Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Year Released: 2011
Rating: 1.5
Monkey Revolt! A top scientist (James Franco) tries treating one of his prize apes (and his prized father, John Lithgow) with an anti-Alzheimer's serum, but that serum makes the primates super intelligent and very aggressive, and before you know it they're taking over San Francisco. By-the-numbers and predictable, it also fumbles its political messages (about science and genetic engineering), plus there's good old Franco sleep-walking (or is that non-acting?) his way through it: like a very young Brando, he's now at the point in his career where he'll decide when to try (127 Hours, Howl) and when he'll mail it in (and he doesn't even have an Oscar yet!). It does bring to mind the excellent game Ape Escape for the PlayStation, which advocates using giant nets to trap the errant creatures.
