Retrospective: "Rise of the Planet of the Apes"

When I first saw "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," it was late at night, after work, at a theater in Long Island. I was planning to go with my roommate, but he was unable to be reached at the time. I think I tried to go twice; the first time, when he was unreachable, I stayed home. The second time, it was a rainy day, and I planned to go for a relatively late showing (around 10pm maybe), and again he was unreachable. But I wanted to really see the film, so I went anyway. I remember reading some Qur'an in the car before going inside, and then they showed some scary movie trailer beforehand, like "Paranormal Activity 3." There were only a handful of people in the theater. For me, going to movies are a memorable, special event (depending on the film). For some reason, this film experience was memorable.

The movie itself at the time was fantastic. Looking back now, and on blu-ray, I continue to be impressed. The amount of time the story spends on Caesar's upbringing, and his reason for rebelling against society, comprises maybe 75% of the film. And that's what makes the action scenes at the end so much more meaningful. I understand Caesar's point, and I completely sympathized. Not as much time was spent on the virus storyline, and they reached the sweet spot; just enough time to develop it to explain the apes' increased intelligence and the downfall of humanity, but not too much as to take away from Caesar's story.

Like "WALL-E," this film conveyed so much through facial expressions and body language. Seeing how Andy Serkis really conveyed these actions in real life was amazing; he truly deserves recognition, I think, for this type of acting.

A beautiful movie, and I can't wait for the sequel!