Rise of the Planet of the Apes

A prequal to the original films Rise of the Planet of the Apes' basic storyline is that of a (good-guy) scientist with a father who is suffering from Alzhiemers, who discovers a drug with the potential for a cure. The drug is tested on apes but the experiment is abandoned when an ape becomes violent and all the apes are destroyed. The scientist then discovers a baby ape in the lab and realises the reason for the ape's violence was not the drug but because she had been pregnant at the time of being brought to the lab and was merely being protective of her youngster. The scientist decides to rear the baby ape at home and gives the drug to his father who makes great progress. However the baby ape, whom he names Caesar, as well as being remarkablely intelliegent grows into a large and extremely strong ape (as they do). It is decided that Caesar has to go and live at a facilty for apes who, as well as providing the apes to laboratories for experiments such as the Alzhiemers one, also has a psychotic guard who abuses the apes. This eventually leads to a rebellion led by Caesar who has realised that the drug has improved his cognitive powers no end and therefore procures more of the drug and gives it to the other apes. The rebellion makes for an action packed ending to the film, taking place on the Golden Gate bridge in San Franfrisco. However this is not quite the end of the film as after the credits start to roll the film goes on to explain how the apes came be in charge of the world in the original film so don't leave before the final credits have finished.

Like most good science fiction Rise of the Planet of the Apes reflects the concerns of society, whereas the original film, made in 1968, was made against the backdrop of the civil rights movement in America and was therefore heavily concerned with racial politics the current flm explores the arguments concerning experiments on animals. An good film that I would recommend although I'm not sure if I would call it enjoyable as there is an all-pervasive sadness to it throughout.