at fans of the originals to keep us smiling to ourselves. Helena Bonham Carter does an excellent job of taking the reigns from Cornelius and Zira, though I wasn't sure she'd pull it off in the beginning. No one will ever be able to immitate the screen presence that Charlton Heston carries, but anyone saying Mark Walberg didn't put across an excellent performance must have been watching a different movie. Speaking of bad reviews, or perhaps innept reviewers, anyone who says this plot is full of holes is either not well versed in sci-fi, or simply not that bright. I predicted several people who couldn't follow this sort of thing would start saying it had plot-holes, and I was right! On deeply examining the plot, contrary to another reviewer's statement, it comes out making perfect sense. There are no flaws in the time jumps or the ancestory setups, or any of the other aspects of the plot. The fact is there are just too many people out there who are going to sci-fi movies that just don't get it! As for the make-up, I recall someone saying before this movie came out that it would be pointless to do a new film because they couldn't top those old ape masks! Is that nuts or what? Wow, they did an incredible job in this film! Those creatures on the screen really seem like apes! Now I could probably go on and on about this and that, but I think I'll end this now with one last subject, the ending. I don't want to give it away for those who haven't seen it, but it was spectacular! It was PERFECT! The needed to equal the shock of the original and they did it! It makes perfect sense, plotwise, when you pay close attention, and frankly, from what I have heard about the original Planet of the Apes book, they lived more like that than in the technology-free world of the original. I thought the ending was EXCELLENT! Though I hope they make a sequel because...well, that's just mean if they don't! But I doubt they will...
Rating: Summary: Great stuff! Review: Totally different from the original and better too in my opinion. The original was good, this was was great. I've seen it twice and it just opened yesterday! I would reccomend it to everyone! The end is great. Makes you think.
Rating: Summary: No No No Review: Planet of the apes was a big dissapointment. Mark Wahlberg's performance was sub-par and almost cheesy. The plot was shaky. The characters were undeveloped and sketchy. It was sub-plot after sub-plot without any development. The end was bizarre - there appeared to be no finality. Don't pay good money to go and see it.
Rating: Summary: DO NOT COMPARE IT TO THE ORIGINAL Review: Look, I've read critics review of this movie and they bashed it to pieces. I actually thought it was pretty good. They've compared Marky Mark here to Heston which is a big mistake. Do not compare this to the original or I guarantee you will ruin the movie for yourself. Just simply go in for PotA from someone with a different point of view because you're not going to get the same movie (with the exception of a human lead character and one human compassionate ape). This movie had some great action, acting, and what I thought was a pretty good ending. Do the world a favor and don't watch it if you are going to compare it to the orignal because you're not going to get that great impact ending or that great Heston acting. Everything is great on it's own without comparing it to it's original. So go in and watch this movie (no, I don't work for the studio) and enjoy it on a completely different level. Why ruin a perfectly good movie for yourself?
Rating: Summary: don't bother Review: As one of the big blockbusters of the summer i went to see a nice action flick with a hyped up surprise ending, not expecting anything more than a very basic plot and a lot of action. First off I am still waiting for the action. The movie is slow at the start, but fails to pick up. Then there are the actors, the apes were wicked and pretty fun to watch, however the blonde female star had no lines, and could do little to act. Marky Mark, he couldn't make a speech to save his life and he was not a convincing leader. The twist of an ending? It might just be because of the hype, but I failed to see the great twist. Over all about as exciting as a few summers ago Godzilla release, and basicly Marky Mark should have just kept with the Funky Bunch.
Rating: Summary: Decent Review: Burton does what he's good at, but it's clear that he wasn't allowed to try anything unique. What a shame that a true artist like Tim Burton is forced to create trash like this. Now can you understand why he vowed to never work with Fox again? "Quiet! That goes for all Species" indeed.
Rating: Summary: Planet of the Apes Review: Very good special effects. Good acting. It was well made.Comparing it to the old ones, it was a modern day well made remake.
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