Planet of the Apes (2001)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Tim Burton

Writers (WGA):

Pierre Boulle (novel)
William Broyles Jr. (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

27 July 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Rule the planet.

Plot:

An astronaut lands on a planet inhabited by human-like apes, who rule the planet with an iron fist.

Plot Keywords:

Progenitor | Card Cheat | Swimming | Explosion | Simian Fiction

Awards:

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 8 wins & 20 nominations

Cast

Mark Wahlberg	...	Captain Leo Davidson
Tim Roth	...	Thade
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Ari
Michael Clarke Duncan	...	Attar
Paul Giamatti	...	Limbo
Estella Warren	...	Daena
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa	...	Krull
David Warner	...	Sandar
Kris Kristofferson	...	Karubi
Erick Avari	...	Tival
Luke Eberl	...	Birn
Evan Parke	...	Gunnar (as Evan Dexter Parke)
Glenn Shadix	...	Senator Nado
Freda Foh Shen	...	Bon
Chris Ellis	...	Lt. General Karl Vasich

Also Known As:

The Visitor (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sequences of action/violence.

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Malaysia:U | South Korea:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Brazil:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:TE | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Hong Kong:IIA | Ireland:12PG (original rating) | Ireland:PG (video rating) | Netherlands:12 | Norway:11 | Peru:PT | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Directors considered for this production include Philip Noyce, Chuck Russell, Roland Emmerich and Peter Jackson.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Thade is holding the branding iron close to Ari's face, the hot part of the iron is obviously painted orange to appear hot.

Quotes:

Attar: Get your stinking hands off me, you damn dirty human!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#26.1)" (2001)

Soundtrack:

Rule The Planet Remix

Tim Burton's worst film to date. His style is missing. ** (out of four).

PLANET OF THE APES / (2001) ** (out of four)

By Blake French:

"Planet of the Apes" is a $100 million remake that makes its points so many times that we eventually stop caring and begin to lose interest. The film is well made and has a lot of interesting material, but it's been done before, and we don't need five or six examples of grizzly apes abusing humans just to prove the fact that apes treat humans harshly. "Planet of the Apes" quickly becomes redundant and outstays its welcome. The production turns into a tool to impress us with the amazing set pieces and dazzling make up effects. This movie is a waste of the talents of director Tim Burton.

The year is 2029. An astronaut named Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) lives on a large United States Air Force space station that contains a large selection of apes used for space exploration. One of his beloved apes gets launched into space…but something goes wrong. He decides to go against the captain's orders and take a ride on a small space pod to rescue the animal and explore the unknown territory himself. Again, something goes wrong.

What kind of scientist would launch himself into some unknown abyss in space when an experiment just proved the area dangerous? Leo must be suicidal, stupid, or both. Anyway, he finds himself stuck in some kind of time warp that blasts him into the future on a mysterious planet where talking apes control the world and humans live in cages.

He meets several resident humans there, like Karubi (Kris Kristofferson), and his grown daughter Daena (Estella Warren). They are captured by military forces and delivered to a human slave trading ape named Limbo (Paul Giamatti). Leo has a difficult time understanding this world, but luckily, there is an ape who shows compassion towards humans. Her name is Ari (Helena Bonham Carter), and we are not surprised when she offers Leo and his fellow humans a chance to escape from the planet of the apes.

Although none of these characters are particularly memorable, one stands out in my mind as an absolute nuisance: General Thade (Tim Roth), the planet's head military leader. He isn't scary, shocking, or disturbing, just really, really unpleasant. Tim Roth, a good actor, goes way over the top with this simple-minded character-to the point where I hated him. Not because he's the villain, but because his screen presence is irksome. It's just an unpleasant performance for an unpleasantly stupid character.

Something about the time frame doesn't seem right. Let's examine this: Leo jumps into the future, where apes rule the planet. Once on the planet, he discovers his old space crew came to rescue him and crashed. This is where the apes become out of control, and take over the planet. Good insight there. But the crew crash landed on the planet thousands of years earlier, according to a character in the movie. Leo has only been on the planet for days. Hmmmm. Something here just doesn't add up. I guess I am thinking too hard for a movie that isn't supposed to make you think that much. If you can clear this up for me, please drop me a line. It'll be much appreciated and save many hours of sleep that would otherwise be spent wondering about this. There is something else that bothers me about "Planet of the Apes." The make up effects are stunning-so good that I could not tell who the actor was under the ape makeup and costume. So here's my question: why spend millions of dollars on big name actors like Tim Roth, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Helena Bonham Carter when you're going to smoother them in make up beyond recognition? The actor could have been my neighbor for all that I knew. The filmmakers might have liked the voices and energy of the actors, I guess.

I give the movie credit for making us care about the humans. By the end, during an involving and intense war sequence between human and ape-kind, I was definitely rooting for the humans. I also liked the way it reveals the plot. But "Planet of the Apes" could have been so much more. Tim Burton's style isn't obvious here, either. He does inject a convincing and masterfully crafted atmosphere, but it doesn't entrance us like "Batman," "Edward Scissorhands," or "Sleepy Hollow." It think that's because the movie concentrates so hard on the plot and special effects, it never relaxes and explores such themes as isolation, loneliness, or racism. "Plant of the Apes" is a wasted opportunity.