Episode 137: Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

What’s good, homies?! “Apes Month” is in full swing and we’re finally hitting the first installment of Caesar's story with 2011’s “Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes”. Directed by Rupert Wyatt and written by the writing team of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, the film stars James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, Tom Felton, Andy Serkis, and more. What can we say? The performances are great, the action is dope, and the emotions are real. Who doesn't love a further anthropomorphized baby chimpanzee? Apes together strong. That's what's up. Although this film might be at the bottom of our Planet Of The Apes reboot list… it still slaps. Very hard. “Rise” is a smart, well-made, genre-pushing summer blockbuster that was loved by critics and filmgoers alike. The CGI and motion capture from Weta Digital is insane and only gets better from here, Andy Serkis shines as Caesar, and the shift from human-focused films to ape-centric storytelling is inspired. Plus, it lays the foundation and themes for Caesar’s journey and the rest of the franchise in surprisingly smart ways. In this episode, we talk about our first experience with the reboot franchise, what we love about this movie, how even with it being (possibly) the weakest of the “Apes” films it still goes so incredibly hard, smart blockbusters, our favourite apes (shout out Maurice), Weta’s insane motion capture tech and the innovations used in this film, Caesar as a character and his “I’m him” moment in the ape prison, and more. We also break down some of our favourite scenes and sequences, discuss the critical response to the film, and quickly go through the story in preparation for next week’s episode. We praise Andy Serkis as Caesar and the performances of the human characters (especially our dude John Lithgow, who was playing the hell out of that piano). Plus, the writing and storytelling! Oh, man! This film does an immaculate job setting up everything to come within the franchise and we unpack how. Later in the episode, we share some film trivia including who was originally up for the role of Will, imagine what it would be like to hear our pets speaking English, talk about some of the incredibly dope ape action moments (specifically the bridge sequences), discuss some of the plot holes in the film, praise the CGI apes, and share how we both are very scared of Koba (with good reason… the dude sucks). Plus, some other ranting and raving. It’s an ape world and we’re just living in it! Next week, we continue the trilogy with the incredible “Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes” from Matt Reeves. Caesar is back! Apes with guns! Gary Oldman! It’s truly lit. INITIATE BIRD PROTOCOL! Follow us on Instagram! Instagram: @palmreadr @otismorrisdude