Home | Search | FAQ

Displaying 1-1 of 1 messages in this thread.

Posted By	Discussion Topic: Planet of the Apes Reviews: NY POSt gives it 3 and a half stars
TeenWeek what's a status?	posted on 07-27-2001 @ 7:07 AM
O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00	MONKEYS SHINE By JONATHAN FOREMAN July 27, 2001 -- FROM the opening cred its onward, Tim Burton’s “re-imagining” of the misanthropic B classic exudes a confidence that’s almost entirely justified. Easily the best of this summer’s generally rotten serving of popcorn movies, “Planet” keeps you on the edge of your seat for nearly two hours. And it does so despite taking the gamble of interspersing the action with lots of jokey, self-conscious references to the original, until you realize you’re watching not so much a remake but a postmodern homage that balances drama and humor, respect and mockery. It is also Tim Burton’s best film since “Edward Scissorhands.” The marvelous Burtonic gothic/nightmare production design - scenery, weaponry, costumes, etc. constantly pleases the eye without ever distracting you from the plot. Leo Davidson (Wahlberg) is an American astronaut who works with genetically enhanced chimpanzees on a space station above the earth. A storm in space causes his personal spacecraft to crash-land on a planet where raggedly dressed human beings are hunted and enslaved by talking apes who wield primitive weapons and ride horses. Leo himself is caught in a roundup led by a fearsome gorilla army officer (Michael Clarke Duncan), who spots that he is somehow different from the other humans. Soon he finds himself in Ape City - a strange medieval-looking agglomeration of caves and treehouses - at the mercy of a cynical slave-trading orangutan called Limbo (Paul Giamatti, providing the comic relief while sounding like the late Roddy McDowall). Leo shares the cage with Karubi (Kris Kristofferson) and his daughter, the leggy blonde Daena (Estella Warren) who, apart from her “One Million Years B.C.” costume, looks like she’s just had her hair and eyebrows done. Most of the apes despise humans as primitive and dirty. The vicious General Thade (Tim Roth) actually believes that they should be exterminated. But Leo is fortunate enough to end up in the household of Ari (Helena Bonham Carter) the liberal daughter of a powerful ape senator (David Warner), and something of an activist for the rights of human beings. Even more than in the original there are holes in the logic of the subsequent plot (especially in the apparent genesis of ape rule). It’s also slightly hard to believe in Wahlberg as an astronaut (in real life they have advanced degrees in stuff like nuclear physics) but not as an action hero capable of outclubbing gorillas. Warren’s Daena doesn’t get to do much besides look longingly at Leo, and with increasing jealousy at Bonham Carter’s Ari. After all, Leo has much more in common with educated, thoughtful Ari than he does with the dumb blonde, and with typical Burtonic mischievousness, the relationship between the astronaut and the chimpanzee takes on an increasingly flirtatious tone. Tim Roth, who won an Oscar nomination for his superb villain in “Rob Roy,” is almost as effective as the evil General Thade. And there is a brief but hilarious cameo by Charlton Heston. But the outstanding performance in this film comes from Bonham Carter. The Merchant-Ivory favorite so good in Zeffirelli’s “Hamlet” does something really extraordinary in this film: using her voice, her eyes and subtle movements under her mask, she somehow manages to make a chimpanzee sexy. The never-subtle racial subtext of the first “Planet of the Apes” is still there (and still ambiguous in its implications) but feels more like a rote exercise, very much subordinate to the action. And the anger and apocalyptic fear that ran through the original movie are gone: you don’t walk out the cinema in the least worried that human civilization is doomed to destroy itself. A final note: All movie lovers should boycott the Matt Drudge Web site for the loathsome act of giving away the (slightly confusing) “Twilight Zone”-esque ending of the movie.

Displaying 1-1 of 1 messages in this thread.